Objectivism And Biology

[Dionysus]

I was hoping somebody could clarify for me what reason Ayn Rand gave for basing morality on biology (albeit a flawed understanding of biology but perhaps that is best saved for a post in a different section of the forum) ie self preservation. Is the reason simply that there is nothing else to use or is there a greater imperative?

[Felix]

I was hoping somebody could clarify for me what reason Ayn Rand gave for basing morality on biology (albeit a flawed understanding of biology but perhaps that is best saved for a post in a different section of the forum) ie self preservation. Is the reason simply that there is nothing else to use or is there a greater imperative?

According to the Objectivist Ethics, living is a choice. It's not an imperative "Thou shalt take care of your self-preservation". All the Objectivist Ethics are saying is that if you've decided to live (and that means living in the Objectivist sense, see my post regarding your other question), then you have no choice but to live according to your nature. The Objectivist Ethics' stance on this is very clear on refusing any dogmatic and unfounded imperatives regarding morality. The only imperatives in the Objectivist Ethics are those that derive from biology and physics, like "If you want to live, you have to eat." or "If you want to survive you don't jump off a high building.". But they all come with an if attached to them, because you can always choose not to.

[softwareNerd]

Dionysus, I recommend you get the collection of essays titled "The Virtue of Selfishness" (used copies are for just $3 on Amazon today) and read the first essay titled "The Objectivist Ethics".