We are not born tabula rasa.
We. Control. Emotions. Something I find most interesting is that Rand only talks about emotions prolifically when she talks about art. I re-read almost all of Rand’s non-fiction again to write Towards Liberalism. The only places I found she discussed emotions were in in Galt’s speech in Atlas Shrugged, “The Objectivist Ethics” in The Virtue …
Continue reading “What Happens When You Judge Your Emotions as Rational or Irrational”
As I write on the main page of this site, Ayn Rand has you dominating and programming your emotions. Your only choice, according to her, is taking the reins over this process or letting it happen haphazardly. Your values, again according to Rand, determine your very emotions: how you respond to life events: with joy, …
Continue reading “The Objectivist View on Emotions: Setting Happiness to Serve You”
As I’ve written Towards Liberalism: A Challenge to Objectivist Ethics, I’ve gone head to head with several Objectivists about their philosophy. Some have thanked me for “helping to clarify their thinking.” While I want to take pride in doing that, I have found I am not at all helping them evolve in their thinking. Instead, …
This is a chapter in The Moral Bias of Objectivism Moral Paradigms Matter As I wrote this book and took its message to others, I realized I am challenging such deeply held views about human nature, moral paradigms, and abuse, that it’s necessary to address the widely held assumptions about these issues right away. There …
Continue reading “Abuse Lives Because It is Morally Sanctioned: Moral Paradigms Matter”
First, as I argue, at Check your Tools, Rand doesn’t just push “reason” to be a “tool to study reality.” She pushes it to be a “way to be in all waking hours for all decisions.” She writes: The virtue of Rationality means the recognition and acceptance of reason as one’s only source of knowledge; …
Continue reading “Defining the “Rational” as “Moral” is The Fertile Soil for ABUSE”
I don’t make this shit up, loves. This appears in the chapter “Check Your Tools” in The Moral Bias of Objectivism. Objectivism Needs to be “Better than Communism” When I challenge Objectivism, people sniff, “And what about all the GOOD that it does? Why can’t you focus on that?” They typically point to Rand’s devastating …
Continue reading ““It’s Objectivism or communism” — Ayn Rand”
For the longest time, I hesitated to use shame against shamers. It’s *entrenched* in society that this is morally wrong. The conversation goes like this, over and over, “Women are lazy parasites!” “You’re an abusive misogynist!” “Oh are you JUDGING me? Hypocrite!” I argue elsewhere that this system inherently allows abusers to stay in power. …
The Moral Bias of Objectivism: The Tool (“Reason”) is Also the Conclusion Rand evaluates the world using “reason,” but it’s not “reason” at all. The very tool she uses to evaluate the world also ends up being her conclusions. Here is the tool Rand says to use to evaluate the world and in which she …
Continue reading “The Moral Bias of Objectivism: The Tool (“Reason”) is Also the Conclusion”
Check Your Premises In the following sections, I am going to be dissecting and challenging Objectivism. Before I really get into it, however, I find I need to ask the reader to check some of their basic assumptions. If bias abounds, I find I get nowhere. Rand famously admonishes her readers to “check your premises.” …
This is the first chapter, offered for free, of The Moral Bias of Objectivism Chapter 1: The Challenge: Rand’s Faulty View of Human Nature Ayn Rand has a faulty view of human nature itself, and then builds an elaborate morality and philosophy around it. Ayn Rand’s Objectivism is proudly hierarchal in nature. Rand’s politics are …
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