Live Speaker Event: The Moral Defense for Unregulated Capitalism

The Penn State Objectivist Club is proud to host a live speaker event on Monday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. in 102 Thomas.

The title of the talk is “The Moral Defense for Unregulated Capitalism” and it will be given by Dr. Eric Daniels of The Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism.

See www.psuobjectivism.com/capitalism for more information on the topic and the speaker. Check back frequently for updates!

Next Meeting: Environmentalism

The next meeting will be this Wednesday (Nov. 18) at 7 p.m. in 127 Henderson South.

We will be discussing environmentalism. This is a topic that ranges from global warming and “clean” energy to animal “rights” and recycling. We are more than often told to make sure our actions do not harm the environment, that our carbon footprint should be as small as possible. Should this truly be our goal?

Ayn Rand didn’t think so. She saw environmentalism as anti-life and anti-man. In this next meeting, we will discuss Objectivism’s unique view on environmentalism and the real goal of the “green” agenda.

In Western Europe, in the preindustrial Middle Ages, man’s life expectancy was 30 years. In the nineteenth century, Europe’s population grew by 300 percent—which is the best proof of the fact that for the first time in human history, industry gave the great masses of people a chance to survive.

If it were true that a heavy concentration of industry is destructive to human life, one would find life expectancy declining in the more advanced countries. But it has been rising steadily. Here are the figures on life expectancy in the United States (from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company):

■1900—47.3 years
■1920—53 years
■1940—60 years
■1968—70.2 years (the latest figures compiled)

Anyone over 30 years of age today, give a silent “Thank you” to the nearest, grimiest, sootiest smokestacks you can find.

-Ayn Rand in Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution

Material to be Discussed
“No ‘Footprint,’ No Life” by Keith Lockitch, PhD
http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=22271&news_iv_ctrl=2457

“Animal ‘Rights’ vs. Human Rights” by Andrew Bernstein, PhD
http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5106&news_iv_ctrl=1084

“Reject Environmentalism, Not DDT” by Keith Lockitch, PhD
http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=13355&news_iv_ctrl=1084

Next Meeting: Love & Sex

The next meeting will be this Wednesday (Nov. 11) at 7 p.m. in 127 Henderson South.

We will be discussing love, sex, and all things related. Topics include (but are not limited to):

-should love be selfish?
-is unconditional love a virtue?
-the “rape” scene in The Fountainhead
-femininity vs. masculinity
-”rough sex” in the novels vs. Ayn Rand’s conception of sex
-what obligations does a man hold toward his children?
-abortion
-in Atlas Shrugged, was it wrong for Rearden to have an affair with Dagny?
-love vs. sex

Next Meeting: What are Rights?

The next meeting will be this Wednesday (Oct. 28) in 127 Henderson South at 7 p.m.

We will finish watching the debate from last week. As a follow-up, we will also discuss man’s rights.

Nowadays “rights” is a term used loosely. According to most, we have a “right” to many things, such as health care, housing, food, jobs, education, and even the Internet. Thomas Jefferson wrote in a Founding Document of this nation, however, that people only have the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Why didn’t the Founding Fathers include a right to health care or a right to a job in the Declaration of Independence? Why didn’t they say that it was the government’s job to make sure everyone was able to purchase a house, regardless of whether they could afford it or not?

In this next meeting, we will discuss the nature of man’s rights and why material objects, such as health care, food, or education, cannot be a right because if they are, they will require the sacrifice of other people’s rights.

The most profoundly revolutionary achievement of the United States of America was the subordination of society to moral law. The principle of man’s individual rights represented the extension of morality into the social system—as a limitation on the power of the state, as man’s protection against the brute force of the collective, as the subordination of might to right. The United States was the first moral society in history.
-Ayn Rand in “Man’s Rights”

Material to be Discussed:
“Man’s Rights” by Ayn Rand
Text online:
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ari_ayn_rand_man_rights

Next Meeting: Capitalism vs. Socialism

The next meeting will be this Wednesday (Oct. 21) in 127 Henderson South at 7 p.m.

We will be watching a debate about capitalism vs. socialism.

Capitalists: Dr. Leonard Peikoff and Dr. John Ridpath
Socialists: Dr. Gerald Caplan and Dr. Jill Vickers

Positions
Dr. Gerry Caplan: “Socialism is an ideal that tries to touch the best in people and to elevate the best into the norm.”

Dr. Leonard Peikoff: “The system which guards the freedom of man’s mind is … based on the concept of inalienable individual rights: laissez-faire capitalism.”

Dr. Jill Vickers: “I am a socialist committed to broad humane values which transcend the bankrupt visions of societies that are subservient to economies.”

Dr. John Ridpath: “Socialism denies and assaults every basic social need of man and must therefore ultimately result in tyranny and destruction.”

Next Meeting: Money as the Root of All Evil?

The next meeting will be on Wednesday, Oct. 14 in 127 Henderson South at 7 p.m.

We will be discussing the meaning of money.

