Re:Ask HN: Which books do you wish you'd read earlier in life?
by dmfdmf on Saturday February 03, 2018 @03:30AM
(#16296780)
Rand addressed your comment about "selfish" being a pejorative (and "altruism" being a positive) in detail in the introduction to her work "The Virtue of Selfishness".
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The title of this book may evoke the kind of question that I hear once in a while: “Why do you use the word ‘selfishness’ to denote virtuous qualities of character, when that word antagonizes so many people to whom it does not mean the things you mean?”
To those who ask it, my answer is: "For the reason that makes you afraid of it.”
But there are others, who would not ask that question, sensing the moral cowardice it implies, yet who are unable to formulate my actual reason or to identify the profound moral issue involved. It is to them that I will give a more explicit answer.
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I think we agree that people should read Rand firsthand and judge for themselves.
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The title of this book may evoke the kind of question that I hear once in a while: “Why do you use the word ‘selfishness’ to denote virtuous qualities of character, when that word antagonizes so many people to whom it does not mean the things you mean?”
To those who ask it, my answer is: "For the reason that makes you afraid of it.”
But there are others, who would not ask that question, sensing the moral cowardice it implies, yet who are unable to formulate my actual reason or to identify the profound moral issue involved. It is to them that I will give a more explicit answer.
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I think we agree that people should read Rand firsthand and judge for themselves.