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Objectivist Symbol?

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LiberTodd

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Sorry if this has been done before, but to anyone's knowledge is there an official Objectivist symbol or logo?
In fact, such a thing is impossible and antithetical to the nature of Objectivism. Bearing in mind that Objectivism is the philosophy of Ayn Rand, she did not create an official slogan or symbol to represent her philosophy, and would not have wanted to. (It's a philosophy, not a sound bite). She would have wanted people to understand and follow her philosophy, and slogans / symbols are by nature shortcuts that replace fully using the mind.
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In fact, such a thing is impossible and antithetical to the nature of Objectivism. Bearing in mind that Objectivism is the philosophy of Ayn Rand, she did not create an official slogan or symbol to represent her philosophy, and would not have wanted to. (It's a philosophy, not a sound bite). She would have wanted people to understand and follow her philosophy, and slogans / symbols are by nature shortcuts that replace fully using the mind.

Do you believe those shortcuts are necessarily harmful? I wonder, because many quotes are shortcuts for me. They often are connected to a great many things and reading or hearing them conjures up an emotional or intellectual reaction for me. Obviously symbols of any kind do not impart knowledge but seem to serve more as a reminder of knowledge already possessed. Something immediately recognizable is beneficial in many ways. Golden arches, crosses, etc. I don't think many people see a cross and then understand Christianity. So I don't see how shortcutting would result from an Objectivist symbol.

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Do you believe those shortcuts are necessarily harmful?
For a philosophy, yes.
I wonder, because many quotes are shortcuts for me. They often are connected to a great many things and reading or hearing them conjures up an emotional or intellectual reaction for me.
The difference is that quotes are a symbol representing something that you already know: they are evocative of the philosophy. A symbol, especially, has a powerful ability to completely replace the very rich set of ideas that is Objectivism with -- a complete non-understanding of those ideas. I contend that Rand would not have approved of a symbol to "stand for" Objectivism because it would encourage some people to believe that the symbol itself had some importance, and furthermore could have functioned properly only if people already understood the referent of "Objectivism". That is still not the case, and was certainly not the case when she was alive.
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I contend that Rand would not have approved of a symbol to "stand for" Objectivism because it would encourage some people to believe that the symbol itself had some importance

I think you may well be right there. Plus, even if Objectivism were to have a symbol, it would have to be one chosen by Miss Rand, and since she did not choose any, there definitely cannot be any.

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I suppose that's a good point. Since Objectivism is the philosophy of true individuals, each person would theoretically have to have their own symbol. Still, it would be nice if Rand fans could recognize each other off the street or something.

Edited by LiberTodd
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Haha, cool. Wish I had a credit card so I could buy things offline. I also saw a "who is john galt" bumper sticker before.

I did get noticed by someone in my guitar class though because I had a paperback copy of the Fountainhead in my back pocket. Don't know what I'm gonna do when I finish that and start re-reading Atlas, though. I'll have to invest in much bigger pants :o

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ATLAS_LOGO.jpg

I thought about getting a tattoo like that :P.

I have a tattoo of the John Galt quote: The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it.

It was hard deciding whether or not to get it, mostly because I'm against vanity, and if you truly are objectivist, then you won't be shouting it at the world through a tattoo, because you won't care what they think..

Solution: I got the tattoo on my right forearm, facing ME, so that in times of adversity I can read it.

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Not just any green lantern, though.

In brightest day, in darkest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Beware the power--Green Lantern's light!

I suppose a good symbol could be a raging fire emitting sparks?

Yep. I need to make a thread elaborating on the similiarities between the Green Lantern Corps and Objectivism. There ARE similiarities, and they are interesting.

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  • 1 year later...

I have been thinking of this for some time

Symbols are used for heraldric purposes they identify. Would we want a symbol or a logo is the question.

I reject the dollar sign. It is an economic device and used to symbolize our pro-captialist sentements. However. in the scheme of things capitlaism is pretty far down. The order of things is this: Metaphysics > Epistemology > Ethics > Politics > Political Economics; whence resides capitalism

Therefore I would prefer an over-arching symbol or logo. I could describe it but it would take a person with better artistic skills than I to implement it

Field: blue-green or a dark teal

Boundaries established by the 3 circle of the Ergo triangle top one gold, left one black and the right one gold outline but the same color as the field. Connect these with gold lines

Internals; divide this triangle that these boundaries form into six equal parts. Fill these with the six colors of the spectrum. In the center and of considerable size have a white circle in which the person displaying it would put a personal image. Mine would be a pair of indigo cat's eyes

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  • 3 weeks later...

Absolutely, the dollar sign. Francisco did raise a huge golden dollar sign in the middle of Galt's Gulch, and Ayn Rand often wore one on her collar.

Unfortunately the dollar sign is closely associated with gangster rappers these days. Curiously enough, they have their own version of "A is A" as well, namely the phrase "It is what it is" -- although when they say it, it implies helplessness. Very fitting, I'm sure.

I purchased this small dollar necklace in titanium steel a while back.

http://www.steel-jewelry.com/product_info....roducts_id=3482

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