Grymir
Puritan Board Graduate
Hi! This book was so helpfull because it undid all the damage that a public school education did to me. I read the Bible cover to cover. That's how I was converted. (for more, read my about me page). I used to be a long-haired hippie liberal. This book undid my shackles and got my thinking on the right track.
One thing about Ayn Rand, is that although she was an athiest, her attacks in her books are against the church and how they present God, and not God as we know Him. (Rome in particular) I happen to agree with her in her analysis. She teaches that the priests are like witch doctors. Asking their followers to believe with no proof what-so-ever. A 'leap of faith' belief. I agree with her that thinking like this is total rubbish.
Let me break down what she teaches to help clarify things and explain.
1. Metaphysics - Objective Reality. Reality exists as an objective absolute- facts are facts, independent of man's feelings, wishes, hopes, or fears.
2. Epistemology - Reason. Reason (the faculty which identifies and intergrates the material provided by man's senses) is man's only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.
3. Ethics - Self-interest. Man - every man - is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself.
4. Politics - Capitalism. The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism. It is a system where men deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as traders, by free, vountary exchange to mutual benefit. Man may not obtain values from others by the use of physical force. In a system of full capitalism, there should be a complete separation of state and economics.
Where her thinking breaks down is in her perception of reality. Reality is more than what we can see, taste, touch, or feel. She acknowledged there was more, but didn't extend it far enough to include God. God is an objective reality that you can prove. Ie, you can show that the Bible comes from beyond the space-time continuum that we live in. Evolution is also demolished using her criteria, but she didn't do so. I used her methods to demolish evolution, and to prove the Bible as God's word.
#3 listed above goes against Liberalism. Welfare and the whole government helping the poor is wrong and should be totaly done away. If I want to help the poor, I can give to whoever I want, but the govenment shouldn't be forcing me to 'help' them.
#4 goes against the whole modern political thought. And it's the only way to get our economy back. Get the government out of it. Make people responsible for their own purchasing decisions. Let the buyer beware was one of the foundations in thought that made our economy great. Let the people vote with their money.
Now the followers of Ayn Rand today are totally against God, and are adimante about this in ways she wasn't. So I don't read much of the stuff they put forth.
That's it in a nutshell. It broke my liberal mindset shackles that the public education taught me. The 'anti-conceptual' mentality that she talks about in the book I mentioned. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask, although I think this is a great idea for another thread. Great question!
