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When a Russian Woman Sliced and Diced

Posted by Herb7734 6 years, 9 months ago to Philosophy
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Let us return to those thrilling days of yesteryear when Ayn Rand answered questions in person to doubters and mockers. She was asked at a Random House sales meeting by one of the book salesmen if she could present the essence of her philosophy while standing on one foot She did as follows:
"1.Metaphysics: Objective reality
2. Epistimology:Reason
3. Ethics:Self Interist
4. Politics: Capitalism."
Translated into simple language it reads: ""Nature to be commanded must be obeyed or Wishing won't make it so."
2. You can't have your cake and eat it too."
3." Man is an end in himself." "4. Give me liberty or give me death."

She went on::
"1.Reality existsas an objective absolute -- facts are facts , independent of man's feelings, wishes,hopes, or fears.
2. Reason ( the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man's senses)is man's only means of perceiving reality,his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.
3. Every man is -- an end in himself, not the means to the end of others, He must exist for his own sake neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to him. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
4. The ideal political economic system is laissez-faire capitalism.It is a system where men deal with one another not as victims and executioners nor as masters and slaves but as traders , by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit"


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  • Posted by Dobrien 6 years, 9 months ago
    This is a video of Ayn in her own words standing on one foot. I send this to many people.
    https://youtu.be/8VSBGu7-1rU
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    • Posted by 6 years, 9 months ago
      I just realized while listening to the recording of your post that A.R. sounded just like my Grandpa Sherman. Only, he was a baritone and sh was an alto.Notice how precise her sentences and their construction was. If she didn't have the accent, you probably would notice to a greater degree how idiomatic she was.
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    • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 6 years, 9 months ago
      Still didn't see her standing on one foot, but thanks for the video ref. Dob.

      Listened again to the one about faith/conviction. One, blind belief, the other an opinionated belief.
      I have a tendency to stay away from both. I observe and try to do so objectively. However, with ideas, theories or concepts, my observations could be wrong just as blindly believing or belief's in one's own opinion but I think one can easily see and except, without cognitive dissonance an error in perception and adapt; as opposed to an error in conviction, blind or otherwise.
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      • Posted by Dobrien 6 years, 9 months ago
        In the video she says "which is why philosophy cannot be discussed while standing on one foot
        Nor on two feet While standing on both sides of every fence."
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        • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 6 years, 9 months ago
          I saw that toward the end...hmm, "While standing on Both sides of the fence"...I have a sense, that there are at least a few of those acting these days.

          Was just reading Q drop from yesterday...A whole lot of indictments already...the most, of course, in the state dept.++ two former sec's of state.
          Not to mention a prediction of 3 arrests for treason, coming to a swamp near by...
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          • Posted by Dobrien 6 years, 9 months ago
            The patriot hour Q Map . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqmqY...
            Q Anon He says numerous times to learn to read the map. I wanted to send you the link I found that has it all pieced out . Then later when I went to open it was just a white screen like it was scrubbed.. It was http://Throughtelookingglass.wordpres...
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            • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 6 years, 9 months ago
              Yep...allllll the stuff I have been reading about from a plethora of sources over the years...guess it wasn't "Bunk" after all. Global watch weekly, in which I've sent you a few links has shown this information too.

              I will forever stand by my observation, my statement that, "These creatures are not human in any respect what so ever"!

              Rest assured: "They Curse the day they used that clay."
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              • Posted by Dobrien 6 years, 9 months ago
                I wish all those who deny a global conspiracy would explain their reasoning or lack there of..
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                • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 6 years, 9 months ago
                  Me too! of course the use of the phrase was to confound and deny our due.

                  Q Map:
                  Two things jumped out at me, one familiar and the other not.
                  Well acquainted with the Montauk project, to think I visited their via my yacht many times...gives me the shivers now.
                  The other, Washington's letter 1789. link: https://www.scribd.com/document/14137...

                  Just a brief, here that may add to my observations of Freemasonry prior to it's perversions in the 1800's.
                  Washington writes:
                  "to correct an error you have run into, of my Presiding over the English lodges in this Country. The fact is, I preside over none, nor have I been in one more than once or twice, within the last thirty years. I believe notwithstanding, that none of the Lodges in this Country are contaminated with the principles ascribed to the Society of the Illuminati. With respect I am &c"
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                • Posted by 6 years, 9 months ago
                  Got me. Carl opened the door and I stepped through.
                  Frank Zappa, hides his brilliance in peculiarities.
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                  • Posted by Dobrien 6 years, 9 months ago
                    Saw Zappa in 74 as a 17 year old in St. Paul back then we considered him a genius My buddies and I found this tune very entertaining.
                    https://g.co/kgs/2hZ4WX And the lyrics
                    https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/frank...
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                    • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 6 years, 9 months ago
                      Never heard the song but sure sound like a night out on the north end of town...back in the day.

