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in reply to Re: Ayn Rand vs. Stewart Brand
in thread Ayn Rand vs. Stewart Brand
A monk said: You offer very bad arguments again and again…
A monk replies–
Like the ancient immortals said
Don’t want ’em to get your goat
Don’t show ’em where it’s hid
But that’s just what I did
–Van Halen, “Stay Frosty”
So, I have some more bad arguments to offer, again–
We’re going to solve all the problems of the world obviously. We’re not going to give up on altruism … I thought I would try to defend Objectivist Philosophy…
Objectivism clarifies the cognitive dissonance required to emit that text–
- Every major horror of history was committed in the name of an altruistic motive.
- We cannot fight against collectivism, unless we fight against its moral base: altruism. We cannot fight against altruism, unless we fight against its epistemological base: irrationalism.
- If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that men have to reject.
- [Altruism] is a moral system which holds that man has no right to exist for his own sake, that service to others is the sole justification of his existence, and that self-sacrifice is his highest moral duty, value and virtue. This is the moral base of collectivism, of all dictatorships.
- What most moralists—and few of their victims—realize is that reason and altruism are incompatible.
- Altruism does not mean mere kindness or generosity, but the sacrifice of the best among men to the worst, the sacrifice of virtues to flaws, of ability to incompetence, of progress to stagnation-and the subordinating of all life and of all values to the claims of anyone’s suffering.
- Men have been taught that their first concern is to relieve the suffering of others. ... To make that the highest test of virtue is to make suffering the most important part of life. Then man must wish to see others suffer in order that he may be virtuous. Such is the nature of altruism.
- Capitalism and altruism are incompatible; they are philosophical opposites; they cannot co-exist in the same man or in the same society.
- Guilt is altruism’s stock in trade, and the inducing of guilt is its only means of self-perpetuation.
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Re^3: Rand’n’Brand
by InfiniteSilence (Curate) on Mar 30, 2017 at 16:07 UTC
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To all this objectivist talk I respond: to all things their own season.
What I listen for in every philosophy are absolutes. They are the 'tell' for intolerance.
When I was a kid playing basketball I was a pretty bad dribbler and my shots were lousy and off-balance but I learned pretty quickly how to 'read' a person's stance, their eyes, head position, and eventually whatever 'tells' they consistently presented before driving for a shot. I would strategically place myself in their path with my hands right where the ball was going to be. Result? Either they fouled me or the ball would pop right out into of one of my teammate's paths. Score!
We do not live in a binary world, so a discussion of opposites is often illusory. The ancient symbol of the yin and yang are superior to this form of thinking. In all good there is some bad and vice versa.
Next, back to this business of seasons. True, the weak require altruism. So do ones children. So do plants in the field. So do bees and crocodiles from time to time. When altruism is overused, like too much medicine, it becomes a problem. When objectivism is overused, similarly, it becomes a problem.
Celebrate Intellectual Diversity
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To be clear, none of those quotes is mine. I was just rebutting the dissonant juxtaposition.
Child pornography should be allowed in some cases if you’re right since it’s not absolutely wrong; being there are no absolutes. Slavery and theft and murder must have their places too; etc, etc, etc.
We live in binary world in many senses; life itself being the prime example. Being alive or dead is pretty binary. And as programmers we deal in logic and math which is absolute; at least at the Newtonian level.
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We live in binary world in many senses; life itself being the prime example. Being alive or dead is pretty binary.
How do you map people in persistent vegetative states and unborn fetus' to 0 & 1?
How about someone in the first 4 minutes after their heart has stopped beating?
How about that same person after the four minutes is up, but before their nails and hair have stopped growing?
With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'
Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
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Re^3: Rand’n’Brand
by Anonymous Monk on Mar 27, 2017 at 06:14 UTC
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WTF Your Mother, who is going glue back all those broken illusions?!
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