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Brian Gates

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Posts posted by Brian Gates

  1. I'd define evil as a hostile disposition towards the values needed to sustain man's life and a voluntary rejection of reality for the sake of wish-fulfillment.

    The altruist is at least passively evil since he rejects his own valuing faculty for the demands and whims of others, which leads to a profound loss of self-esteem and moral conviction. He may not be actively on the hunt for victims, but he experiences no outrage when confronted with deliberate evil; his default response is to rationalize, appease and accomodate. Worse, he'll be driven to discourage and demonize the efforts of those combating evil (or even promoting any sort of life-affirming value) since he believes such efforts are judgmental and needlessly antagonistic; privately, he has internalized the moral-practical dichotomy and associates evil with power.

    This is excellent.

  2. I'm posting this in the misc. forum because it doesn't pertain to Objectivism specifically. Does hedonism hold that the good is whatever brings one pleasure, as Ayn Rand wrote, or does it hold that the experience of pleasure itself is what is good? Does it make a distinction between the instrument of pleasure and the actual experience/sensation?

  3. http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf...o-be-objective/

    Atlanta Progressive News fires reporter for trying to be objective

    February 15, 2010 at 5:16 pm by Andisheh Nouraee in News

    Atlanta Progressive News has parted ways with long-serving senior staff writer Jonathan Springston. Apparently, Springston’s affinity for fact-based reporting clashed with Cardinale’s vision.

    And, no, that’s not sarcasm.

    In an e-mail statement, editor Matthew Cardinale says Springston was asked to leave APN last week “because he held on to the notion that there was an objective reality that could be reported objectively, despite the fact that that was not our editorial policy at Atlanta Progressive News.”

    Cardinale says he has no plans to fill the position left vacant by Springston’s exit. His full statement to CL appears after the jump.

  4. I've seen the damage done by unconditional love. My parents love my brother unconditionally even though he's a totally worthless parasite, malevolent asshole and a degenerate POS meth addict with no value whatsoever as a human being. His whole life, he's been able to get away with absolutely anything, secure in the knowledge that he will never be disowned, cut off, kicked out of the house, or even made to clean up after himself. I have been trying to explain to my mother for years that she is enabling his despicable lifestyle by continuing to pamper him with unconditional love, and that only a decadent person could love a rotten person like him, but she is incapable of withdrawing. He's now 25, has never had a job in his life, and spends most of his time doing drugs and jacking off to child porn in the dark. My mother continues to love him unconditionally and coddle him like an infant. I'm starting to wonder whether it's love at all or just some kind of primitive maternal bond. I told her that, if she loves a person like him, I don't want her to love me also. She blanked out.

  5. Suppose you have a hobby or interest that stands out above anything else in your life, but which isn't necessarily a realistic or suitable career prospect. Examples might be athletic activities, art, or music. Would it be a mistake to organize your life around such a pursuit as opposed to a productive career? I suppose it might be a false alternative to suggest that you could only enjoy your hobby or have a career, but suppose you had to take a lot of time and energy away from your work to dedicate it toward your hobby. What would you say?

  6. There is a seven volume series -A History of Philosophy- by Frederick Copolston, S.J.

    It is very thorough, very detailed and deals with philosophy in the west all the way from the pre-Socratics to modern analytic philosophy. He is very thorough and his religious convictions do not get in the way of excellent scholarship.

    Bob Kolker

    Today I sampled a few pages of "A History of Western Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell. In the introduction, he writes something to the effect that philosophy has often occupied an intermediate position between theology and science (to paraphrase). I'm not sure whether this statement reflects his own view of the nature of philosophy, or merely his perspective on how the field has been treated by others throughout history. The statement causes me regard the book with suspicion. Is anyone familiar with this book, and is it worth the $25?

  7. I need to become better educated on philosophy outside of Objectivsm. Can anyone suggest good books on Western philosophy for that approach the subject objectively? Preferably ones that address the subject in a general sense and across history rather than ones that focus on specific schools of thought and time frames. Any suggestions would be appreciated, and thanks in advance.

  8. If you just want the philosophy, and are not interested in reading several thousand pages to finish Any Rand's novels, "For the New Intellectual" is a compilation of major philosophical statements taken from her fiction. "The Virtue of Selfishness" is another good choice, as others have mentioned. "Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand," while an important book, is somewhat volumous and technical, and perhaps not an ideal starting poitnt.

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