www.cs.cmu.edu/~andrej/objectivism -> www.andrej.com/objectivism/
Step 6: Man as a Rational Animal 10 Step 7: Egoism 11 Step 8: Capitalism 12 Step 9: Art and sthetics 13 Step 10: Objectivism in Practice See 14 responses to this document. Step 1: Axioms Axioms are the most obvious statements from which everything else follows. The Objectivist axioms are set up in such a way that they are irrefutable. Anyone trying to object to them must implicitly assume them even before he or she can formulate a counter-argument. It will be discussed further in the section about Identity. It may appear at a first glance that the Axiom of Subject and the Axiom of Object are the same. However, they are really like two sides of the same coin. The Axiom of Subject puts emphasis on the word I, whereas the Axiom of Object stresses the word something. Their apparent similarity reminds me of the fact that I cannot be aware without being aware of something. Exercise: Read out loud the Axioms of Subject and Object with proper emphasis. Exercise: Give examples of the Axiom of Identity by instantiating the variable A with pieces of furniture that you see around yourself. Exercise: Refute the so-called Universal Refutation of Philosophy invented by Raymond Smullyan: That's what you say! Hint: derive the three Objectivist axioms from the Universal Refutation. For extra credit, derive the Axioms of Subject and Object in essentially different ways. Step 2: Reason and Logic I identify the method by which true knowledge is acquired. But since it is logically impossible for me to be aware of anything unreal, it follows that the proper way to acquire knowledge is to use logic. Put in another way, my capacity to use logic is called reason. When I am reasoning in accordance with reality, I acquire new knowledge. Logic is that method of thinking which is in accordance with reality. Exercise: Demonstrate the power of logic and thinking in accordance with reality by proving the following elementary theorem in geometry: In a triangle the inscribed circle touches the circle that passes through the midpoints of the sides. Exercise: Use reason to establish the following syllogism, first postulated by Aristotle, the greatest philosopher of all time: If all A are B, and all A are C, then some B are C. Step 3: Identity The Axiom of Identity can be rephrased by saying that things quite simply are what they are. In philosophical language we say that a thing has identity. This also means that a thing is identical with its properties and characteristics. The most important consequences of this realization are explained through the following exercises. Exercise: Explain in lay terms the following passage from Ayn Rand's unpublished Secret Diary of Howard Roark: November 18, 1998 Today was her 21st birthday. We got drunk together and she tried to convince me that I didn't take our relationship seriously. I kept telling her that relationships had a secondary epistemological status, anyway, because they were generated by predicates emphasis added . I tried to explain to her that that followed logically from A is A, but she wouldn't listen. I love her, but if she does not get her identity straight soon, things could get pretty nasty between her and me. Extra credit: Eliminate all relations from the last sentence in the above passage by replacing them with combinations of predicates. Exercise: Fill in the details in the following argument which swiftly dispenses with all forms of skepticism. Knowledge is obtained by reasoning in accordance with how things are. Exercise: Show that relativity theory and quantum mechanics are based on corrupt philosophies because they violate the principle of identity. In particular, relativity theory denies objectivity of knowledge (see previous exercise), and quantum theory denies identity itself (particles do not have definite properties). Step 4: Concept Edmund Husserl (1859--1938) derived his own brand of philosophy, called phenomenology, from Ayn Rand's monumental work "Atlas Shrugged". In many ways Husserl's philosophy is fundamentally flawed and a true Objectivist cannot accept it because it denies that A is A. However, by a dumb strike of luck Husserl provided an excellent analysis of the fundamental concept 'concept'. We take a modern phenomenological explanation of concepts from an article 15 CENSORED by 16 CENSORED . This is one of the best concise explanations of Objectivist concepts--it is ironic that 17 CENSORED himself is very much opposed to Objectivism. Even though you cannot define a chair, you recognize one when you see it. Exercise: Find the original article 19 CENSORED by 20 CENSORED and read it. Criticize the article from the Objectivist point of view. Exercise: Refute the following argument: Concepts are unnecessary constructs of a suspicious mental nature. It is better to avoid concepts and talk about language only. For extra credit, base your refutation on the following passage from "The Fountainhead": She took off her nightgown, stepped to the window, sighed deeply and said: "The mind is the origin of all meaning. Step 5: Context It is clear that different people perceive different sense-data. For example, if a group of people is watching a statue they will perceive slightly different images of it, depending on where they stand. Nobody would argue that each of them must be perceiving a different, personal copy of the statue. The differences in perception are accounted for in the differences in their positions. For example, a group of people will mostly agree on what a chair is, but they will disagree in a small proportion of cases. This is because their minds grasp the concept of a chair from different contexts. It should not be argued that every mind somehow grasps its personal copy of a concept. Instead, the differences are accounted for in the differences of contexts. Neither is it correct to say that when the context changes the concepts change with it, but rather that the same concepts are understood in a different way. Exercise: Find a friend and discuss with him or her the differences in your understanding of the following concepts: set, cricket, glass, cricket, poker, down. Step 6: Man as Rational Animal You have now completed the first part of your Objectivist training in which you learned the basics of Objectivist epistemology and metaphysics. The second part is concerned with Objectivist ethics, which is a logical consequence of Objectivist epistemology. What makes a man a man (the technical expression is "man qua man")? In accordance with the method of integration and differentiation, a proper definition of man identifies man as a member of a larger category by differentiating it from other members of that category. Clearly, the larger category is animal, and the distinguishing characteristic of man is reason. Thus, we arrive at the conclusion that Man qua man is a rational animal. Identity of a rational consciousness manifests itself in its ability to reason independently of other consciousnesses. In other words, rational consciousness cannot have identity without being independent of other consciousnesses. An independent consciousness cannot exist in a society in which its existence depends vitally on the actions of other consciousnesses. The defining characteristic of an ant hill is the existential inter-dependence of its members. Extra credit: Does it follow that Darwin's theory of evolution is flawed, since his theory in principle allows existence of rational ants? Exercise: Use the ideas from the previous exercise to show that the definition of man as rational social animal is unacceptable because freedom is an essential characteristic of a rational consciousness. Step 7: Egoism A moral value is that which one believes and acts upon. The question arises, what are the moral values of a man? Observe that in step egoism is defined as holding ones own identity as moral value. The 23 Ayn Rand Institute explains the Objectivist moral values as follows: Ethics "Reason is man's only proper judge of values and his only proper guide to action. Rationality is man's basic virtue, and his three fundamental values are: reason, purpose, self-esteem. Man--every man--is an end in himself, not a mea...
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