The financial crisis has been blamed on the bankers and the executives on Wall Street. They have been accused of selfishly pursuing profits at the expense of our financial security. They have been labeled greedy, irresponsible, and ruthless in their drive for making money. Pharmaceutical companies have likewise been depicted as villains. They are accused of making drugs exceedingly expensive in order to reap profits off sick people. They are blinded above all else by their desire to make money, knowing that many sick people are not able to access their drugs because of their high cost. Insurance companies, too, are to blame. In order to increase their profits, they deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and drop people’s coverage once they become exceedingly sick. This ruthless desire to make money has been blamed for many of the problems we are facing today.

But is money really the root of all evil? And if we money shouldn’t be used to trade goods and services, what are the alternatives? Are these alternatives any better? In Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, Francisco d’Anconia delivers a powerful speech in which he expresses a revolutionary view of the meaning of money and the kind of people who strive to make it.

If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose–because it contains all the others–the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to make money.’ No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity–to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality.
-Francisco d’Anconia in Atlas Shrugged

Material to be Discussed:

“Francisco’s Money Speech” in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged
Text online:
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=1826

Other supplementary material:

Why Businessmen Love Atlas Shrugged
Alex Epstein, analyst at the Ayn Rand Institute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfcpykambQU

The Money-Making Personality
Ayn Rand
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ar_money_making

Next Meeting: Objectivist Ethics Part 3

The next meeting will be in 127 Henderson South on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.

We will be concluding our discussion of the Objectivist ethics.

Conventional wisdom often holds that we face a dilemma: either we surrender our interests to others or we exploit others. According to this view, there are unavoidable conflicts of interests among people.

In our final discussion on the “virtue of selfishness,” we’ll examine the psychological and social facts Ayn Rand identifies that undermine the inevitability of conflict and sacrifice, and her view of how the rejection of sacrifice supports the establishment of laissez-faire capitalism.

“[J]ust as life is an end in itself, so every living human being is an end in himself, not the means to the ends or the welfare of others—and, therefore, that man must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. To live for his own sake means that the achievement of his own happiness is man’s highest moral purpose.”
-Ayn Rand , “The Objectivist Ethics”

Material to be discussed:

“The Objectivist Ethics,” pp. 30-39 (paragraphs 67-end) in Ayn Rand’s The Virtue of Selfishness
Order the book:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0451163931
Full text online:
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ari_ayn_rand_the_objectivist_ethics

Next Meeting: Objectivist Ethics Part 2!

The next meeting will be Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. in 127 Henderson South.

We will be discussing part 2 of the Objectivist ethics…

Most people think that being selfish means ruthlessly pursuing any range-of-the-moment whim that one likes, even if it means plundering or exploiting other people. As a consequence, most think selfishness is the opposite of morality.

In our second discussion, we will inquire into the survival requirements of rational, creative producers, and whether these requirements generate any distinctive virtues (such as honesty, justice, and integrity) recognizable as moral. If such virtues exist, then selfishness is not simply an excuse to act in any way a person wants, but is a committment to acting in a way that truly enhances one’s life in the long-term.

“Man has been called a rational being, but rationality is a matter of choice—and the alternative his nature offers him is: rational being or suicidal animal. Man has to be man—by choice; he has to hold his life as a value—by choice; he has to learn to sustain it —by choice; he has to discover the values it requires and practice his virtues—by choice. A code of values accepted by choice is a code of morality.”
—Ayn Rand , Galt’s Speech, Atlas Shrugged

Material to be discussed:

“The Objectivist Ethics,” pp. 20-30 (paragraphs 34-66) in Ayn Rand’s The Virtue of Selfishness

Order the book:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0451163931
Full text online:
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ari_ayn_rand_the_objectivist_ethics

Next Meeting: 09/21!

The next meeting will be this Wednesday, September 21 in 127 Henderson South at 7 p.m.

We will be discussing the Objectivist Ethics. Read the post below for more information.

Next Meeting: The Objectivist Ethics!

The next meeting will be on Wednesday from 7 to 8.30 p.m. in 127 Henderson South. This will be the location of all meetings for the rest of the semester.

For the next three meetings, we will be discussing the Objectivist ethics. We will explore the rational basis of Ayn Rand’s argument that morality consists, not of sacrificing your values to others, but of acting to achieve your values and pursuing your happiness. We will discuss why one’s own life must be the standard of value for any rational person and what virtues a life of rational self-interest requires.

For the first meeting, we will be discussing:

Most people are taught as children that it is wrong to be selfish, and that living morally means surrendering one’s wealth and time to others who are in need. In defense of this idea, little more is offered than that some higher power commands it or that society expects it of us.

In this first discussion, we will ask, with Ayn Rand, whether there is an alternative source of values, some rational, scientific basis—and how the idea that selfishness is a vice looks in light of that alternative basis.

“No philosopher has given a rational, objectively demonstrable, scientific answer to the question of why man needs a code of values. . . .

If you want to save civilization, it is this premise of modern ethics—and of all ethical history—that you must challenge.”
-Ayn Rand, “The Objectivist Ethics”

Material to be discussed:
“The Objectivist Ethics,” pp. 13-20 in Ayn Rand’s The Virtue of Selfishness

Order the book:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0451163931
Full text online (read paragraphs 1-33 only):
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ari_ayn_rand_the_objectivist_ethics
Condensed lecture version, read by Ayn Rand, online:
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_ar_ethics