What: Discussion of two fairly short essays by Ayn Rand on the issue of compromise and principle:
(1)“The Anatomy of Compromise” (in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal...http://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-Ideal-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451147952/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-9950892-6061602?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185200827&sr=8-1)
and
(2) “Doesn’t Life Require Compromise?” (in The Virtue of Selfishness- http://www.amazon.com/Virtue-Selfishness-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451163931/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-9950892-6061602?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185200932&sr=8-1)
When: Sunday, July 29, 2007
Where: Sign up here for time and location details: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/opar-announce/
Proposed Questions:
1) What is Ayn Rand’s definition of a “principle”? Give an example of a “principle”. Ayn Rand said that a “…concept is a mental integration of two or more units which are isolated by a process of abstraction and united by a specific definition…” (The Ayn Rand Lexicon, Ed. By Harry Binswanger, “Concepts”), what, according to Ayn Rand’s philosophy, are the similarities and differences between a “principle” on the one hand and a “concept” on the other?
2) What is Ayn Rand’s definition of “compromise”?
3) Ayn Rand’s definition of (rational) compromise rests on the idea that two or more parties have “conflicting claims” that are then “adjusted by mutual concessions”. Give an example of what she means by “conflicting claims”, and then explain how there could be “mutual concessions” to “adjust” this conflict.
4) Reconcile Ayn Rand’s assertion that “there are no conflicts of interests among rational men” (see “The ‘Conflicts’ of Men’s Interests”, The Virtue of Selfishness, emphasis added), with her assertion that a legitimate compromise involves an adjustment of “conflicting claims” by mutual concessions. (See “Doesn’t Life Require Compromise?”, The Virtue of Selfishness)
5) Three common areas of life that are said to require compromise are at work, marriage, and politics. Give an example of the type of compromise Ayn Rand would say is proper in these three areas, and also give an example of what Ayn Rand would regard as a violation of principle, and therefore not a proper compromise, in these three areas.
6) In “The Anatomy of Compromise”, Ayn Rand describes three “...rules about the working of principles in practice and about the relationship of principles to goals…”. Give an example of these three rules in action from: history, contemporary affairs, your own personal experiences, or from a fictional novel or story (that was not written by Ayn Rand).
7) Describe the psychological and existential components causing the first principle described by Ayn Rand in “The Anatomy of Compromise”, to be true, (that “In any conflict between two men (or two groups) who hold the same basic principles, it is the more consistent one who wins.”)
8) In “The Anatomy of Compromise”, Ayn Rand says that in the conflict between the Republicans and the Democrats, that since the “Democrats are more consistently committed to the growth of government power, the Republicans are reduced to helpless ‘me-too’ing’, to inept plagiarism of any program initiated by the Democrats…” and that if neither party chooses to reject “altruism-collectivism-statism”, then “…the logic of the events created by their common basic principles will keep dragging them both further and further to the left.” She went on to say that in this conflict, if and when “…the ‘conservatives’ are kicked out of the game altogether, the same conflict will continue between the ‘liberals’ and the avowed socialists; when the socialists win, the conflict will continue between the socialists and the communists; when the communists win, the ultimate goal of altruism will be achieved: universal immolation.” How did she respond to the question that since the advocates of a mixed economy (such as the ‘conservatives’) are also advocating freedom, at least in part, why does the irrational part of their mixture have to win?
9) What does Ayn Rand mean by the term “collaboration” in her statement that “In any collaboration between two men (or two groups) who hold different basic principles, it is the more evil or irrational one who wins.” (The Anatomy of Compromise)? In other words, what is the definition of “collaboration”, as used here? Give an example of a “collaboration”.
10) Given the fact that neither major political party in the US (the Republicans and the Democrats) are consistent advocates of what Rand would regard as a free society, would Ayn Rand have viewed it as a violation of the three rules set forth in “The Anatomy of Compromise” if one were to vote for one or the other major party, simply because you viewed the other party as the bigger threat to freedom? (This question is inspired by Leonard Peikoff’s argument that an Objectivist that was true to his philosophy would have to vote Democrat in the last, 2006, mid-term elections.) Another way of seeing this question is: can Leonard Peikoff’s position regarding the need to vote Democrat in the 2006 mid-term elections be reconciled with Rand’s position that in “…any collaboration between two men (or two groups) who hold different basic principles, it is the more evil or irrational one who wins…” in “The Anatomy of Compromise”?