                      Cracked up at: "got any cooties in there"?
                      A phrase we used about girls and they visa versa that later became the name of a kids game.
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                      • Posted by Dobrien 6 years, 9 months ago
                        When I was 6 after having my tonsils removed
                        I was given the cooties game was a gift along with unlimited ice cream for a few days.
                        The game was kinda like Mr Potatohead.
                        You had to add legs and other appendages to build the bug. Not the most brilliant game but a long time seller for Milton Bradley. I am reminded now of pick-up sticks that I would play with my friend Tommy Cline in the early to mid sixties.
                        Pick-up sticks or pick-a-stick is a game of physical and mental skill in which a bundle of "sticks", between 8 and 20 centimeters long, are dropped as a loose bunch onto a table top, jumbling into a random pile. Each player in turn tries to remove a stick from the pile without disturbing any of the others. The game has several versions such as Jackstraws (or Jack Straws), Spellicans, and Spillikins, and appears in a line of a nursery rhyme: "...five, six, pic
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                        • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 6 years, 9 months ago
                          We played the sticks and jacks. People were always upset, so I always thought I was doing something wrong until my best friend told me, their pissed cause I always win the game.
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                          • Posted by Dobrien 6 years, 9 months ago
                            I get it. Tommy Cline was Two years older but I was his equal or better after I learned the games we would play. Another frequent game was all-star baseball. You probably know this game. You would pick your team of players whose batting avg would be represented on a disk. Frankie frisk was always a good selection. The disk would be place on the board and you would spin an arrow and see where it stopped on the disk. Over half the disk for Frisk was a single. Ruth had the biggest space for a home run but an even bigger space for strikeout or pop up. Examining the disks to find big double area or singles was a good strategy.https://www.google.com/search?q=all+star+base...
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  • Posted by Solver 6 years, 9 months ago
    This is great and very understandable. It would interesting to see if the essence of other philosophies could ever be described this way.
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  • Posted by 6 years, 9 months ago
    So it was when A.R. ran the gauntlet and proved to be sharper than any of those around her who woul try putting her down.Her ideas were well thought out and her presentation contained an unarguable moral authority that no one could argue without winding up bloody.
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  • Posted by DrZarkov99 6 years, 9 months ago
    The flaw in Rand's, and so many other philosopher-economists' thinking about a "free market" is that for it to work as expected, it must be free from government interference. The government of South Korea intentionally subsidized its electronics producers in order to dominate the world market by undercutting other producers. They successfully killed the American producers, and almost shoved Japanese producers out of the world market (before Japan subsidized its own manufacturers)

    A number of Asian countries pulled American chip manufacturing into their countries by offering extremely low wage expenses (of course our own tax laws did part of driving companies toward that end). We very nearly fell into the trap of having all of our strategically critical electronics components made in China.

    The people hiding behind the free market banner pillory Trump for imposing tariffs disregarding the onerous tariffs and fees imposed on American goods by other nations. As Elon Musk points out, we have a 2.5% tariff on Chinese-produced cars, while China imposes a 25% tariff on American-produced cars and trucks. I venture to say that if the American people were well educated on the fees and tariffs currently imposed on American companies products and agricultural goods by other countries, their heads would explode.

    Objectivism, like nearly all of the "isms" is first based on the idea that once educated, everyone will naturally see its superiority and eagerly adopt its precepts. Objectivism and its partner, capitalism operate well in an insular environment, with better results than any other system, as demonstrated so many times by various authoritarian isolationist failures. The difficulty is in dealing with other societies that don't view Objectivism or capitalism as favorably. I find objectivism should be a natural match with the American system, as both focus on the individual. Collectivist societies view objectivism as toxic, making it difficult to pursue natural interests, as they don't match.
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    • Posted by 6 years, 9 months ago
      You are right. But in the presentation of Rand's phiosophy government interference would not be a problem since it is assumed that those elected to government would be objectivists, a government so comprised would not interfere in the manner you describe. If we include human nature of the type currently afflicting the race, then we have a different problem. No philosophy will work in the face of greed, hatred power-hungry-ness and the like. So if and when humans progress to that point, we should try to come as close to capitalism as possible, making allowances for human frailty and hope that humanity will start teaching its children the true difference between good and evil.
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      • Posted by DrZarkov99 6 years, 9 months ago
        What I may not have made clear is that even assuming a nation of objectivists, they are affected in their performance when dealing with other nations that are not based on objectivity. In theory, America is very capable of self-supporting isolationism, and in that setting, objectivism and free market capitalism would be the path to success.
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        • Posted by Solver 6 years, 9 months ago
          My guess,
          Since an Obectivist government would not be allowed to have brutal influence on the economy, how economically isolated such a society would be, would depend on the free choice of each individual.
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          • Posted by DrZarkov99 6 years, 9 months ago
            Good point. In fact, with a real free market, it might be difficult to avoid "foreign entanglements," at least with foreign companies eager to participate in a laissez-faire capitalist economy. The problem would be how to avoid cultural distortion from the arrival of people who don't share the objectivist view. That is the problem many developed countries now face, with a flood of tribalist invaders masked as refugees or immigrants.
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            • Posted by Solver 6 years, 9 months ago
              I’m guessing that the individual discriminating, for what ever reason, would not be outlawed. Then it would be the individual, not government, that would be free to choose who to do business with.
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              • Posted by 6 years, 9 months ago
                The whole point is the individual. If government does it, it's a no - no, if an individual does it, it can be dealt with because the individual hasn't the legal use of force like the state.
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