Why do philosophers ignore Ayn Rand?
It is clearly evident that not only are Ayn Rand's teachings sensible, at least in terms of people, or at least most people, being able to relate them to something completely knowable, but they are quite unique in that no philosopher before has made it a point to stand up for everything she is proposing. So why is it that philosophers pretend she
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Your life is of no consequence. You will be dead in a few decades, and what will I, or the world, or anyone else have gained from you?
>>The best way to run my life is rational self interest. That other people aren't able to compete is not all that important, because it is THEIR inability to compete that makes them this way.< The problem here is that rational self interest obviously demands a degree of cooperation and social responsibility. A group which cannot work together is a weak group, easily defeated by others. A group which offers no benefits to the majority of it's members finds itself outmanuevered by systems that appeal more to the dangerous masses. The free market itself demonstrates clearly the way weak, abandoned backwaters can drag down higher performing sectors if left untended ( ... )
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You're missing the point. My life IS of consequence.
The problem here is that rational self interest obviously demands a degree of cooperation and social responsibility. A group which cannot work together is a weak group, easily defeated by others. A group which offers no benefits to the majority of it's members finds itself outmanuevered by systems that appeal more to the dangerous masses. The free market itself demonstrates clearly the way weak, abandoned backwaters can drag down higher performing sectors if left untended.
You're missing the point again. What happens to the group is not as important as my own life.
Well, the problem here is not their incompotence but yours - in a short sighted effort to achieve more in moment, you ignore the fundamental isntability of the system you are operating within. The free market is essentially a natural competative system, and like all such systems in ( ... )
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You get pwned by hollowman, LJ Philosophy's own Old Growth Stupid.
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Not to me. If we are making self-interest the ultimate in being correct, then I would much rather you use your wealth to shore up unstable areas that might prove threatening to me. This is exactly what you should want me to do as well. What you are proposing is a system where you survive as a parasite, leeching off the willingness of others to contribute to a stable system, while your yourself withhold contribution to achieve a higher standard of living for yourself. This is understandable until you make the leap and try to call your position moral, which is absurd.
>>You're missing the point again. What happens to the group is not as important as my own life.< You're missing the point. What happens to the group effects what happens in your life, far more than anything you do as an individual. This is easy to forget, since we live in a rich mixed economy state that provides a degree of regulation to our economy. This would be much harder to forget if we lived in Ayn Rand's ( ... )
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2. Care to prove this? All of this is speculation on your part. It is up to you to prove to me that capitalism actually leads to said crisis.
3. If they are the kind of person who would kill me for my money, why do they even deserve it? And why wouldn't I own a gun? BTW, what constitutes a base of an economic pyramid? Simply anybody who uses money, or merely the majority of people, whether they use it or not?
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On the contrary - it would be very much in my interest to use your wealth.
>>2. Care to prove this? All of this is speculation on your part. It is up to you to prove to me that capitalism actually leads to said crisis.< It's not a crisis, it's what happens. Capitalism doesn't lead there because people choose to regulate their economies under capitalism - Capitalists tend to have an inkling of how economies work. It is hare brained theorists who talk about a pure free market economy, which has never really existed, since nobody who actually understands money would be that foolish with it. The closest we've seen are ancient economies that existed before the capacity for real regulation existed; or, as mentioned, natural systems - which are of course economies in their own right, with energy as the chief monetary unit ( ... )
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2. So you basically admit that we've never had a capitalist economy, yet you know so much about it. Explain how this is possible. Also, an economy can only exist where actors possess volition.
3. It is in your interest to treat people how they deserve to be treated, because rationality is the chief virtue and that, along with other things, proves that justice is a virtue. As for money in circulation, what about inflationary periods where so much money is in circulation that it can't be backed up?
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Well, you can feel free to explain that to the next guy who tries to rob you. I doubt he will take the time to explain to you how idiotic that statement is, but maybe you'll work it out yourself later, while he enjoys a good steak at your expense.
>>So you basically admit that we've never had a capitalist economy, yet you know so much about it.<<
The same way we know anything we have not experienced exactly - by applying what we do know and extrapolating from this knowledge. This is how we can arrive at knowledge beyond our direct experiences.
>>Also, an economy can only exist where actors possess volition.< Nonsense. Volition is of no utility when examining economic systems. Economists will be the first to tell you this - we deal with the market and the actors therein as abstracts, and they act as abstracts. Individual volition is lost within the herd. In anycase, people are ( ... )
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I wrote a very, very long response to both this comment and to your initial question over here: http://community.livejournal.com/aynrandforum/188417.html. If you want, I'd like to invite you to join the community. It's not really super-active anymore, but you can find some people to talk about Ayn Rand with if you're looking for that.
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