************************************************
Inspiration for Question Number 10:
(http://www.peikoff.com/
October 19, 2006 entry: "Peikoff on the coming election")
Monday, July 23, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
The 'Conflicts' of Men's Interests by Ayn Rand Questions and Possible Answers
--- In opar@yahoogroups.com
There was some good discussion of this essay yesterday. Here were the answers that I came up with to the questions I made. (I didn't come up with answers for all of them.) Further thoughts after group discussion are included in brackets:
1) What is the theme of this essay?
An explanation of why there are no conflicts of interest among
rational men in a free society. (First page, first para.)
2) What is given as a common counter-example of the Objectivist assertion that there are no conflicts of interest among rational men?
The example of two people applying for the same job, where only one will be hired. (First page, second para)
3) What are the four interrelated considerations which are involved in a rational man's view of his interests, but which are ignored or evaded by the presentation of the counter-example of two people competing for the same job?
"Reality", "Context", "Responsibility", and "Effort" (first page, third paragraph)
4) What, in this context, does Ayn Rand mean by "Reality", as it relates to the issue of there being no conflict of interest among rational men? Give an example of an irrational desire, and explain why this is not what Rand means by being in one's self-interest.
a) The term "interests" is a wide abstraction that includes issues of man's values, desires, his goals, and their actual achievement in reality. "Desires" are not tools of cognition, and they are not a valid standard of value. The fact that man desires something does not constitute a proof that the object of his desire is good for him or in his actual self-interest. A man may desire something that contradicts reality.
b)
5) What does Ayn Rand mean by "Context"?
Context means considering an idea in relation to one's other ideas, and, ultimately, in relation to the facts of reality.
6) What is "Context-Dropping"? Give two examples of it.
a) "Context-Dropping" is one of the chief psychological tools of evasion. In regard to one's desires, there are two major ways of context dropping: the issues of range and means.
b) Two Examples of "Context Dropping":
i) "…comparing the virtues of rinsing a dish from the faucet versus dipping it into a pan of rinse water which fairly quickly is no longer pure. When my children were growing up, I often said to them that the aim in washing dishes is not to get the dishes clean but rather to dilute the dirt to an acceptable degree." (pg 226, "The
Ultimate Resource II", by Julian L. Simon ISBN 0-691-00381-5, Chapter 15)
Simon takes the concept of "clean", which *in this context* is washing the dishes with water and soap to make them sufficiently clean to eat off of without risk of disease, and drops it, to imply that the dishes aren't "really clean", but in this context, that is what "clean" means. [We noted in group discussion that Simon is probably dropping context as to "range" in this quote.]
ii) Debate on Floor of Texas State Senate on 4/9/03 regarding SB 83 (Moment of Silence Statute) (See Croft v. Perry, Northern Distric of Texas) On transcript, page 6, Lines 2-5: "Senator Hinojosa: Why –Why are we mandating the schools to do that?
Senator Wentworth: Well, we're not yet. We haven't passed the bill…"
Senator Wentworth drops context because he knows full well (or should know full well) that Senator Hinojosa means why would the proposed bill (SB 83) mandate schools to require a moment of silence. He appears to be dropping context in this case as a sort of debating tactic to give himself more time to think of a response to what he knows Senator Hinojosa's question to be.
7) Are all "Context-Droppers" engaged in "evasion"? What is "evasion" according to Rand? (You may need to go to other writings by Ayn Rand to answer this question, such as "Galt's Speech" in Atlas Shrugged; or The Ayn Rand Lexicon, ed. Harry Binswanger, see entry on "Evasion".)
a) [The consensus answer during group discussion seemed to be yes.]
b) (Evasion) "Thinking is man's only basic virtue, from which all the others proceed. And his basic vice, the source of all his evils, is that nameless act which all of you practice, but struggle never to admit: the act of blanking out, the willful suspension of one's consciousness, the refusal to think –not blindness, but the refusal to see; not ignorance, but the refusal to know. It is the act of unfocusing your mind and inducing an inner fog to escape the responsibility of judgment –on the unstated premise that a thing will not exist if only you refuse to identify it, that A will not be A so long as you do not pronounce the verdict "It is."…" (Galt's Speech, Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand; see also, The Ayn Rand Lexicon, ed. By Harry Binswanger, "Evasion")
8) What does Ayn Rand mean by "Responsibility", as it relates to her assertion that "there are no conflicts of interest among rational men"? Why does Ayn Rand seem to believe that a person who does not take responsibility for achieving his own goals will tend to adopt the attitude of not being concerned with the interests and lives of others? ("In dropping the responsibility for one's own interests and life, one drops the responsibility of ever having to consider the interests and lives of others –of those who are, somehow, to provide the satisfaction of one's desires." ("The `Conflicts' of Men's Interests" by Ayn Rand, pg 54, _The Virtue of Selfishness_, Signet, ISBN 0-451-16393-1).)
