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stonebeard
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 27 2005
Location: NE Indiana
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Points: 28057
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 15:43 |
MovingPictures07 wrote:
I simply find it ridiculous when people come into a thread like this and proclaim that something that is rationally founded as illogical; it's almost like a bunch of religious zealots complaining about people having beliefs that are different than theirs.
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Well if it is, then it should be debunked (perhaps with zeal).
Personally, I've never been arsed to read much of her work because (1) she struck as standoffish arrogant person (2) most of them are long as f**k (3) "selfishness" as a foundational basis for acting seems bad. Could be otherwise, but other philosophies appeal to me more.
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Alberto Muñoz
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 26 2006
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 3577
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 15:04 |
^ Moving Pictures07 , don't try to play the fool on me ok??
See the quotes for adittional info. Did you read my name (actually is my real name BTW) and you answer to me if you quote my post.
Edited by Alberto Muñoz - November 06 2009 at 17:16
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MovingPictures07
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 09 2008
Location: Beasty Heart
Status: Offline
Points: 32181
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 15:00 |
Alberto Muñoz wrote:
MovingPictures07 wrote:
Alberto Muñoz wrote:
So, Moving Pictures07 enlight us, if you think that we are misinformend about Rand, or you going to do what Roark done, saving his ego for the best. |
Don't patronize me; it's degrading on your part.
I do not patronize you, you are feeling like that
Don't you think it's disrespectful for an individual (or individuals) to come in here and totally imply that anyone who finds any sort of logical value in Rand's writings and what she valued in her life as incorrect or stupid?
I haven't said that in the first place, would you mind if you read what i say?
In reality, it takes a certain type of mindset to be able to relate with Rand's ideals (I hesitate to use the word Objectivism, as I personally dislike restrictive labels). If anyone has actually given her books a chance and honestly came to them with an open mind and thereafter concluded that the idealistic system doesn't make sense to them, then that's great. Simply don't advocate it then, but don't go around implying that Rand or anyone who does find value in her writings is of substandard intelligence simply because they don't make sense to you. I'm sure you (and others) wouldn't like the same treatment.
I haven't said that she was or have substandard intelligence, i say that is a good writer but i didn't say that she was stupid or sor of.
Rand wouldn't have asked for anyone to follow her ideals; they were simply how she saw the world. I'm the first person to admit that I do not follow anyone else's views and that I do not 100% agree with everything that Rand advocated.
Agree
The main tenants of what has become the Objectivist philosophy, however, are ideals in which I've found value and a sense of logical order in reality and specifically in my life's journey. The clear fact is... every individual looks at reality through his or her own individualistic lens. It makes reality itself no different, but simply the perception is different living through the eyes of any particular person. It does not change anything that may be self-evident in actuality. The four basic summaries that were provided at the beginning of the thread are particularly indicative of this Objectivist philosophy; and they are points that I find to be invaluable and logical in every sense of both words.
If you're closed-minded, there's nothing I can do to convince you otherwise that they make sense. Besides, it doesn't hurt me if you don't find value in a certain ideal; you are free to live your life however you wish so long as you do not violate anyone else's same right. I simply find it ridiculous when people come into a thread like this and proclaim that something that is rationally founded as illogical; it's almost like a bunch of religious zealots complaining about people having beliefs that are different than theirs.
So, being in disagree with Rand ideas convert me in a close minded person?? that sounds like you are an intolerant person, and i think you are not that kind....
Your freedom that you praise in your last paragraph, vanish when people don't agree with your ideas.
Shame on you.
And don't mind to answer i will not read your post, not interest for me
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I never said anything about "Alberto Munoz" in there, did I? I never said you were closed-minded; I said "if you are closed-minded, then...". Additionally, it would be closed-minded of you to not even listen to the opposition argument but proclaim that it doesn't make any sense. I find it hilariously ironic that you will not read any responses to your post and then call me intolerant.
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Alberto Muñoz
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 26 2006
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 3577
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 14:38 |
MovingPictures07 wrote:
Alberto Muñoz wrote:
So, Moving Pictures07 enlight us, if you think that we are misinformend about Rand, or you going to do what Roark done, saving his ego for the best. |
Don't patronize me; it's degrading on your part.
I do not patronize you, you are feeling like that
Don't you think it's disrespectful for an individual (or individuals) to come in here and totally imply that anyone who finds any sort of logical value in Rand's writings and what she valued in her life as incorrect or stupid?
I haven't said that in the first place, would you mind if you read what i say?
