The man who marries a helpless, irresponsible scatterbrain

[cliveandrews]

What kind of soul does he reveal?

[Juxtys]

What kind of soul does he reveal?

that would mean he is very low on self-esteem and has a nature of a bully. If having people less able than him around him makes him feel better, then he lacks any self-respect whatsoever.

[musenji]

I disagree with your last statement, Juxtys. A person can be part good. There isn't enough information here to make a good judgement, especially because it looks like it's a loaded question--like you, Clive, already know what answer to expect and are looking for it, by framing the question so as to make the answer "obvious".

Why did the man marry the woman? Was it solely because her weakness made him feel masculine? Or did she have some genuine virtues?

[edit] Saying "what kind of soul does he reveal" is particularly loaded, as Rand used that exact question, I believe verbatim, when referring to evil people in certain instances.

Edited April 12, 2009 by musenji

[JMeganSnow]

I was seriously tempted to delete this thread due to a complete lack of any useful context. One might describe a woman as a "helpless scatterbrain" in some circumstances, but it's unlikely to be her only characteristic except in a work of fiction.

[James I]

I was seriously tempted to delete this thread due to a complete lack of any useful context. One might describe a woman as a "helpless scatterbrain" in some circumstances, but it's unlikely to be her only characteristic except in a work of fiction.

I agree. I personally know a rather scatterbrained person but she is one of the most moral people I have met. I don't think that being scatterbrained is a choice so such a person wouldn't be inherently immoral. Unless you mean a lazy person who refuses to think and habitually dims his or her consciousness.

[cliveandrews]

My apologies. I assumed people would recognize the quote. It's from The Virtue of Selfishness: "A man who chooses a helpless, irresponsible scatterbrain because her weakness makes him feel masculine reveals one kind of soul." This statement is a piercingly accurate description of my parents' relationship. So I'm wondering how exactly Rand would describe such a man. The person who says he lacks self-respect seems to be correct.

Edited April 18, 2009 by cliveandrews

[JMeganSnow]

While it's likely true that he lacks self-respect, this is also an extremely vague statement. Any man who wants ANYTHING other than the highest type of woman he can find is clearly lacking in self-respect in *some* way, it's just that the particular manner of it may vary greatly from person to person. That's why the lack of context is troublesome--because every particular case is going to be slightly different.

And, yes, I recognized the quote, but latching onto Ayn Rand's methods of expressing certain ideas is a surefire way to turn yourself into a dogmatic Objectivist who can't apply principles to concretes or derive principles FROM concretes. That's a big problem, so I was hoping you'd provide or develop more context so that the fundamentals can be derived and explored.