Ayn Rand 2011
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John Sobert SylvestAyn Rand 2011
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John Sobert SylvestJohn N Veronica To the point of whether or not Rand's thought is wholly incompatible with our unitive Christian norms
or might be cherry-picked and prudentially applied? If the late Cardinal Bernardin will pardon this particular (mis)application of his metaphor, Rand's approach to reality is a seamless interpretive garment by her own account and she, herself, had little use for those (libertarians and religionists) who'd rend this philosophical tunic rather than casting their lot for her entire ideological vesture. Normally, in appropriately nonfoundational approaches, one COULD be selective and choose those autonomous methods that worked, but Ayn Rand erroneously and somewhat idiosyncratically (few academic philosophers take her seriously) approached science, sociology, economics, politics, culture and religion as if they were all methodologicallyconflated (as do many religious and Enlightenmentfundamentalists). Rand's integral philosophy thus algorithmically spewed out answers to questions regarding all human values from, what were to her, self-evident, a priori axioms (hence, in reality, a very naive realism and seriously flawed foundationalism). Her objectivism entailed a metaphysic, an epistemology, an ethics, a socioeconomic political approach and a religion (faithless), all inextricably intertwined. Ergo, religiously speaking, for the Christian, it has to be a total non-starter. 16 minutes ago Like John N Veronica Politically speaking, Ayn Rand's approach need not be dismissed on religious grounds. Christian or otherwise, the primary reason her thought should not influence our political strategies is because her anthropology is academically bankrupt and should not be taken seriously when formulating either moral and practical norms or political strategies. I am not saying that capitalism (suitably regulated) is a nonstarter, but its non-coercive norms can be much more reasonably argued from enlightened (juris)prudential reasoning without making religious appeals (to the Bible) or ideological appeals (to Ayn Rand's objectivism). Even then, such norms provide only default strategic biases and not absolute moral values, the general precepts of which have already been codified and about which a pluralistic society has already reached some consensus (without which folks are merely posturing or grandstanding and not effectively governing, anyway). 14 minutes ago Like