In reality, it takes a certain type of mindset to be able to relate with Rand's ideals (I hesitate to use the word Objectivism, as I personally dislike restrictive labels). If anyone has actually given her books a chance and honestly came to them with an open mind and thereafter concluded that the idealistic system doesn't make sense to them, then that's great. Simply don't advocate it then, but don't go around implying that Rand or anyone who does find value in her writings is of substandard intelligence simply because they don't make sense to you. I'm sure you (and others) wouldn't like the same treatment.
I haven't said that she was or have substandard intelligence, i say that is a good writer but i didn't say that she was stupid or sor of.
Rand wouldn't have asked for anyone to follow her ideals; they were simply how she saw the world. I'm the first person to admit that I do not follow anyone else's views and that I do not 100% agree with everything that Rand advocated.
Agree
The main tenants of what has become the Objectivist philosophy, however, are ideals in which I've found value and a sense of logical order in reality and specifically in my life's journey. The clear fact is... every individual looks at reality through his or her own individualistic lens. It makes reality itself no different, but simply the perception is different living through the eyes of any particular person. It does not change anything that may be self-evident in actuality. The four basic summaries that were provided at the beginning of the thread are particularly indicative of this Objectivist philosophy; and they are points that I find to be invaluable and logical in every sense of both words.
If you're closed-minded, there's nothing I can do to convince you otherwise that they make sense. Besides, it doesn't hurt me if you don't find value in a certain ideal; you are free to live your life however you wish so long as you do not violate anyone else's same right. I simply find it ridiculous when people come into a thread like this and proclaim that something that is rationally founded as illogical; it's almost like a bunch of religious zealots complaining about people having beliefs that are different than theirs.
So, being in disagree with Rand ideas convert me in a close minded person?? that sounds like you are an intolerant person, and i think you are not that kind....
Your freedom that you praise in your last paragraph, vanish when people don't agree with your ideas.
Shame on you.
And don't mind to answer i will not read your post, not interest for me
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Edited by Alberto Muñoz - November 06 2009 at 14:44
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MovingPictures07
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 09 2008
Location: Beasty Heart
Status: Offline
Points: 32181
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 14:28 |
questionsneverknown wrote:
Toaster Mantis wrote:
I think you're overstating Ayn Rand's influence.
I'm a philosophy student at the University of Copenhagen and can say that while Ayn Rand is studied as the main popularizer of ethical egoism, there are many much more popular philosophers who make similar practical political recommendations for example Robert Nozick and Friedrich Hayek.
Rand is pretty obscure outside the United States so it is not very likely that Pinochet and Thatcher took their cues from her. Hell, I'm not sure even Milton Friedman was anywhere as influenced by Rand as by Hayek, going by the biographies and interviews I've read Hayek pops up as an inspiration much more than Rand does.
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Yes, I concede--I was overstating the case. Nozick and Hayek were clearly much more directly influential on Friedman than Rand. My point wasn't meant to be so much about direct influence, though; merely that Friedman's model of radical free marketism is the most concrete model in practice we have of Rand's economic ideals. Poorly stated (and implied) on my part. I think you are right about placing Rand in a line of thinkers of ethical egoism, a type of thinking which has found adherents in nineteenth-century anarchists and twentieth-century libertarians and beyond. Rand's model is just, for me, not consistent or persuasive (and yes I have read her works).
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That's fine by me, frankly. If you've read her works and find even absolutely nothing of any value whatsoever in them, I don't care. That's the wonders of everyone being different, unique individuals; you get differences in perspectives. I also echo that Rand's influence was not in the right historic era nor popularized enough in Europe or many places outside of the U.S. to have that magnanimous of an impact. I'd agree that Thatcher and others probably were not directly influenced by Rand.
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questionsneverknown
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 22 2009
Location: Ultima Thule
Status: Offline
Points: 602
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 14:24 |
Toaster Mantis wrote:
I think you're overstating Ayn Rand's influence.
I'm a philosophy student at the University of Copenhagen and can say that while Ayn Rand is studied as the main popularizer of ethical egoism, there are many much more popular philosophers who make similar practical political recommendations for example Robert Nozick and Friedrich Hayek.
Rand is pretty obscure outside the United States so it is not very likely that Pinochet and Thatcher took their cues from her. Hell, I'm not sure even Milton Friedman was anywhere as influenced by Rand as by Hayek, going by the biographies and interviews I've read Hayek pops up as an inspiration much more than Rand does.
