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

Meeting this Wednesday: Rational Selfishness and Independence

The next meeting of the Objectivist Club will be this Wednesday (Sept. 9) from 7 to 8.30 p.m in 127 Henderson South.

We will be discussing:

What is the source of human progress? Do the greatest human achievements come from those who devote their lives to serving others? Conventional wisdom says that they do. Is conventional wisdom correct? And since when do we look to conventions to find wisdom?

This week’s discussion will focus on the climactic courtroom speech by Howard Roark in Ayn Rand’s novel, The Fountainhead, in which Roark breaks with tradition and asserts the primary role of the independent egoist in human history, and his moral right to exist for himself.

“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received—hatred. The great creators—the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors—stood alone against the men of their time. . . . But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won.”
—Ayn Rand , The Fountainhead

Reading to be discussed:

-Roark’s speech
http://www.nasonart.com/personal/lifelessons/fountainhead.html