הערות

Objectivism holds that for each person his own life is his ultimate value. Morally, the greatest thing one can do is to live robustly and to keep living. Happiness, in the Objectivist view, is the emotional experience of living well. Happiness is not a state one achieves, but the experience one has in the process of living a flourishing, robust life. Happiness is a complex emotion, involving many rather different subsidiary emotions, such as contentment, confidence, satisfaction, excitement, joy, and good cheer. These emotions generally proceed from achieving one's values, as when one feels joy and satisfaction over completing an important project, or as when one feels content after a good dinner. Happiness also proceeds from one's self-esteem, one's general sense that one is competent and worthy to be successful in life.

ינו 26, 2011

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Nowadays this comes across as downright cruelty (as well as downright stupidity), but I understand that this treatment of him was derived from her overvaluation of supposed intellectual consistency in the conduct of daily life. For Rand, there was no ambiguity in the world: if it is true that man has free will and is responsible for his conduct, it cannot also be that there is a condition such as dementia that robs a man of his capacity for choice. Hence her husband’s lapses were wilful and deliberate. At least they were to her. Do modern day Objectivists believe this is the correct and proper way to deal with those suffering from dementia?

ינו 26, 2011

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“Robin” Hood (as he is known here in my home state) was referring to State Farm Insurance. Hearing him utter such inanities was not that shocking to me, however, since he has made similar statements repeatedly. Following the lead of Mike Moore, his predecessor in the A.G.’s office, Hood gets a lot of air time by painting big business as evil and dastardly. What Mike Moore did to Big Tobacco, “Robin” Hood hopes to do to State Farm and the insurance industry.

ינו 26, 2011

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Whenever I discuss environmental crimes, it seems, I am confronted with a parade of horribles: “Suppose a businessman dumps toxic waste on his property that leaches into the water supply, killing everybody in the area and making the region uninhabitable forever. How can tort law possibly deal with that?”

ינו 26, 2011

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Question: What about taxes to pay for workers who get injured? Answer: What about workers taking responsibility for their own lives and well-being by either buying insurance, pooling their resources with other workers in, say, a voluntary union, or by refusing to work for firms that do not provide adequate disability insurance?

ינו 25, 2011

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Question: Relevant Objectivist terms and definitions, as I understand them, are: EXISTENT: something that exists (and has a physical basis) UNIT: an existent regarded as a separate member of a group of two or more similar members CONCEPT: a mental integration of two or more units which are isolated according to a specific characteristic(s) and united by a specific definition

ינו 25, 2011

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Question: How does Objectivism see nursing facilities for the aging, such as hospice care? Answer: No Objectivist organization that I know of has a detailed position on nursing facilities for the aging. But here are some general principles any Objectivist would apply:

ינו 25, 2011

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Question: My parents want to give me an extravagantly expensive graduation gift—a telescope. I would like to own it, but I know that it would cost them more than they can afford. I want to accept, but I feel it’s inappropriate. They’ve already spent the past 22 years providing me with all of my needs. A telescope is not a further need.

ינו 25, 2011

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Question: In class we are discussing skepticism, and we are trying to make the distinction between the dream state and awake. I have made the case in class as follows: first "I think therefore I am": the mere fact that we are thinking of these issues implies that we have consciousness. If we have consciousness, then there must be existence in which our consciousness presides. Ergo, existence precedes consciousness.

ינו 25, 2011

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Thomas Sowell had a fine column yesterday, celebrating the achievements of John D. Rockefeller. Better yet, he put his tribute in proper context: “ Heroes of Old Were Creators—Not Talkers .” That is a bit of an exaggeration, inasmuch as great orators have long been celebrated. Perhaps a better title would have been: “Heroes of Old Were Creators—Not Just Talkers.”

ינו 25, 2011

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Question: European views have diverged substantially with Objectivist thinking since the treaty of Maastricht. Given this, what would be a reasonable approach for the United States to influence the thinking of this highly developed region? Answer: Objectivism calls for a political and moral revolution. In politics, it calls for absolute respect for human rights to life, liberty, and property. This means the separation of the state from the economy as well as from religion. For more on this, see my Q&A: " What is the Objectivist View of Law and Government? " or my essay " Radical for Capitalism ."

ינו 25, 2011

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Question: If happiness is the highest moral goal humans can achieve, selfishness is virtuous and people should only receive what they deserve (no gifts), does Objectivism endorse cruelty or, on the other hand, giving help or aid to other forms of life (including humans) when they increase the selfish person’s happiness?

ינו 25, 2011

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Question: Why is there no right to health care? Answer: The concept of an entitlement to health care has gained widespread support. Article 25 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including … medical care.” Both the Democratic and Republican Party Platforms include language affirming their commitments to maintain “accessible” and “affordable” health care.

ינו 25, 2011

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Question: 1. The philosophy seems to promote man killing if he can reason it, but sometimes the reason is not really substantiated. What is to stop someone justifying themselves wiping out a species for a bad reason?

ינו 23, 2011

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Question: Your center's position on animal rights is negative. Your position is based upon the belief that because rights are obtained from reasoning, and animals cannot reason, they cannot have rights.

ינו 23, 2011

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Winter 2010 -- Is U.S. government debt really hitting 100% of GDP soon? Or is the debt level actually closer to 65% of GDP at the end of 2010, as the Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform reports?

Dec 29, 2010

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Summer 2010 -- With the seemingly increasing polarization of the political landscape in America, and the first black president in office, racism continues to be a frequent topic of news stories. Some paint the Tea Party with the broad brush of racism, failing to apprehend any nuanced picture of the grass roots phenomenon and failing to perceive the prejudice inherent in such a knee jerk reaction. Meanwhile clear incidents of racism continue: including the 2008 burning of a predominantly African-American church in Massachusetts, done in protest of the election of Barack Obama.

דצמ 19, 2010

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In a case decided last Friday (December 10), a three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the conviction of Prabhat Goyal , former CFO of Network Associates, Inc., the producer of antivirus and network security software formerly known as McAfee. What makes this reversal so remarkable is that the panel tossed out the verdict not on the basis of some misstatement of the applicable law by the judge.

Dec 14, 2010

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Is U.S. government debt really hitting 100% of GDP soon? Or is the debt level actually closer to 65% of GDP at the end of 2010, as the Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform reports? The answer is: yes.

Dec 1, 2010

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Nov 15, 2010

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