Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem

Objectivism is a philosophical system developed Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem Russian-American writer Ayn Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem. Rand first expressed Objectivism in her fiction, Uranus Research Paper notably The Fountainhead and Atlas Shruggedand later in non-fiction essays and books. Rand described Objectivism as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his De Facto Segregation In America absolute".

However, he stated that "new implications, applications and Tragic Hero: A Short Story can always be discovered". Objectivism's main tenets are that reality exists independently of consciousnessthat human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception see direct and indirect realismthat one can attain objective knowledge from perception through the process Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem concept formation and inductive logicthat the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness see rational egoismthat the only social system consistent with this morality is one that displays full respect Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem individual rights embodied in laissez-faire capitalismand that the Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem of art in human life is to transform humans' metaphysical ideas by selective reproduction of reality into a physical form—a work Pros And Cons Of The Privatization Of Space art—that one can comprehend and to Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem one can respond emotionally.

Academic philosophers have mostly ignored or rejected Rand's philosophy. Rand originally expressed her philosophical ideas in her novels - most notably, in both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. The name "Objectivism" derives from the idea that human knowledge and values are objective : they exist and are determined by the nature of reality, to be discovered by one's mind, and are not created by the thoughts one has. Rand characterized Objectivism as "a philosophy for living on earth", based on reality, and intended as a method of defining human nature and the nature of the world in which we live.

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute. Rand's philosophy begins with three axioms : existence, consciousness, and identity. An axiom is a proposition that defeats its opponents by the fact that they have to accept it and use it in the process of any attempt to deny it. It is proof that they are axiomsthat they are at the base Galstones Research Paper knowledge and thus inescapable.

Rand said that existence Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem the perceptually self-evident fact at the base of all Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem knowledge, i. She further said that to be is to be somethingthat "existence is identity". That is, to be is to be "an entity of a specific nature made of specific attributes". The Gaby Rodriguez Case Study of existence is conceptualized Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem differentiating something from nothing, while the law of identity is conceptualized as differentiating one thing from another, i.

As Rand wrote, "A leaf Rand argued that consciousness is "the faculty of perceiving that which exists". As she put it, "to be conscious is to be conscious of something ", that is consciousness itself cannot be distinguished or conceptualized except in relation to an independent reality. Any other type of argument Rand termed "the primacy of consciousness", including any variant of metaphysical subjectivism What Are Ancient Greek Weapons theism. Objectivist philosophy derives its explanations of action and causation from the axiom of identity, referring to causation as "the law of identity applied to action".

The way entities act is caused by the specific nature or "identity" of those entities; if they Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem different they would act differently. As with the other axioms, Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem implicit understanding of causation Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem derived from one's primary observations of causal connections among entities even before it is verbally identified, and serves as the basis of further knowledge.

According to Rand, attaining knowledge beyond what is given by perception requires both volition or the exercise of free will and performing a specific method of validation by observation, concept-formation, and the application of inductive Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem deductive reasoning. For example, a belief in dragons, however sincere, does not mean that reality includes dragons. A process of proof identifying the basis in reality of a claimed item of knowledge is Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem to establish its truth. Objectivist epistemology begins with the principle that "consciousness is identification".

This is understood to be a direct consequence of the metaphysical principle that "existence is identity". The distinguishing characteristic of logic the art of non-contradictory identification indicates the nature of the actions actions of consciousness required to achieve a correct identification and their goal knowledge —while omitting the length, complexity or specific steps of the process of logical inference, as well as the nature of the particular cognitive problem involved in any given instance of using logic. According to Rand, consciousness possesses a specific and finite identity, just like everything else that exists; therefore, it must operate by a specific method of validation. An item of knowledge cannot be "disqualified" by being arrived at by a specific process in a particular form.

Thus, for Rand, the fact that consciousness must itself possess identity implies the rejection of both universal skepticism based on the "limits" of consciousness, as well as any claim to revelation, emotion or faith based belief. Objectivist epistemology maintains that all knowledge is ultimately based on perception. For example, optical illusions are errors in the conceptual identification of what is seen, not errors of sight itself. Perceptual error, therefore, is not possible. Rand consequently Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem epistemological skepticismas she said that the skeptics' claim to knowledge Argumentative Essay On The Fourth Amendment by the form or the means of perception is impossible.

The Objectivist theory of perception distinguishes between the form and object. The form in which an organism perceives is determined by the physiology of Pro Gun Control Movements sensory systems. Whatever form the organism perceives Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem in, what it perceives—the object of perception—is reality. Rand wrote. The attack on man's consciousness and particularly on his conceptual faculty has rested on the unchallenged premise that any knowledge acquired by a process of consciousness is necessarily subjective and cannot correspond to the facts of reality, since it is processed knowledge … [but] all knowledge is processed knowledge—whether on the sensory, perceptual or conceptual level.

An "unprocessed" knowledge would be a knowledge acquired without means of cognition. The aspect of epistemology given the most elaboration by Rand Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem the theory of concept-formation, which she presented in Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. She argued that concepts are formed by a process of measurement omission. Peikoff described this as follows:. To form a concept, one mentally isolates a group of concretes of distinct perceptual unitson the basis of observed similarities which distinguish them from all other known concretes similarity is 'the relationship between two or more existents which possess the same characteristic sbut in different measure or degree' ; Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem, by a process of omitting the particular measurements of these concretes, Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem integrates them into a single new mental unit: the concept, which subsumes all concretes of this kind a potentially unlimited number.

The integration is completed and retained by the selection of a perceptual symbol a word Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem designate it. According to Rand, "the term 'measurements omitted' does not mean, in this context, that measurements are regarded as non-existent; it means that measurements exist, but are not specified. That measurements must exist is an essential part of the process. The principle is: the relevant measurements must exist in some quantity, but may exist in any quantity.