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Yes, I concede--I was overstating the case. Nozick and Hayek were clearly much more directly influential on Friedman than Rand. My point wasn't meant to be so much about direct influence, though; merely that Friedman's model of radical free marketism is the most concrete model in practice we have of Rand's economic ideals. Poorly stated (and implied) on my part. I think you are right about placing Rand in a line of thinkers of ethical egoism, a type of thinking which has found adherents in nineteenth-century anarchists and twentieth-century libertarians and beyond. Rand's model is just, for me, not consistent or persuasive (and yes I have read her works).
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MovingPictures07
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 09 2008
Location: Beasty Heart
Status: Offline
Points: 32181
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 14:22 |
Alberto Muñoz wrote:
So, Moving Pictures07 enlight us, if you think that we are misinformend about Rand, or you going to do what Roark done, saving his ego for the best. |
Don't patronize me; it's degrading on your part. Don't you think it's disrespectful for an individual (or individuals) to come in here and totally imply that anyone who finds any sort of logical value in Rand's writings and what she valued in her life as incorrect or stupid? In reality, it takes a certain type of mindset to be able to relate with Rand's ideals (I hesitate to use the word Objectivism, as I personally dislike restrictive labels). If anyone has actually given her books a chance and honestly came to them with an open mind and thereafter concluded that the idealistic system doesn't make sense to them, then that's great. Simply don't advocate it then, but don't go around implying that Rand or anyone who does find value in her writings is of substandard intelligence simply because they don't make sense to you. I'm sure you (and others) wouldn't like the same treatment. Rand wouldn't have asked for anyone to follow her ideals; they were simply how she saw the world. I'm the first person to admit that I do not follow anyone else's views and that I do not 100% agree with everything that Rand advocated. The main tenants of what has become the Objectivist philosophy, however, are ideals in which I've found value and a sense of logical order in reality and specifically in my life's journey. The clear fact is... every individual looks at reality through his or her own individualistic lens. It makes reality itself no different, but simply the perception is different living through the eyes of any particular person. It does not change anything that may be self-evident in actuality. The four basic summaries that were provided at the beginning of the thread are particularly indicative of this Objectivist philosophy; and they are points that I find to be invaluable and logical in every sense of both words. If you're closed-minded, there's nothing I can do to convince you otherwise that they make sense. Besides, it doesn't hurt me if you don't find value in a certain ideal; you are free to live your life however you wish so long as you do not violate anyone else's same right. I simply find it ridiculous when people come into a thread like this and proclaim that something that is rationally founded as illogical; it's almost like a bunch of religious zealots complaining about people having beliefs that are different than theirs.
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Alberto Muñoz
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 26 2006
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 3577
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 14:11 |
Besides, i read Naomi Klein Book, (Shock Doctrine), and i agree with Toaster, Rand have little or no influence outside U.S.
I think it's like Paulo Coelho book's he write good novels but don't expect a philosophical book in there.
And i wonder if Coelho is big outside latinamerica.
Edited by Alberto Muñoz - November 06 2009 at 14:12
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Alberto Muñoz
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 26 2006
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 3577
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 14:07 |
So, Moving Pictures07 enlight us, if you think that we are misinformend about Rand, or you going to do what Roark done, saving his ego for the best.
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rdtprog
Special Collaborator
Heavy, RPI, Symph, JR/F Canterbury Teams
Joined: April 04 2009
Location: Mtl, QC
Status: Offline
Points: 5284
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 14:02 |
[QUOTE keiser willhelm
objective analysis of a subjective thing, music, is just impossible. there are aspects of it you can nail down but as soon as you move to enjoyment or a 'good'/'better'/'best' sort of conclusion you lose any objectivity. [/QUOTE] Everyone fall into the same trap of putting subjectivism over objectivism. There's someting like inter subjectivism or super subjectivism that describe the energy that operate in music or any work of art. Something that brings everyone together despite everyone taste and opinions. It's true that expression "Good, better or best" doesn't explain the essence of music, because not only you loose any objectivity but you stay confine in your own subjectivity. Music is not more subjective than objective.
Edited by rdtprog - November 06 2009 at 14:05
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Music is the refuge of souls ulcerated by happiness.
Emile M. Cioran
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MovingPictures07
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 09 2008
Location: Beasty Heart
Status: Offline
Points: 32181
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 13:42 |
Henry Plainview wrote:
MovingPictures07 wrote:
People on this forum are so misinformed about Rand's ideology.
