Rand is a joke; a sort of illiterate and illegtimate dumbed down version of Nietzsche (who would have hated her).
They say that complete selfishness is rational and altruistic behaviour is irrational. How are we supposed to understand this assertion?
If it pertains to the rationality of means rather than ends then it is clearly false since we may need to use altruistic means to achieve selfish ends.
If it pertains to ends, then it isn't clear what it means. Wanting to have your cake and eat it too is an irrational end (because it is contradictory) but being altruistic doesn't suffer from this contradiction [the pseudo argument about me always acting in my own interests notwithstanding, for the fact that I act according to the interests I have does not logically entail that these interests are selfish - I can have unselfish interests].
I don't think intelligent Randians make the foregoing logical errors, but they base their doctrine on unsubstantiated claims about human nature.
What the Randians say is that selfishness is acting in accord with our true nature, which is intrinsically selfish. If you ask for some proof of this claim (metaphysical or scientific) none is forthcoming, Thus if we disagree, we have no reason to believe them.
They say that complete selfishness is rational and altruistic behaviour is irrational. How are we supposed to understand this assertion?
If it pertains to the rationality of means rather than ends then it is clearly false since we may need to use altruistic means to achieve selfish ends.
If it pertains to ends, then it isn't clear what it means. Wanting to have your cake and eat it too is an irrational end (because it is contradictory) but being altruistic doesn't suffer from this contradiction [the pseudo argument about me always acting in my own interests notwithstanding, for the fact that I act according to the interests I have does not logically entail that these interests are selfish - I can have unselfish interests].
I don't think intelligent Randians make the foregoing logical errors, but they base their doctrine on unsubstantiated claims about human nature.
What the Randians say is that selfishness is acting in accord with our true nature, which is intrinsically selfish. If you ask for some proof of this claim (metaphysical or scientific) none is forthcoming, Thus if we disagree, we have no reason to believe them.
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