Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Gurdur · 12-29-2002, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 99Percent
....
The world is certainly not black and white but the truth of facts are, at least at the human experience of things. Anyone can recognize the truth and communicate what reality is to other humans. That people deny it or claim that absolute truth does not really exist and therefore you can do anything you want or formulate any philosophy or moral theory you can think of is an intellectual copout.

Odd. I've been told exactly that by Mormons, Evangelical Christians and even some Hindus.

pug846 · 12-29-2002, 03:32 PM

Krieger said:

Quote:

Shrug, that was in 1991. And here is the whole list from 1991 from your link:

�

I suspect now that LotR would be much higher for sure, and the Book or Mormon would be higher too (the LDS has grown quite a bit over the past 10 years).

I�m not sure where Atlas Shrugged would rank now, but if it were to fall a couple of spots behind LotR and the Book of Mormon, than that would hardly mean it wasn�t incredibly influential. I would think that having a philosophy book in the top 10 of that list would mean the author was �popular� by nearly any definition of the word. Atlas Shrugged still sells a pretty large amount of copies a year.

Quote:

Religions have to involve the supernatural and worship. Trying to claim that a particular political view is a "religion" is complete stupidity.

Then I�m not following you since you said in a previous post that Objectivism is a religion. Were you being sarcastic?

Fando,

Ayn Rand saw the world as black and white and said as much.

fando · 12-29-2002, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gurdur
It is an idealistic philosophy which ignores empiricism - and often used as a camouflage for other things, like simply not wanting to pay "high" levels of taxes.

This is exactly what I was worried about. I have super smart friends who are libertarian in the idealistic sense, primarily for reasons I suspect to be emotional. I have a hunch that reading Ayn Rand will be the same thing as listening to some of my friends.

I am hoping Ayn Rand is complex enough not to lend to such simple analysis. I guess I'll have to read her works to decide for myself.

Gurdur · 12-29-2002, 03:51 PM

Read away, fando --- just borrow the books, don't buy them.

BTW, the yeti provided elsewhere a link to this satire: Libertarianism in one lesson.

12-29-2002, 03:56 PM

Rand also was a heavy smoker who thought that smoking was cool, she doubted the fact of biological evolution, she abused amphetamines for most her adult life, and she obviously had a narcissist personality, i.e, she thought that she was incapable of making an error, and her basic reason for being an atheist was that she didn't like the idea of someone or something being higher in intellectual power than herself. No one is perfect, sure, but THIS is a role model? Bullshit.

Gurdur · 12-29-2002, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Robert G. Ingersoll
Rand also was a heavy smoker who thought that smoking was cool, she doubted the fact of biological evolution, she abused amphetamines for most her adult life, and she obviously had a narcissist personality, i.e, she thought that she was incapable of making an error, and her basic reason for being an atheist was that she didn't like the idea of someone or something being higher in intellectual power than herself. No one is perfect, sure, but THIS is a role model? Bullshit.

:notworthy

Krieger · 12-29-2002, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Pug:

Were you being sarcastic?

The sarcasm was extremely obvious. I don't see how anyone could have misunderstood it.

Monkeybot · 12-29-2002, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RED DAVE
I am partial to her affair with Nathaniel Branden. He was an extremely good looking man, and she was as ugly as sin. Her photographs are, I believe, invariably airbrushed.

So ugly people shouldn't date good looking ones?

Krieger · 12-29-2002, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Monkeybot
So ugly people shouldn't date good looking ones?

Bot, I'm sure Dave didn't mean it that way.

Monkeybot · 12-29-2002, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Krieger
Bot, I'm sure Dave didn't mean it that way.

Well, I'd prefer Dave to explain his meaning.

I'm not exactly clear on what the relevance of Rand's appearance, or the appearance of her lovers, is to her philosophical ideas -- or, more specifically, to her worth as a person.

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12-29-2002, 03:51 PM	#24
Gurdur Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Buggered if I know Posts: 12,410	Read away, fando --- just borrow the books, don't buy them. BTW, the yeti provided elsewhere a link to this satire: Libertarianism in one lesson.

12-29-2002, 03:56 PM	#25
Robert G. Ingersoll Guest Posts: n/a	Rand also was a heavy smoker who thought that smoking was cool, she doubted the fact of biological evolution, she abused amphetamines for most her adult life, and she obviously had a narcissist personality, i.e, she thought that she was incapable of making an error, and her basic reason for being an atheist was that she didn't like the idea of someone or something being higher in intellectual power than herself. No one is perfect, sure, but THIS is a role model? Bullshit.

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