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Does Any Rand represent your atheist philosophy?
With Paul Ryan's selection as the vice-presidential candidate with Mitt Romney, much is being made of Ayn Rand and her philosophy of "greed is good, charity is evil." Since Rand was an atheist, I wonder: Does her belief system represent what atheism means to you?
Tags: Atheist, Ayn, Rand, philosophy
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clarence Dember on -
Ayn Rand stated altruism did not take into account whether or not the collective need acting as a claim check against individual ability had a value towards the life of that individul. Tyranny is not a substitute for volitional philanthropy or a patronag for a particular value you wish to uphold in society.
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Permalink Reply by Clarence Dember on
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During her lifetime, Ayn Rand did not condone the tyranny of a fascist collective need acting as a claim check against the ability of an individual. Whether that fascist collective need comes from the Vatican or the Federal Reserve Bank is a matter of coalition, rather than virtue as you would have it.
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Permalink Reply by Robert J. Bowlin on -
A nuanced view. I believe taking care of yourself first, others next while climbing Maslow's hierarchy of needs to be a decent balance. First steady the boat before helping others in. Rand ,I believe, would steady the boat and then pass by her family and friends as she searched for the most qualified rower. It is however Rand that brought me to Humanism. As I cast off the gods, I was in search of something new to follow. It wasn't until I read Rands description of a church for humans in The Fountainhead that I realized that the answer was before me the whole time. We must look to each other for the answers.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Black on -
Atheism is only a "no woo" stance about our world as far as I am concerned.
Personally, I find many of Rand's stances very appealing in theory. Because of my admiration of many different philosophies (some of which contradict each other very drastically), I am quite certain that adhering to any one philosophy dogmatically is as equally destructive as adhering to any belief in the supernatural. Real life is much more complex than what we can sum up with just 10 or even 1,000 initial assumptions.
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Permalink Reply by Hiram on -
NOOO
She was very intelligent, but was a crazy right wing capitalist self-serving narcissist chain-smoking intellectual. I listened to her audio book 'the virtue of selfishness', and although i admire her sharpness, i think she was an extremist who overreacted to soviet oppression and idealized predatory capitalism
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Permalink Reply by Marcus A Pryor on -
Will Durant stated philosophy never contadicted itself, because each philospher built on the others who preceded them. If you consider Ayn Rand a philosopher (I don't) then you have to say she was an exception to Durant's rule. Just because she was an atheist doesn't mean she was right. My brother is a strong believer in her because he also espouses selfishness. I don't think he is an atheist.
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Permalink Reply by Dan Harkins on
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Ayn Rand's work is best summed up by that old apocryphal story of an editor's response to an aspiring writer's manuscript: "Your work is both good and original. Unfortunately, what is good is not original and what is original is not good!"
If she was not so full of herself, nicotine and crap, she would have realized her "philosophy" had already been thoroughly discredited by three little words before she jotted down one of her nitwit thoughts. Those three words: Edison vs. Tesla.
Edison invented nothing beyond crony capitalism and intellectual theft. Holy sh*t those two things had already been invented so I guess he stole those too. Goddamn you Edison!
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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Chang on -
Ayn Rand is a hack philosopher as far as I'm concerned. Her philosophy makes so many leaps of faith I don't understand what anyone sees in it. She regularly changes the accepted meaning of words to fit her philosophy.
In fact, I think any form of ethical naturalism -- the idea that some property in nature (in Objectivism, it seems to be the biological purpose of life as Rand sees it) could define morality -- is bullshit.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Black on
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Just google her name or the phrase "who is John Galt?" You will quickly get entries to read.
I'm not giving you a fishing pole. I'm giving you a net(and a big one at that). You will have to sort out the garbage from the catch. But, I think you will have some aptitude for that considering your lack of faith.
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Permalink Reply by Dr. Allan H. Clark on -
Not at all. Rand recognizes no other philosophers or ideas besides her own. She simplifies problems by refusing to consider other positions. Her notions of logic are elementary and incomplete. Rand's philosophy is at best a justification for unbridled laissez-faire capitalism. In other areas she has not made a significant impact on philosophy.
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Shafer-Skelton on
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Ayn Rand suffered from the common taint of the idealist. Her philosophy assumes too much. And furthermore the strongest adherents of her theory aren't even aligned with her beliefs!!! Rearden and Wyatt and Dagny were all both inventors, problem solvers, and fanatics about their fields. Who were the villains? Undeserving businessmen! Entitled people who contributed nothing! Dagny's own brother was unfit to run the rail road business because he was an entitled spoiled brat! Half of the "capitalists" and businessmen" in America are like James Taggart. Rich because of mommy and daddy and totally incapable of running a company. Dagny and Henry were long term thinkers not out for short term profits.
90% of Ayn Rand's biggest fans are the villains of her fucking novels.
I disagree with many aspects of Randian philosophy, but she must be rolling over in her grave hearing the kind of people who espouse her beliefs.
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