[fundamentalist atheism?]

would you say that objectivism = fundamentalist atheism?

[Are small towns morally inferior?]

Since large cities offer the biggest and best of everything that civilization has to offer both technological and economic terms, and because human competition is so much stronger in urban areas, can it not be said that large cities are actually morally superior to small towns? Or at least superior in the sense that the major league baseball is superior to the minor leagues? Also, if one finds himself emotionally attached to his small hometown even though bigger and better things exist elsewhere, is he irrational to stay put?

[Finding a purpose]

What exactly are you doing to discover your nature, which will clarify what you are seeking? If you've been getting drunk on a nightly basis for the past 30 years in hopes of an epiphany, you're depraved. We need more information. (Not really, what I mean is, we can't morally evaluate you as depraved vs. virtuous simply on the basis of whether you have found a central purpose).

I'm exploring my current options, as well as my past mistakes, in extreme depth and attempting to use philosophy to determine the best way to proceed, as well as how I should have acted in the past.

[Finding a purpose]

Do you think someone owes you a purpose? What reason do you have to think that there is a purpose "out there" for you if you only dig hard enough to find it?

Purposes aren't discovered, they're chosen. There are lots of people and groups out there with ready-made purposes for sale who insist that you can't trust yourself, but if you haven't bought one of them yet then you probably already realize that to adopt any given one of them you'd be the one selling out.

It counts for a lot, though, I think, that you're "rigorously seeking". It means you understand, at some level, that to be moral requires the effort towards acheivment of personal values and goals. You obviously aren't alone in thinking that an external source of purpose is somehow superior to an internal one, but that's actually not at all true and you're in the right place if you want to find out why not and what is (or at least you've stumbled on the right philosophy, although forums are better for testing than for gaining understanding and I'd recommend you hit the books if you haven't already).

Maybe I phrased my question poorly, but I certainly didn't mean imply that anybody "owes" me anything. I was simply asking whether one qualifes as depraved by Objectivist standards under the circumstances I discussed.

[Finding a purpose]

*** Mod's note: merged with an earlier thread. - sN ***

So I cannot claim to have discovered a purpose as of yet. Does this mean I am depraved, or does it count for something that I rigorously seek a purpose?

In other words, if my current purpose is to find a purpose, am I spared the condition of utter depravity?

[Differentiating arm-chair interests from potential careers]

As I've looked through this forum, I've found others like myself - locked in a job that suits my existing knowledge, but with little potential for challenge or expansion of knowledge, and with increased feeling of purposelessness. I currently have a degree that is of little use in a field in which I would not excel, with enough student loans to keep me busy for the next decade (sounds almost cliched ).

I have interests in a wide variety of fields (from ancient Greece to neuroscience), but no way to determine which are simply "arm-chair interests" and which I would like to further as a career either in research or in some sort of business setting. Is there a difference? In other words, if I have an interest in a specific subject, what would be the purpose in maintaining that interest if not to develop it into a full understanding of the subject?

The hard part, of course, is the learning involved, and that has become my stumbling block. How do I differentiate an interest in a research field from a desire to do research in that field, so that I can decide whether or not to take the huge step of a full-out education in the field? And before I could even get that far, I would have to determine which interest to further. Or should I just stick with what I know? Maybe these questions have no answers.

I will check out that book recommended by athena for pam's plight.

I would say it starts with realistic assessment of your abilities. Of the things you are interesting in, what do you have the least and most aptitude at?

[Dependence on family during school]

This is hypothetical:

Suppose a grown man of 23 just finished community college and wants to attend a four year university and will require 2-3 years to finish. Also suppose he needs financial support from his parents and/or relatives to pay for tuition and living expenses, and that he does not feel capable of working full time while undergoing a rigorous course of study in something very difficult like engineering or premed, etc. His family is fully willing to help him and they want him to succeed. However, the family is corrupt, he has had a strained relationship with them in recent years, and doesn't really respect them very much. He wants to finish school to achieve his desired career, but loathes the idea of being dependent on his dicked up family for any length of time. Partly because he finds it emasculating at his age and partly because, as they say, you can't bite the hand that feeds. What should he do?

A) Place his independence above all else and forfeit college.

Settle on a less difficult course of study that is not his first choice, but allows him to work his own way through.

C) Bite the bullet, take the money, finsh school, deal with all the shit that comes with it, and be glad when it's over.

D) Something else.

[Government and the Mentally Ill]

*** Mod's note: merged with an earlier thread. -sN ***

I'd like to know what members of the Objectivist community think about the practice of involuntary psychiatric commitment. If you are in favor of it, does your support extend to forced medication, or merely to confinement in a mental institution?