Hello There

[entripon]

Hey there; I just registered for the forums last night, so I figured I might as well introduce myself. I have been on the wrong side of basically every argument at one point or another; I've been a socialist, theist, anarchist, you name it. I started seriously studying Objectivism about two to three years ago; I read Atlas Shrugged when I was in grade school, but at that age it was obviously too much for me. When I picked up The Fountainhead a number of years later and saw the utterly evil Ellsworth Toohey espousing the views that I had come to accept, I had to find out more about this woman who had presented such an astounding moral defense of egoism and capitalism. Like many beginners to philosophy, I started with my greatest interest in politics, for that was, as I saw it, "practical philosophy". I had never been interested in what I saw as pragmatic arguments for a certain political system; what did I care whether poverty had historically been lower under free economies, or whether capitalism lowered unemployment? I was interested in moral arguments, and before Ayn Rand I had never seen such a thing from defenders of capitalism. Once I started reading more into Objectivism, I saw a rock solid moral argument for laissez faire, but unfortunately it took me a while to understand the relation of this tenet to the rest of Rand's philosophy. I, like many libertarians, took the non-initiation principle as near-axiomatic, which led me into trouble down the line until I had some of my confusions cleared up (in many cases with help from people on this forum). I don't want to denigrate Ayn Rand, but while her philosophy is brilliant and correct, I think she in many cases does an inadequate job of presenting it in her books. (The same could be said, to a lesser degree, about OPAR.) I have often had to come scour the internet for a more in-depth explanation of a principle, and this forum, among other sources, has been invaluable for that purpose.

My understanding of Objectivism is far beyond what it was in those days, but I'm still in the process of learning. I'm currently taking Leonard Peikoff's online course, Objectivism Through Induction, and I found that I have in the past been far more rationalistic than I had originally suspected. Even after all the study I have done, I find that I am growing every day. Somewhere I heard a quote attributed to Ayn Rand in which she said, "I don't know how I survived yesterday without knowing what I know today." I feel exactly the same way.

Anyway, hello to everyone; you'll probably see me around here fairly often in the future.

Edited November 25, 2005 by entripon

[JMeganSnow]

Welcome, Shawn!

You're about the same age as my brother, who lives on Whidbey Island and will be hitting college next year.

Edited November 26, 2005 by JMeganSnow

[Bold Standard]

I don't want to denigrate Ayn Rand, but while her philosophy is brilliant and correct, I think she in many cases does an inadequate job of presenting it in her books. (The same could be said, to a lesser degree, about OPAR.) I have often had to come scour the internet for a more in-depth explanation of a principle, and this forum, among other sources, has been invaluable for that purpose.

Do you mean inadequate in terms of style, comprehensiveness, consistency, or something else? And are you speaking primarily of her fiction, non-fiction, or both?

Welcome to the forum.