I think we need an "Objectivist Answers" tab. What say you?

Posted by Zero 8 years, 9 months ago to Ask the Gulch
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We need a place where people can ask questions about Objectivism and get an Objectivist answer - not a robust discussion of every fool's opinion.

I'm not asking for a place where only a few are qualified to answer.
I'm thinking more of a place that is actively moderated - by a few or many - for Objectivist accuracy.

It doesn't have to be the whole site - just one tab.

What say you, Kindred Spirits?


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  • Posted by $ Abaco 8 years, 9 months ago
    Interesting idea. It may help in solve the common problem of people giving a Republican answer as though it's Objectivist. Damn, I hate that. Thankfully, we don't see much of it here.
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  • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 8 years, 9 months ago
    The problem is your stipulation that the answers to your questions be "bonafide Objectivism." Of all the people associated here, I would look to Dr. David Kelley. However, he launched the Atlas Society after leaving the Ayn Rand Institute. So, what is "bonafide Objectivism?"

    Of the active writers here, ewv strikes me as speaking most in the voice of Objectivism. While dhalling certainly has a good grasp of the body of works, he writes in a different voice, and has his own focus. I have been with this for 50 years. I took the Basic Principles class. My books are annotated from repeated readings. However, I assure you that if I offered myself as an expert, I would get much argument from many people.

    Perhaps you should just ask your question and see who quotes canon. We have an "Ask the Gulch" category, and another for Philosophy. The ball is in your court. (Is tennis a rational sport?)
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 9 months ago
    Would provide some clarity and clean out the poseurs. Though most are easy to spot in a sentence or two. But since it is an objectivist site I see no harm in having it in addition to, I might object objectively to a closed site with a fee or entrance examination though it might be fun and productive to produce one. If nothing else give beginners a start point .

    What are the three laws of Objectivism?
    No multiple guess....essay style.
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  • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 8 years, 9 months ago
    If you have to stay online, start with the Ayn Rand Lexicon. You will find several hundred easy-to-read answers there. If you are more interested, Rand wrote essays for 30 years in her newsletters and magazines; and those were collected into anthologies.

    Have you read the basic works:
    1- We the Living
    2- Anthem
    3- The Fountainhead
    4- Atlas Shrugged
    5- For the New Intellectual
    6- Virtue of Selfishness
    7- Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal
    8- The Romantic Manifesto

    For the New Intellectual is probably the best bridge between the fiction and non-fiction because it consists largely of the soliloquies from the novels.

    In all over 50 books by and about Objectivism have been published.
    http://necessaryfacts.blogspot.com/20...

    You are not going to get it all in a few Q&As. It is, however, a hierarchy of knowledge and the basic principles are fairly easy to access, again, from the basic eight books.

    If you want a catechism, you are going to be disappointed. While most of Objectivism is unarguable (once it is established as fact and value), it remains that any philosophy is about your life and you are going to have to decide. Right now, at the Ayn Rand Institute, you can listen to a podcast and read an article in which Leonard Peikoff and Yaron Brook disagree on immigration.

    Note, however, that they do not disagree about metaphysics.

    The works of Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff, David Kelley, and others who really are experts are easy to find. Essential truths that Ayn Rand herself announced and discussed are online. Not everything she said was Absolute Truth. (A woman can want to be President of the United States and wear a midi-skirt.), But you have to start with her original works and the acceptable canon of those who truly followed her line of reasoning.
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    • Posted by 8 years, 9 months ago
      Thank you, Mike.
      The Excellent Foundation.
      You know I'll be copy-pasting that list.

      But what of the point - about having a place on the Gulch where someone can expect to get a bonafide answer.
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      • Posted by $ WilliamShipley 8 years, 9 months ago
        Can we get Ayn Rand on the site? Anyone know a medium? The search for someone to "fact check" things is a modern vice. No one has a monopoly on truth. You have to make up your own mind.
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        • Posted by freedomforall 8 years, 9 months ago
          Yes, I think this comment would be rejected by the Objectivist maven, WS. I see your point, but I also understand Zero's request.
          The search for objective truth is arduous and that alone limits the number willing to accept the quest.
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