Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Should you think about your duty, or about the consequences of your actions? Or should you concentrate on becoming a good person?

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prof
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by prof »

With regard to the issues of self-interest and selfishness, see the discussion, in the form of a dialog, on pp. 25-27 of the paper, Katz - Ethical Explorations, HERE;

http://wadeharvey.myqol.com/wadeharvey/ ... ONS%20.pdf
bergie15
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by bergie15 »

I think everyone can be selfish at times. It is when people cannot work and cooperate with others because of it is when it becomes a problem.
prof
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by prof »

bergie15 wrote:I think everyone can be selfish at times. It is when people cannot work and cooperate with others because of it is when it becomes a problem.
Yes, and we are all greedy at times. But we can't call these concepts - selfishness and greed - virtues :!: :roll:
Dalek Prime
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by Dalek Prime »

Ayn Rand is a dead cult leader, who only impresses teenagers struggling to find an identity, which they sorely lack at that age.

I saw a brief and funny edit of 'The Fountainhead' which is really just a shorter version of 'Atlas Shrugged'. It shows Jimmy Stewart being told he'll never become an architect. Then it cuts to Jimmy Stewart, later in the same office, loudly and proudly proclaiming 'I am an architect!', and ends. Lol! Whoopee doo, Jimmy. Want a cookie and some milk?

Her 'philosophy' claims that the 'best' exist outside the rest, and don't need them. And that, if they are underappreciated by the rest (in their estimation), they can take their ball and walk away from society, which they believe will collapse without them, whilst they flourish in a new utopia of their own creation... Her belief system is puerile at best.
Walker
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by Walker »

Add factual prescience to your imaginative Rand litany.

http://www.theatlantic.com/internationa ... rt/481755/

“Harvey has not only overcome time and space, but any objections.”

*

Her descriptions of the communal spaces in her Atlas Shrugged Shambhala bring to mind what Taliesin West must have been like on those hot desert nights.
Dalek Prime
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by Dalek Prime »

:roll: Walker, was it a tough decision for you between Objectivism and Scientology? How does one decide on a cult? Air Mile rewards?
Dalek Prime
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by Dalek Prime »

Walker wrote:Add factual prescience to your imaginative Rand litany. OMG, you're right! It was Gary Cooper, not Jimmy Stewart! Sorry Jimmy! Jimmy Stewart would never blow up buildings in an act of terrorism, as Howard (John Galt) Rourke did in the novel.

“Harvey has not only overcome time and space, but any objections.” Objections to what? Time and space? Gravity? The speed of light? Foul language? Bad breath? Stale farts?

*

Her descriptions of the communal spaces in her Atlas Shrugged Shambhala bring to mind what Taliesin West must have been like on those hot desert nights. Would this be before or after your hero, John Galt, commits rape? Are you saying Frank Lloyd Wright was a rapist as well?
Walker
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by Walker »

:)

Be this devolution or the dalek prime-directive?

I read that Frank Lloyd found petroglyphs while building Taliesin West and reflected the designs. Graffiti made by serious artists, vision quest stuff?

Rand said that the model for all her heroes was her husband. How bout that.
Last edited by Walker on Thu May 19, 2016 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dalek Prime
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by Dalek Prime »

Walker wrote::)

Be this devolution or the dalek prime-directive?
Neither. Just the facts as presented to you. And you didn't answer my question. Was it a tough choice between two cults, or did you favour one in advance?

'Xenu or Galt? Ayn Rand or L Ron Hubbard?.... "Ayn Ron Rubbard"?... Hmmm....'
Walker
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by Walker »

Dalek Prime wrote:
Walker wrote::)

Be this devolution or the dalek prime-directive?
Neither. Just the facts as presented to you. And you didn't answer my question. Was it a tough choice between two cults, or did you favour one in advance?

'Xenu or Galt? Ayn Rand or L Ron Hubbard?.... "Ayn Ron Rubbard"?... Hmmm....'
ARR. Pirate talk. Rand had a pirate character and made him a hero. He wasn't Somalian, or of the Barbary tribe. He was a good guy.

*

To the possibilities of devolution or the dalek prime-directive, might we add fulfillment of capacity as a possibility? Naw, you’re better than that. I just know it.
Dalek Prime
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by Dalek Prime »

Allow me to reword my question, and pose it anew. If Xenu and Galt stepped into a boxing ring, who would come out the victor? Would John Galt proceed to rape Xenu, should he render him unconscious? And would Xenu fill John Galt with thetans (alien spirits), should he be victorious?
Dalek Prime
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by Dalek Prime »

Walker wrote::)

Be this devolution or the dalek prime-directive?

I read that Frank Lloyd found petroglyphs while building Taliesin West and reflected the designs. Graffiti made by serious artists, vision quest stuff?

Rand said that the model for all her heroes was her husband. How bout that.
You mean the guy she cheated on and cuckolded was the basis of her hero? Awesome.
Walker
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by Walker »

Dalek Prime wrote:
Walker wrote::)

Be this devolution or the dalek prime-directive?

I read that Frank Lloyd found petroglyphs while building Taliesin West and reflected the designs. Graffiti made by serious artists, vision quest stuff?

Rand said that the model for all her heroes was her husband. How bout that.
You mean the guy she cheated on and cuckolded was the basis of her hero? Awesome.
Feel free to shift attention away from casting the net for tribe of the Dalek prime-directive and entering into a new and exciting state of consciousness called rationality, via explaining the perceived contradictions according to your subjective world view. You do know what Rand said about contradictions, don't you.
Dalek Prime
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by Dalek Prime »

C'mon Walker! Xenu or Galt? Don't sit on the fence.

Anyways, it's been fun Walker (no, not really). Do let us know when you grow out of this juvenile Randian stage, and achieve your own identity. Meh, on second thought, I honestly couldn't care less, so keep it to yourself. I don't run a self-help group for cultists. There are already plenty out there
Walker
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Re: Ayn Rand and Selfishness as a Virtue

Post by Walker »

Moi? I follow nobody, Bub. You confuse knowledge and reasoning with advocacy while busily seeking answers to questions that pertain to a world of your own creation.
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