Hello everyone. I am new to the forum. My name is Luke. I am a 16 year old from the state of Michigan who has stumbled upon, and subsequently realized, objectivism. I have always had somewhat of an objective view of the world, and never really knew that the philosophy was named until about 2 weeks ago when I first discovered some of Ayn Rand’s work (Atlas Shrugged, most notably).
Not having been at this forum long enough to know, I’m pretty young to be interested in philosophy, especially philosophy as ambitious as the stuff that Ayn Rand has presented to all of us. I can’t say that the feelings are mirrored by my family, unfortunately. My father, and his family, are subscribers to “word faith” christianity, and it upsets me to even try to present reason to them. Luckily, I realized that my grandfather on my mother’s side (a professor at Cornell University) subscribes to many of the beliefs of objectivism, so some parts of my family are bearable when it comes to my beliefs.
I come to this forum to learn. I’m a relative novice to the ins and outs of objectivity, but having read some about it, I feel that its right in line with the beliefs that I convey in my everyday life.
Thank you. I look forward to learning more in the coming weeks.
Hello. I’m 16 as well. I’m sure you’ll learn a lot here, as well as talk to some very interesting and intelligent people. Have fun and welcome to the forum.
Welcome, Luke. Please remember to capitalize Objectivism, as it is a proper noun. Lower-case objective and objectivity is still correct, because those name particular principles, not an entire philosophy.
Welcome, Luke. Please remember to capitalize Objectivism, as it is a proper noun. Lower-case objective and objectivity is still correct, because those name particular principles, not an entire philosophy. :o
Hello everyone. I am new to the forum. My name is Luke. I am a 16 year old from the state of Michigan who has stumbled upon, and subsequently realized, objectivism. I have always had somewhat of an objective view of the world, and never really knew that the philosophy was named until about 2 weeks ago when I first discovered some of Ayn Rand’s work (Atlas Shrugged, most notably).
Hi I’m 15. What books of Ayn Rand have you read? I take it you have read or started reading Atlas Shrugged and The Fountaihhead?
It’s best to start with the non-fiction. As Ayn Rand made clear; the essential purpose of a work of art is not to teach. If you read Atlas Shrugged after gaining a thorough understanding of Objectivism then the story will be all the more meaningful.
That’s not my experience, Cole. As far as I’ve noticed, it is extremely difficult to gain a thorough understanding of Objectivism without first reading Ayn Rand’s fiction works. The fiction works lay the grounding; they give you a vision of the sort of concretes that Objectivism works to conceptualize and integrate. After gaining a sort of implicit, stylized “view” of “where she’s coming from”, it is much easier to look at reality and validate the various Objectivist principles as you encounter them.
Art fulfils a particular need of human consciousness; the need to be able to grasp in perceptual terms the sum of one’s conceptual ideas. That’s is one of the things that makes Ayn Rand’s fiction so powerful. Readers that already hold on the conceptual level SOME of her ideas can, for what is probably the first time, see their full, non-contradictory realization through fiction. Thought that is not turned into some sort of existential product might as well never have existed; it is seeing that bridge between thought and action that really drives home the point.
