Happy Birthday Ayn Rand

Posted by PURB 9 years, 9 months ago to Philosophy
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In a small book a friend gave me called Myths about Ayn Rand, several well-known misconceptions were treated (AR was a concervative, an elitist, wasn't a serious philosopher) but the one I blurted out immediately doesn't appear: AR had no sense of humor
Anyone familiar with her writing, either fiction or not, knows this is simply not true.

To celebrate what would have been Rand's 110 birthday, I post a passage that still makes me laugh though I've read it countless times, from "Art and Moral Treason in The Romantic Manifesto.
"Apart from its many other evils, conventional morality is not concerned with the formation of a child's character. It does not teach or show him what kind of man he ought to be and why; it is concerned only with imposing a set of rules upon him — concrete, arbitrary, contradictory and, more often than not, incomprehensible rules, which are mainly prohibitions and duties. A child whose only notion of morality (i.e., of values) consists of such matters as: 'Wash your ears!' — 'Don't be rude to Aunt Rosalie!' — 'Do your homework!' — 'Help papa to mow the lawn (or mama to wash the dishes)!' — faces the alternative of: either a passively amoral resignation, leading to a future of hopeless cynicism, or a blind rebellion.


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  • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 9 months ago
    Few of those statements deal with morality or ethics but rather manners, which is different.

    Besides, what do you find funny about that passage?
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    • Posted by 9 years, 9 months ago
      That's Rand's point. Pronouncements like these -- "Don't be rude to Aunt Rosalie" -- do not equip a child with moral education.
      If you read it with the tone Rand intended, you may find "Aunt Rosalie" funny as well.
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      • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 9 months ago
        But those statements aren't supposed to be the extent of moral teaching. I would put the 10 Commandments on that plain, not these statements about good manners.
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