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So is point number three true or not? Because a lot of people have said yes, but a lot of people say no and dilute the statement to "People have to look out for themselves", which has no meaning because everybody believes that. |
Point number three is correct, yes. A person simply has to understand the difference between being rightfully selfish and being "selfish" in a completely irrational and selfless sort of way. This dichotomy is presented perfectly in The Fountainead, where I'd say Roark is the Randian example of the former and Peter Keating the example of the latter. Additionally, there's a difference between what is advocated in point number three and going out of your way to screw someone else, which is not advocated by implication.
Edited by MovingPictures07 - November 06 2009 at 13:45
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MovingPictures07
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 09 2008
Location: Beasty Heart
Status: Offline
Points: 32181
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 13:40 |
keiser willhelm wrote:
MovingPictures07 wrote:
People on this forum are so misinformed about Rand's ideology.
You should have never posted this thread; you'll mainly get sh*t responses. Most people around here take any chance they get to bash it; I've since stopped even mentioning it.
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have you studied it at all? il grant you enjoying her books but her philosophy is LOGICALLY wrong - objectively flawed. |
I've read all 4 of her books 5+ times, and also many of her other writings. Just because you don't get it doesn't mean it's objectively flawed. Don't insult other people simply because you disagree with something, thanks. It makes you look like a jackass.
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Henry Plainview
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 26 2008
Location: Declined
Status: Offline
Points: 16715
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 13:39 |
MovingPictures07 wrote:
People on this forum are so misinformed about Rand's ideology.
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So is point number three true or not? Because a lot of people have said yes, but a lot of people say no and dilute the statement to "People have to look out for themselves", which has no meaning because everybody believes that.
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if you own a sodastream i hate you
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Toaster Mantis
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 12 2008
Location: Denmark
Status: Offline
Points: 5898
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 11:25 |
questionsneverknown wrote:
The only figure who has put Rand's radical economic vision into place is Milton Friedman (who, and here comes my value system a-singing, is a name people should be more aware of and couple with Hitler and Stalin). Friedman's radical free-market capitalism was put into place in Pinochet's reign, was the ground for Reagan and Thatcher's gutting of help for the poor but not the rich, and part of the thinking behind the invasion of Iraq. In case, this sounds conspiratorial and nutty, read Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine and David Harvey's A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Rand's economic vision has been tested again and again and what has been shown is that a true free-market capitalism only exists under dictatorship, and usually one that employs torture. |
I think you're overstating Ayn Rand's influence. I'm a philosophy student at the University of Copenhagen and can say that while Ayn Rand is studied as the main popularizer of ethical egoism, there are many much more popular philosophers who make similar practical political recommendations for example Robert Nozick and Friedrich Hayek. Rand is pretty obscure outside the United States so it is not very likely that Pinochet and Thatcher took their cues from her. Hell, I'm not sure even Milton Friedman was anywhere as influenced by Rand as by Hayek, going by the biographies and interviews I've read Hayek pops up as an inspiration much more than Rand does.
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"The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook
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keiser willhelm
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 14 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 1697
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 10:16 |
MovingPictures07 wrote:
People on this forum are so misinformed about Rand's ideology.
You should have never posted this thread; you'll mainly get sh*t responses. Most people around here take any chance they get to bash it; I've since stopped even mentioning it.
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have you studied it at all? il grant you enjoying her books but her philosophy is LOGICALLY wrong - objectively flawed.
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keiser willhelm
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 14 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 1697
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 10:12 |
first off, if you've read Rand's philosophy in any sort of depth you'll see that its rife with internal contradictions, let alone fallacies of logic. not much of a fan of her writing either, though ive read all 2000 pages of atlas shrugged.
in terms of the actual content of your post ill have to agree with fuxi mostly, although it seems silly to say that ABBA has as much musical depth as a mozart opera. depth is almost a quantifiable thing e.g range of tones, musical variety, melodies, complexity, arrangements etc. you wanted a definition for musical depth, i think you touched on it with technical aspects. certainly abbas vocal melodies and harmonies are well crafted (enough for Anne Sofie von Otter, even though a mezzo singing abba seems gimmicky to say the least, like a sort of marketing attempt) Depth could also relate to lyrical subject and sophistication . . . 'momma mia, here i go again, my my, how can i forget you' is not the deepest, most sophisticated expression of longing or love ive heard. but thats me being nit picky.
however shallow abba's music is when compared to mozart's, its not to say one is objectively better than the other. i personally dont like mozart all that much and would rather listen to a simple, 2/3 chord bob dylan song.
objective analysis of a subjective thing, music, is just impossible. there are aspects of it you can nail down but as soon as you move to enjoyment or a 'good'/'better'/'best' sort of conclusion you lose any objectivity.
