02Sep 2019

Objectivism

Posted in Objectivism

     I am not a philosopher, but I am an Objectivist. Objectivism as formulated by Ayn Rand is my guiding philosophy. So what is Objectivism?

Metaphysics: Reality exists independent of the mind. There is no “why” to reality. It just is. And we have the tools to know it, to understand it and to discover what it can be made to do.

Epistemology: Our senses provide us the raw data about reality. We have the ability to think, the ability to integrate that data, to draw logical conclusions, to resolve contradictions - to reason. And thinking is done by the individual, not by the collective. We don’t have a collective stomach and we don’t have a collective mind.

Ethics: The purpose of ethics is to teach individuals what values and virtues to pursue, what values and virtues are in one’s long-range, rational self-interest – to provide guidance on how to live the best life that one can live. See my post, “Morality: Yours to Accept or Yours to Discover.”

Politics: What kind of a world does a reasoning, rational individual need in order to exercise his reason? The answer is he needs freedom. He needs the freedom to be able to pursue his values. He needs capitalism.

Aesthetics: Art can make you feel like you’re living in a different world – a world that reflects your values and virtues - it can inspire. It can project things as they ought to be – providing emotional fuel. That most modern art does not says a lot about the state of modern art. Aristotle said that art is philosophically more important than history because history describes how things were; art can project how things can and ought to be.

If this post has peeked your interest, the following video is for you.
https://youtu.be/089xOB9bbhU

COMMENTS FROM FACEBOOK
Mitch Pedersen Always enjoy reading your posts! Keep up the great work.

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