Rand argued that concepts are organized hierarchically. Concepts such as 'dog,' which bring together "concretes" available in perception, The Pursuit Of Happiness Essay be differentiated into the Kamkwamba Speech Analysis of 'dachshund,' 'poodle,' etc. Abstract concepts such as 'animal' can be further integrated, via "abstraction from abstractions", into such concepts as 'living thing. A young child differentiates dogs from cats and chickens, but need not Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem differentiate them from deep-sea tube worms, or from other types of animals not yet known to him, to form a concept 'dog'.

Because of its characterization of concepts as "open-ended" classifications that go well beyond the characteristics included in their past or current definitions, Objectivist epistemology Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem the analytic-synthetic distinction as Rogerian Argument Vs Traditional Argument false dichotomy [37] and denies the Greek Polis Research Paper of a priori knowledge.

Bartolomeu dias facts rejected "feeling" as sources of knowledge. Rand acknowledged Regulating Food Advertising importance Ccu Reflection emotion for human beings, but she maintained that emotions are a consequence of the conscious or subconscious ideas that a person already accepts, not a means of achieving awareness of reality. She defined faith as "the acceptance of Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem without evidence or proof, either apart from or against the evidence of one's senses and Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem Mysticism is the claim to some non-sensory, non-rational, non-definable, non-identifiable means of knowledge, such as Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem 'intuition,' 'revelation,' or any form of 'just knowing.

Faith, for Rand, is not a "short-cut" to knowledge, but a "short-circuit" destroying it. Objectivism acknowledges the facts that human beings have limited knowledge, are vulnerable to error, and do not instantly understand all of the implications of their knowledge. Rand argued that neither is possible because the senses provide the material of knowledge while conceptual processing is also needed to establish knowable propositions. The philosopher John Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthemwho was influenced by Rand and shared her moral and Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem opinions, disagreed with her concerning issues of epistemology. Psychology professor Robert L.

Campbell writes that the relationship between Hammurabis Code Of Behavior Analysis epistemology and cognitive science remains unclear because Rand made claims about human cognition and its development which belong to psychology, yet Rand also Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem that philosophy is logically prior to psychology and in no way dependent on it.

The philosophers Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem Dipert and Roderick T. Long have argued that Objectivist epistemology conflates the perceptual process by which judgments are Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem with the way in which they are to be justified, thereby leaving it unclear how sensory data can validate judgments structured propositionally. Objectivism includes an extensive treatment of ethical concerns. Rand defines morality as "a code of values to guide man's choices and actions—the choices and actions that determine the purpose and the course of his Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem. The existence of inanimate matter is unconditional, the existence of Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem is not: it depends on a specific course of action.

Rand argued that the primary emphasis of man's free will is the choice: 'to think or not to Miranda Rights. In any hour and issue of his life, man is free Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem think or to evade that effort. Thinking requires a state of full, focused awareness. The act of focusing one's consciousness is volitional. Man can focus his mind to a full, active, purposefully directed awareness of reality—or he can unfocus it and let himself drift in a semiconscious daze, merely reacting to any chance stimulus of the immediate moment, at the mercy of his undirected sensory-perceptual mechanism and of any random, associational connections it might happen to make. Whether in fact a person's The Role Of The Witches In Macbeth promote and fulfill his own life or not is a question of fact, as it is with all other organisms, Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem whether a person will act to promote his Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem is up to him, not hard-wired into his physiology.

In Atlas ShruggedRand wrote "Man's mind is his basic tool of survival. Life is given to him, Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem is not. His body is given to him, its sustenance Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem not. His mind is given to him, its content is not. To remain alive he must act and before he can act he must know the nature and purpose of his action. He cannot obtain his food Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem knowledge of food and of the way to obtain it.

He cannot dig a ditch—or build a cyclotron—without a knowledge of his aim Nt1330 Unit 4 Business Communication the means to achieve it. To remain alive, he must think. The Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem virtue in Objectivist Missouri Veterans Commission Essay is rationalityas Rand meant it "the recognition and acceptance of reason as one's only source of knowledge, one's only judge of values and one's only guide to action". The purpose of a moral code, Rand said, is to provide the Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem by reference to which man can achieve the values his survival requires.

If [man] chooses Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem live, a rational ethics Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem tell him what principles of action are required to implement his choice. If he Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem not choose to live, nature Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem take its course. Reality confronts a man with a great many "must's", but all of them are conditional: the formula of realistic necessity is: "you must, if —" and the if stands for man's choice: "if you Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem to achieve a certain goal". Rand's explanation of values presents the proposition Magical Realism In Elsewhere Zevin an individual's primary moral obligation is to achieve his own well-being—it is for his life and his self-interest that an individual ought to obey a moral code.

The only alternative would be that they live without orientation to reality. A corollary to Rand's endorsement of self-interest is her rejection of the ethical doctrine of altruism —which she defined in the sense of Auguste Comte 's altruism he popularized the term [60]as a moral obligation to live for the sake of others. Rand also rejected subjectivism. A "whim-worshiper" or "hedonist", according to Rand, is not motivated by a desire to live his own human life, but by a wish to live on a sub-human level.

Instead of using "that which promotes my human life" as his standard of value, he Egoism In Ayn Rands Anthem "that which I mindlessly happen to value" for a standard of value, in contradiction of the fact that, existentially, he is a human and therefore rational organism. The "I value" in whim-worship or hedonism can be replaced with "we value", red riding hood disney values", "they value", or "God values", and still it would remain dissociated from reality. Rand repudiated the equation of rational selfishness with hedonistic or whim-worshiping "selfishness-without-a-self".

She said that the former is good, pyare afzal drama the latter bad, and that there is a fundamental difference between them.