The new age of Ayn Rand

Re:The new age of Ayn Rand by xiphias on Tuesday April 11, 2017 @01:47PM (#14090557)

Objectivism's central tenets are that reality exists independently of consciousness, that human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception, that one can attain objective knowledge from perception through the process of concept formation and inductive logic, that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness (rational self-interest), that the only social system consistent with this morality is one that displays full respect for individual rights embodied in laissez-faire capitalism, and that the role of art in human life is to transform humans' metaphysical ideas by selective reproduction of reality into a physical form—a work of art—that one can comprehend and to which one can respond emotionally.

(From Wikipedia)

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Re:The new age of Ayn Rand by TheOtherHobbes on Tuesday April 11, 2017 @03:09PM (#14091375)

Which is obviously wrong, because it presupposes - against all the evidence of history - that humans are rational enough to understand the consequences of their own actions well enough to maximise their own contentment.

In reality "the pursuit of happiness" could mean working in a soup kitchen, meditating full-time, moving into the rain forest and living with a primitive tribe, or buying a farm and working towards becoming self-sufficient.

(Does this sound hypothetical? I know people who did some of these things, and some of them reported their happiness increased significantly.)

In reality it always seems to mean the narrow and small-mindedly unimaginative pursuit of money, power, and social status for the purposes of physical comfort, childish short-term ego gratification, self-importance, and conspicuous wealth/status display.

Sometimes a rare individual will produce something worthwhile as a side-effect. But don't confuse cause and effect - plenty of individuals chase these goals and produce absolutely nothing of value at all.

So there is no deep insight there. It's just a transparent exhortation to work, spend, manipulate, and consume in a very public way, instead of doing something more challenging with your life.

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