Dagny

[Dagny]

i'm 23, majoring in economics, thinking of maybe double majoring in math as well. Living in Los Angeles, CA. My favorite book is Atlas Shrugged, though the Fountainhead is a close second.

[DavidOdden]

i'm 23, majoring in economics, thinking of maybe double majoring in math as well. Living in Los Angeles, CA. My favorite book is Atlas Shrugged, though the Fountainhead is a close second.

Approximately where would you put "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal"? I ask (and implicitly suggest) because when I first started reading Objectivism, it was with an ethical / economic bias, and that book had a major influence in my life, to understand that profit is not evil.

[Dagny]

I haven't read that yet. I just started reading ayn rand in april and between college & looking for a job haven't had time to get acquainted with all her works yet. that is next on my list though as well as The Virtue of Selfishness. I'll let you know what i think about it as soon as i read it.

[nimble]

Yea i am double majoring in Economics and Philosophy at Albion College. And I plan to transfer to U of M after my senior year so i can get a Phd in Economics. If you ever need any help with some classes I might have taken them. I took an honors econ program though, so we might have different courses.

[AshRyan]

Since nobody actually said "Welcome" yet--Welcome to the forum!

[manavmehta]

Dagny - I have found that reading Ayn Rand's non-fiction works gives you a much clearer picture of her philosophy, partly because her fiction works only touch the surface and assume that the reader already holds a certain sense of life, and partly, because her non-fiction works are a clear and scholarly exposition of the most basic fundamentals behind her philosophy. I have never read a more scientific and logical explanation of the objectivist axioms, than in her article "The Objectivist Ethics" in The Virtue of Selfishness. She was indeed a woman with a great mind. A lot of things were cleared up in my mind when I read The Virtue of Selfishness. Before reading that book, I would always hold half-confused arguments with my friends who did not agree with my views, and I found that I had no answer to some of their arguments. Now most (if not all) of my confusion is gone.

[Dagny]

was just reading other introductions and realized i didnt really say much about myself in my intro. let's see...

1) i was born in Peru (south america), but came here with my family when I was 4 because, as my parents put it "there are no jobs or future in Peru". i've only gone back once, when i was 13...hated it. the poverty and hopelessness there is huge and the whole thing was very depressing. what i do love about my birth country is the food (great chicken) and dancing. since then, i had always wondered what made some countries rich and others poor.

2) that said, i love the united states. from a young age, i was told this was the country where if you work hard enough you can make something of yourself. for that reason, i always worked hard at school and was a typical straight A student. culminating in being accepted into the California Academy of Math and Science High School.

3) at said high school, i was introduced for the first time to everything from Atheists to Fundemental Christians. never being religious myself i actually was better friends with atheists...though at the time i still believed in God. it was great to argue and debate with intelligent people.

4)however, by the age 18, when I was accepted into UCLA i began to search for a philosophy i could call my own. i took classes that taught me the history of judaism, christianity, and islam. i read books about buddhism. i took a philosophy class where i was introduced to Descartes (didn't like his theories). read about communism, libertarians, democratic party, republicans, etc. All of this making me feel more confused and lost than ever as i didnt seem to agree with any of those groups.

5) I dropped out of UCLA cause I hated my whole experience there. i wasn't sure about my major or career goals either...i didnt want to spend $6k a year when i didnt know what the hell i was doing. skip to 3 years later, and i come across a scholarship essay contest for Atlas Shrugged. they didnt have A. S. at the library so i read the Fountainhead instead...out of curiousity. (i'd read great reviews for it online). then i read A.S. and...well here i am...an objectivist. the hardest was realizing that i had stopped believing in God a long time ago.

everything i read in Ayn Rand's books was stuff that i had held as my own views all my life. also, she answered that question about why some countries are rich and others aren't.

[manavmehta]

Yup - letting go of a belief you have held all your life is difficult, but it is worth it. For me, the hardest thing was letting go of my belief that the "feelings" of other people were more important than acting in my own self-interest. As far as God is concerned, I stopped believing in Him long before I had even heard of Ayn Rand. I think I might not have been as receptive to Ayn Rand's views, if I hadn't started re-aligning my thoughts on realistic lines years before I was introduced to her views. I remember, one fine day, just realizing that I didn't believe in God any more, that I had been deluding myself all my life by believing in such an absurd concept with no physical evidence behind it. And I also understood at that moment, why people hold on their belief in God. They want to believe that they are not alone in this universe, and that there is someone greater and stronger to help them through their most difficult times, more or less like a father figure. I used to think this was a feeling worth respecting until I read Atlas Shrugged, which was when I realized it is nothing but contemptible weakness, and more importantly, a wilful evasion of reality.