Matthew J
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Posts posted by Matthew J
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I've a friend who is mostly rational. intelligent and articulate, he and i often discuss philosophy. being something of an Objectivist scholar at a much younger age, i hold my own pretty well against the tide of irrationalities that get spewed at me sometimes. this time however, i find myself at a loss for coherant argument.
this friend has essentially put forth determinism as undeniable. he doesnt like it, but he doesnt think he can avoid it. essentially, that man has no choices, because our choice is made for us by previously determined factors. we only "choose" because we were programmed to do so by our genetics and experience. ive pulled up my lexicon and rifled through my books and found some half answers but nothing that directly helps me. my life-view cannot accept this idea to be true, but my mind is at a loss to express how it cannot be true. please give me the words that im looking for!
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I would like to assert here that many christians do not deny reason. I am one of them. this particular friend sees a dichotomy between reason and faith. in order to have his faith he must deny happiness on this world. also, there are some very important differences in definition that would require reconciliation. faith means something entirely different to many christians than to an objectivist. or to a different christian for that matter.
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I recently read the novel Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress. I immediately recognized her as an Objectivist of sorts as the primary capitalist philosophy in the book (Yagaaism) is nearly identical to Objectivist capitalism. in any case, i found the book to be captivating science fiction regarding a genetic modification of human beings to no longer require sleep. sleepless were faster, better, stronger, smarter and well adjusted. they could produce tirelessly. naturally, people like James Taggart would resent them for it and then try to live off them. a very well written book, I'd recomend this to any objectivist for a taste for sci-fi.
has anyone else read this book?
edit: grammar
Nancy Kress
in Fiction
Posted
ah yes. in my eagerness to recomend the book, i forgot to add that i had later emailed Nancy Kress and found that she disagreed with Ayn Rand in that "she ignores that man is a social being". this is all she had to say, and i gave her the benefit of the doubt for she is quite knowledgeable, and if shes studied Rand at all, she must know that her statement is incomplete if not rediculous. however, she had nothing else to say. it is still however one of my favorite books.