Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Ethics of SELF-INTEREST: the pursuit of one's own happiness

The Facebook group “Objectivist Ethics and Virtues” does not mention Objectivist Ethics: SELF-INTEREST. The group claims that  Objectivist ethics is the only rational code of ethics, evading – contrary to the virtues of rationality and honesty – the Declaration of Independence: the pursuit of one’s own happiness.

“… Learn the morality implied in the Declaration of Independence, a document that today isn’t quoted enough nor sufficiently understood. The Objectivist ethics is merely the philosophically-worked-out proof of what the Founding Fathers implied in the Declaration. …” -- Ayn Rand Answers pg. 47: "What political steps should be taken to achieve your goals?"


This group states, “Objectivism stands opposed to religious ethics…”

The ethics of an INDIVIDUALIST, a moral descendant of the Founders, is self-interest. One need not be an atheist to be an individualist, to achieve glorious feats:

"The concept of individual rights is so prodigious a feat of political thinking that few men grasp it fully—and two hundred years have not been enough for other countries to understand it. But this is the concept to which we owe our lives—the concept which made it possible for us to bring into reality everything of value that any of us did or will achieve or experience." -- Ayn Rand


A proper philosophy is integrated. An honest man does not drop context. Yet, this group does not mention the ultimate goal of Objectivism: capitalism, the only social system concordant with individual rights.

One need not be an atheist to fight for rights and capitalism.

As to private faith:
“The only good which men can do to one another and the only statement of their proper relationship is — Hands off!” -- Howard Roark, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

3 comments:

Ilyn Ross said...

By private faith/atheism, I mean that held by private individuals who do not lust to impose on others, as opposed to that enforced by the state. I do not mean secret.

I mean that held as one's own, and not needing others to practice it. I mean that held by each individual, not shared with society.

Anarchism, theocracy, thuggery need others. These have social contexts, so they are fair game.

Ilyn Ross said...

Communists are atheists, too. Atheism does not equate to rationality nor to virtue.

Some atheists are as evil as DARK-AGES warriors. The mind is an individual's attribute, yet they presume to know, thus judge, the experiences of other minds. They evade the primacy of existence.

Ilyn Ross said...

The "sky ghost" derision is based on two fundamental, self-evident, inaccuracies:

1) The derision is based on the existence of a collective mind: since atheists have not experienced God, then all minds haven't either. This is contrary to the reality that the mind is an individual's attribute. Science does not yet know why there are savants, what causes autism, why humans have no memory of infanthood... I have personally experienced God in 2012. Since my mind is not connected to anyone else's, it is not a collective experience.

2) The derision evades the PRIMACY of EXISTENCE. God can exist independent of the consciousness of atheists.