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How does O'ism claim to bridge the is/ought gap?

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y_feldblum

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The short answer: Objectivism rejects the "categorical imperative" in favor of the "hypothetical imperative." For instance, rather than "You must eat", "If you wish to acquire nutrition, you must eat." Morality is not an end in itself, but a means to an end: life. So the form of moral principles is ultimately: "If you wish to live, you must x." The specific content is filled out by observations of human nature and its requirements in the world.

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Heh, it actually wasn't, now that I look at it again. :dough: I should try to remember to save that terminology for my professors.

To put it more clearly: Objectivism rejects acontextual commandments in favor of causal identifications. Life is the end, morality is the means. Life requires specific values, and there are specific virtues which constitute means of achieving those values.

So Objectivism says: "If you want to live, you must be rational, be honest, be productive... etc." Now, somebody will respond to this by asking why you ought to want to live -- and whether morality simply doesn't apply to somebody who doesn't accept life as their ultimate end. They'll say: "That's fine, if you're a person whose goal is life. But what if you're not? Can you rape, murder, and plunder?"

This question tends to be a pretty explosive can of worms -- lots of Objectivists disagree about the answer. My opinion is that, to give a pretty brief answer, either life is your ultimate goal, or nothing is. Since value depends upon life, if you aren't at least implicitly working toward your own life (however screwed up your conception of how to do so might be), there's nothing to work toward whatsoever. The question then is what a proper life is and how is it to be achieved -- and that's where Objectivism has a lot of answers.

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