Timeless

Originally posted by Zip Yet how can an act be considered great when the means used to achieve that act are principally immoral?

I've been reading Rand for many years, and I thought of two things the other day that did not seem to be consistent with her philosophy. 1) The first inconsistency I thought of was when she wrote her essay on the Apollo mission and how it exemplified some of man's ideals. The essay I thought was brilliant, but she never addressed the fact that it was a NASA program, which was subsidized completely by the government and therefore by taxpayers. I was surprised she did not go into how this is not the proper function of government, and that science should definitely not be funded by the government. To me it seemed as if she really chose the good parts of the Apollo mission while leaving out the negative issues, especially since by principle this was wrong. 2) The second point I thought was odd was her interview in playboy. Playboy is run by someone who is not monogamous, and I remember in one of Rand's essays she had talked disdainfully about men who were not monogamous or who were womanizers, almost as if it were a cover for being a type of collectivist. (I'll have to find the specific one). My question is why interview for a magazine that is against your ethics? Isn't this a type of compromise, wanting to spread your ideas but then doing it through sources that are not in line with your ethics? I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks, Timeless

William Henry Vanderbilt "The Public be Damned!" Yes, just for that line. He wasn't one to cower in fear, or talk about the common good, or engage in corporate self-destruction, or so many of these other actions that businesses today should be ashamed of doing to expedite their demise.

We talked in length about this in one of my philosophy classes. I asked the same question of why Socrates would do this. There were many answers, from martyrdom, to taking a stand, etc. However, from actually reading the dialogues, I have to say the reason he went with the law was preservation of the law. He acknowledged that the law could at times give an unjust or improper judgment to a person, but this is to be accepted in a system of laws; there will always be people who are innocent that are sent to prison, or in worse cases sent to death. However, if one person refuses to follow the law, then more people, eventually you can have a breakdown of the entire legal system. Yet I think possibly his age had something to do with his decision, as he was in his seventies.

Quoted by Jake_Ellison I might be missing something. How is a Muslim or a Christian very much supportive of the American way of life? It just seems that there are supportive of the parts that don't conflict with their religion.

My introduction I just recently stumbled upon the message board and glad that I did. I discovered Rand by reading Anthem in a high school class, and it really resonated with me. My whole life I had heard collectivist things spouted by so many different people, but could not exactly form a principle around why the people were doing it or what the philosophy they were advocating. After reading Anthem, I saw some of the themes she used and connected them to the everyday bromides that I had heard. I really liked that book, so my teacher encouraged me to read more of her works. I picked up The Fountainhead shortly after, which helped me figure out why people put down the ego and discourage any kind of selfish action. I then went right into Atlas Shrugged, which was favorite out of all Rand's works. Reading about the different villains helped me in real life when looking at different collectivist people to combat their propaganda. I took a short time off during undergrad, but now that I've started grad school I've been re-reading many of the essays, especially in TVOS. I'm going into the healthcare field, so I'm sure all of you can imagine the amount of false arguments and package deals that are being forced down our throats. Rand helps me stay sane when dealing with all of this. I look forward to posting and asking a lot of questions. -Timeless