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MovingPictures07
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 09 2008
Location: Beasty Heart
Status: Offline
Points: 32181
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 09:56 |
Honestly, as a composer myself, I'd say I naturally have always approached composing and music much like Roark approached architecture.
Whether certain progressive composers felt the same way, I don't know. But like I said, this thread will become a useless piece of garbage, unfortunately.
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MovingPictures07
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 09 2008
Location: Beasty Heart
Status: Offline
Points: 32181
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 09:54 |
People on this forum are so misinformed about Rand's ideology.
You should have never posted this thread; you'll mainly get sh*t responses. Most people around here take any chance they get to bash it; I've since stopped even mentioning it.
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questionsneverknown
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 22 2009
Location: Ultima Thule
Status: Offline
Points: 602
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 09:51 |
Interesting post and a fine conversation starter. Still, as others have already pointed out, Objectivism is a deeply-flawed philosophy (okay, all philosophies are, but there's a reason no reputable Philosophy departments give any space to Rand's system of thought). Simply stating that "reality exists as an objective absolute" doesn't make it so. More to the point Rand never offers a convincing proof that this is the case or is beyond debate. Philosophers have long contended with what's called the fact/value distinction (people steal is a fact, stealing is wrong is a value, but we can't say that stealing is wrong is a fact). This is the ground of Rand's claim. The problem is that Randists want to believe their value system is outside values, which is obviously a flawed claim, either as self-contradiction or outright hypocrisy. Furthermore, Rand makes a false and overgeneralized binary of objective/subjective; they are many other gray areas between. Rand's faith in free-market capitalism is also, obviously, not value-free and hardly objective (or objectivist) in any way. The only figure who has put Rand's radical economic vision into place is Milton Friedman (who, and here comes my value system a-singing, is a name people should be more aware of and couple with Hitler and Stalin). Friedman's radical free-market capitalism was put into place in Pinochet's reign, was the ground for Reagan and Thatcher's gutting of help for the poor but not the rich, and part of the thinking behind the invasion of Iraq. In case, this sounds conspiratorial and nutty, read Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine and David Harvey's A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Rand's economic vision has been tested again and again and what has been shown is that a true free-market capitalism only exists under dictatorship, and usually one that employs torture. So, no Rand fan here. What all this has to do with progressive music, I have no idea. The music of an Objectivist (capitalist) world will be Britney Spears and all her successors not Yes, ELP or Univers Zero.
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fuxi
Prog Reviewer
Joined: March 08 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 2459
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Posted: November 06 2009 at 08:43 |
Just gimme Mike Angelo's SEVENteenth chapter, any day!
I'm sorry but this popular (?) thinker's theories just don't make any sense.
"Reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man’s senses) is man’s only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival."
This is simply untrue.
We perceive most of reality through our (limited) senses.
We try to make sense of it by using reason.
Perception and reason (or logic) are two different things.
Furthermore, we are not only guided by reason but also by our instincts and emotions.
"The pursuit of [man's] own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life."
This is a contradiction in terms. Moralism is concerned with the way human beings interact. How could your own SELF-interest ever be "the highest moral purpose of your life"? And even if Ayn Rand were not contradicting herself, what gives her the authority to pontificate on our highest moral purpose?
"Most pop music has no lyrical message or musical depth to be rationally enjoyed."
This is plain silly. ANY old lyric can be studied, analysed or, erm, "rationally enjoyed", from 'Singin' in the Rain' and 'Billy Jean' to 'The Revealing Science of God'. This doesn't mean, of course. that all lyrics are equally beautiful, but they all are a form of human communication and therefore, to some extent, rational.
Finally, I'm a classic rock/prog/jazz/and classical music nut, and I'm aware that Mozart's operas (to give just one example) are technically more sophisticated than any rock opera you can think of. I also happen to think they're great fun and deeply moving. But who's to say that they've got more "musical depth" than Abba's greatest hits?
First of all, what does "musical depth" actually mean? And secondly, it's well known that Abba's melodies, vocal harmonies, lyrics and instrumental arrangements are sophisticated. They certainly were good enough for the Swedish mezzo Anne Sofie von Otter, who devoted an entire album to them - and not to any other rock band! Von Otter made her name singing Mozart, Handel, Gluck, Richard Strauss, Schumann, Grieg and many other greats. She wouldn't touch Abba with a bargepole if there were nothing in it.
In other words: what may seem shallow to you, will be more than deep enough for plenty of other people.
Edited by fuxi - November 06 2009 at 09:32
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