Adrian Roberts

I am new to Objectivism, though I realise now that I have believed many of it’s principles for many years. I posted about myself in the Introductions section a couple of weeks ago. I want to pose a couple of situations to test the limits of ethical selfishness, of living without Altrusim. I can see that Altrusim (as defined by AR) is an imposition on the human spirit. I suspect the reality is that most people make most decisions according to their own self-interest in any case, even if their reasons are subconscious or mixed, or they don’t like to admit it. But there are two scenarios that I can think of, at the limits of human experience, and which most of us will never have to endure, when it would seem that self-sacrifice is inescapable, and generally considered admirable. I must stress that I am not arguing against Objectivsim here, or even trying to be Devil’s Advocate; I am just trying to see what are the thoughts of Objectivist thinkers about these extreme cases. The first situation is about War. This always has the expectation that a person will at least put their life, their pursuit of happiness, on hold for the duration, and will risk losing it altogether. War is always tragic, but it is a fundamental part of the human psyche, a universal meme, which provides many of the myths which give us our identity. The freedom for a Man to be an End in Himself has been bought in blood. The Medal of Honour or Victoria Cross hero who sacrifices his life to protect his comrades, or who tries to rescue wounded comrades under fire, is part of our heritage. We could consider as an example the American War of Independence. I am British but I am not trying to be provocative here, just trying to think of a example of a war which most people reading this would agree had to be fought. The concept of the Hero does in any case tie in with AR’s concept of Man as a Romantic and Noble being – there is nothing romantic about war, but there can be about individual acts. Does this sacrifice count as Altrusim, and if so is it to be deplored? The other situation is more common for those of us who live comfortable safe lives. Some of us have to dedicate our lives to looking after children with cerebral palsy or learning difficulties, or parents with dementia. In my work, I meet people who have no time or money for anything in their lives other than looking after a son with schizophrenia, or a spouse with intractable depression. If we believe in limiting the role of the State, then it is going to be down to the relatives to look after them. Is their life Altruistic, and is there any alternative? Perhaps the only answer to challenges such as these is to make the most of our own lives, to pursue happiness, while we still can, so that the sacrifices of others is not in vain.

Thank you, Keith, Jon and "sNerd" for all your replies. You have all been immensely reassuring. Having found something that I found so inspiring and which resonated with the ideals that have always driven me, but which I am aware puts me "against the tide" of much of popular sentiment, it is great to know that it can still be applicable to the live which I lead (through choice in many respects). I shall certainly bounce some questions off people in other parts of the forum in the future. Admin/sNerd - thank you very much for your kind offer. However, only today I took the plunge and bought Atlas Shrugged! It is very tempting to start it straight away, but I have one or two other things to finish so it will be my Christmas present. In our household, we have long since abandoned any pretence of "surprise" presents which are certain to be wrong, so we ask for what we want or even buy it ourselves and someone else wraps it. Cynical, but it works for us. My wife is still a Christian so it will be interesting to see what she makes of it!

My name is Adrian Roberts. I have recently become interested in Ayn Rand and Objectivism, and I'm hoping that people on this forum can help me thrash out a few questions, to see whether I can truly be an Objectivist, or just someone who has sympathy with some aspects of Objectivism. I must be pretty unusual on this forum. I'm British, I live near London, and I work in the National Health Service [NHS], which must be the ultimate exercise in Statism and Altruism. I'm 56, and hadn't heard of Ayn Rand until a couple of years ago. For much of my life I have been a Christian, but I have moved away from that position now, for reasons too long to go into here but mainly due to being unable to reconcile a supposedly all-loving and all-powerful God with human suffering and the way the world actually is. At last I am free to think and reason without constraint. I can't remember exactly how I came across AR. It might have been on one of the Atheist websites. But over the last few months I started by reading the Wikipedia article and the book reviews on Amazon, and now I have read “Voice of Reason” and “The Romantic Manifesto”. Tackling the novels is somewhat daunting; I don't have that much time to read a thousand-page novel, but I am wondering about asking for “Atlas Shrugged” for Christmas even if it takes me another year to read it. What strikes a chord for me is the emphasis on individualism, on Freedom, the notion of Man as Romantic hero who seeks self-actualisation in achieving great things in whatever field he chooses. I have always tried to live by these principles, or at at least admire those who do: heroes such as Lindbergh. I have even watched the film “The Passion of Ayn Rand”, mainly to get some more idea of how she was as a person. I realise the film was made from the Branden's point of view so is bound to be somewhat skewed, but interestingly it didn't put me off Ayn Rand. To what extent the reason that I continue to be drawn to her is about Reason and to what extent it is about more deep-seated psychological reasons, is another matter. But I do still moderate all this in the manner of Barbara's last words in the film: “Compassion! It's what humans do!” For much of my life I would have said that my politics were difficult to define in left-right terms, which I see is a description applied to AR in one of the Objectivist websites. When I have been more politically active at various points in my life, I have been drawn to the left, even to socialism. But in Europe, this is more normal and less weird or shocking than it would be to Americans. In America, you react to the threat of Big Government by turning to the Right; over here people tend to react by turning to the Left. Of course, what idealistic Left-wingers forget is that a socialist solution is by its very nature going to mean more control by the state, not less. George Orwell realised this long ago. True freedom can only mean Anarcho-Capitalism; Anarcho-Socialism is a contradiction in terms. I have always believed that having a Collectivist Utopia where everyone has enough to eat, is pointless if no-one has great things to aspire to (AR's Apollo 11 article argues this point). I joined the NHS to train as a Psychiatric Nurse when I was young and idealistic. I still enjoy the job. But the NHS is in massive financial trouble; the country cannot afford it. I do understand the American opposition to Obamacare. But a solution that involves Privatisation is politically impossible at the moment in the UK. Until recently I would have gone along with the knee-jerk opposition to privatising the NHS that pervades most of UK society, but exposing myself to Objectivist thought has caused me to think that at least, I need to be open-minded about it and such a decision must be made on the grounds of Reason not of political ideology. In the meantime, how can I live out Objectivist principles in a State Institution that thrives on Altruism? If caring for my patients and doing a good job counts as Altruism, then I will continue to be guilty. But I am very good at compartmentalising my life; however much of my self-esteem comes from my job, I have things that inspire and motivate me outside of it. I fly gliders as a hobby; this is the principal example of where I have exercised Rational Self-Interest and achieved self-actualisation in what matters to me (though if I was being truly Rational I would be saving the money not spending it!). And I have always said that my aspiration for my clients is to be able to fulfil their maximum potential and achieve self-actualisation in whatever way they wish. Finally for the moment, I will qualify all this by saying that I certainly would only ever consider myself an Open Objectivist, rather than a Strict AR loyalist. I am not sure which way this forum leans; if that gets me kicked off the forum, so be it. The world is too complex for one ideology to be the answer to everything. I haven't spent all my life capitulating to one ideology (Christianity), in order to now surrender my intellectual freedom to another (Objectivism or anything else). Surely it is incongruous for an ideology that values human freedom and Reason to insist on a narrow interpretation of its ideas and to allow no dissent. There is a lot about Objectivism that resonates with me, but if the above means that I am at best an Objectivist sympathiser, or just “interested in Objectivism”, then so be it. Adrian Roberts 29th November 2015.