|
The following passages are
excerpted from Leonard Peikoff's Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. The
excerpts — which range from such abstract issues as the nature of universals to
more concrete issues like sex — provide a fascinating glimpse into the breadth, depth, and clarity of
Leonard Peikoff's Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand.
What Philosophy is, and How to Study
It
Philosophy is not a bauble of
the intellect, but a power from which no man can abstain. Anyone can say that he
dispenses with a view of reality, knowledge, the good, but no one can implement
this credo. The reason is that man, by his nature as a conceptual being, cannot
function at all without some form of philosophy to serve as his guide...[click
here for more]
Sex is good
The fact that a man's sex life is shaped by his
conclusions and value-judgments is evident in every aspect. It is evident in the
setting he prefers, the state of dress, the caresses, positions, and practices,
and the kind of partner. This last is particularly eloquent...[more]
Anarchism is evil
...This brings me to another topic: to an
alleged opposite of statism that, in fact, entails it. I mean anarchism...[more]
Defining capitalism
"Capitalism," in Ayn Rand's
definition, "is a social system based on the recognition of individual
rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately
owned." This is a definition in terms of fundamentals and not of
consequences...[more]
The Profit Motive
The "profit motive," speaking
broadly, means a man's incentive to work in order to gain something for
himself — in economic terms, to make money. By Objectivist standards, such a
motive, being thoroughly just, is profoundly moral...[more]
Love is selfish
We are often told that love (like the pursuit
of truth) is selfless...[more]
The virtue of selfishness
...At this stage, I want merely to dissociate
Ayn Rand's approach from the subjectivist idea of dealing with others. Egoism,
in the Objectivist interpretation, does not mean the policy of violating the
rights, moral or political, of others in order to satisfy one's own needs or
desires. It does not mean the policy of a brute, a con man, or a beggar...[more]
How one can be certain
...Many people in our Kantian era think,
mistakenly, that absolutism is incompatible with a contextual approach to
knowledge. These people define an "absolute" as a principle
independent of any other fact or cognition; i.e., as something unaffected by
anything else in reality or in human knowledge...[more]
The moral justification for capitalism is
not the "Public Good"
...The moral justification of capitalism is not
that it serves the public. Capitalism does achieve the "public good"
(appropriately defined), but this is an effect, not a cause; it is a secondary
consequence, not an evaluative primary...[more]
The arbitrary as neither true nor false
An arbitrary claim is one for which there is no
evidence, either perceptual or conceptual. It is a brazen assertion, based
neither on direct observation nor on any attempted logical inference therefrom.
For example, a man tells you that the soul survives the death of the body; or
that your fate will be determined by your birth on the cusp of Capricorn and
Aquarius...[more]
The causes of emotions
Emotions are states of consciousness with
bodily accompaniments and with spiritual — intellectual — causes...[more]
Validation of free-will (volition)
How, then, do we know that man has volition? It
is...[more]
The solution to the problem of universals
The answer to the "problem of
universals" lies in Ayn Rand's discovery of the relationship between
universals and mathematics. Specifically, the answer lies in the brilliant
comparison she draws between concept-formation and algebra...[more]
What is man?
There is no question more crucial to man than
the question: what is man? What kind of being is he? What are his essential
attributes?
Many thinkers and artists have sought to answer this question. They have looked
at men and then offered a report on man's nature. Their reports have clashed
through the ages...[more]
Altruism on principle is suicide
Those who reject the principle of selfishness
will find in the history of ethics two main alternatives. One is the primordial
and medieval theory that man should sacrifice himself to the supernatural. The
second is the theory that man should sacrifice himself for the sake of other
men. The second is known as "altruism," which is not a synonym for
kindness, generosity, or good will, but the doctrine that man should place
others above self as the fundamental rule of life...[
more]
|
