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Is there a FAQ on Objectivism

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iouswuoibev

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Is there a FAQ solely for questions on Objectivism? If one doesn't exist, I think there should be one. It may help rectify common misconceptions held by newcomers to the philosophy, and spare others the effort of repeatedly answering the same questions. What do you think?

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Volunteering? We have a Wiki on OO.net

It would be great to have more volunteers filling in content.

That isn't what I had in mind. The purpose of a FAQ would not be to give a formal explanation of every topic, but to help people get an acquainted sense of what Objectivism is about by the manner in which it tackles issues that they commonly encounter in their lives.

Concrete examples help people identify with the abstractions. The most frequently asked questions people have after reading Rand's writing are not about the principles, but about isolated concretes, because they haven't identified with the proper principle that covers it.

As an example of what I'm talking about, on the ARI website, in the second half of Piekoff's intro to O'ism video, the questions asked by the students are not asking about the principles themselves (if they were certain of the principle then they wouldn't need to ask questions), but particular concretes which pertain to them. The concretes differentiated in the correct place give rise to an abstraction; its this"cutting" of reality at the right place that allows them to grasp the principle involved. This is how I think a FAQ would be useful.

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I'm not familiar with the examples you're talking about, but yes there are some questions that come up again and again. For instance the prototypical: "should I accept a scholarship". The Wiki is as good a place as any. If you or anyone else is interested, you can start a FAQ section and then start adding the questions and add answers to the ones you wish to answer.

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