9) What does Ayn Rand mean by "Effort", as it relates to her assertion that "there are no conflicts of interest among rational men"?
>
>
10) Why does Ayn Rand think that there are no conflicts among rational men only if one lives in a free society? What aspects of an unfree society would make such conflicts inevitable in her view?
There was some good discussion of this essay yesterday. Here were the answers that I came up with to the questions I made. (I didn't come up with answers for all of them.) Further thoughts after group discussion are included in brackets:
1) What is the theme of this essay?
An explanation of why there are no conflicts of interest among
rational men in a free society. (First page, first para.)
2) What is given as a common counter-example of the Objectivist assertion that there are no conflicts of interest among rational men?
The example of two people applying for the same job, where only one will be hired. (First page, second para)
3) What are the four interrelated considerations which are involved in a rational man's view of his interests, but which are ignored or evaded by the presentation of the counter-example of two people competing for the same job?
"Reality", "Context", "Responsibility", and "Effort" (first page, third paragraph)
4) What, in this context, does Ayn Rand mean by "Reality", as it relates to the issue of there being no conflict of interest among rational men? Give an example of an irrational desire, and explain why this is not what Rand means by being in one's self-interest.
a) The term "interests" is a wide abstraction that includes issues of man's values, desires, his goals, and their actual achievement in reality. "Desires" are not tools of cognition, and they are not a valid standard of value. The fact that man desires something does not constitute a proof that the object of his desire is good for him or in his actual self-interest. A man may desire something that contradicts reality.
b)
5) What does Ayn Rand mean by "Context"?
Context means considering an idea in relation to one's other ideas, and, ultimately, in relation to the facts of reality.
6) What is "Context-Dropping"? Give two examples of it.
a) "Context-Dropping" is one of the chief psychological tools of evasion. In regard to one's desires, there are two major ways of context dropping: the issues of range and means.
b) Two Examples of "Context Dropping":
i) "…comparing the virtues of rinsing a dish from the faucet versus dipping it into a pan of rinse water which fairly quickly is no longer pure. When my children were growing up, I often said to them that the aim in washing dishes is not to get the dishes clean but rather to dilute the dirt to an acceptable degree." (pg 226, "The
Ultimate Resource II", by Julian L. Simon ISBN 0-691-00381-5, Chapter 15)
Simon takes the concept of "clean", which *in this context* is washing the dishes with water and soap to make them sufficiently clean to eat off of without risk of disease, and drops it, to imply that the dishes aren't "really clean", but in this context, that is what "clean" means. [We noted in group discussion that Simon is probably dropping context as to "range" in this quote.]
ii) Debate on Floor of Texas State Senate on 4/9/03 regarding SB 83 (Moment of Silence Statute) (See Croft v. Perry, Northern Distric of Texas) On transcript, page 6, Lines 2-5: "Senator Hinojosa: Why –Why are we mandating the schools to do that?
Senator Wentworth: Well, we're not yet. We haven't passed the bill…"
Senator Wentworth drops context because he knows full well (or should know full well) that Senator Hinojosa means why would the proposed bill (SB 83) mandate schools to require a moment of silence. He appears to be dropping context in this case as a sort of debating tactic to give himself more time to think of a response to what he knows Senator Hinojosa's question to be.
7) Are all "Context-Droppers" engaged in "evasion"? What is "evasion" according to Rand? (You may need to go to other writings by Ayn Rand to answer this question, such as "Galt's Speech" in Atlas Shrugged; or The Ayn Rand Lexicon, ed. Harry Binswanger, see entry on "Evasion".)
a) [The consensus answer during group discussion seemed to be yes.]
b) (Evasion) "Thinking is man's only basic virtue, from which all the others proceed. And his basic vice, the source of all his evils, is that nameless act which all of you practice, but struggle never to admit: the act of blanking out, the willful suspension of one's consciousness, the refusal to think –not blindness, but the refusal to see; not ignorance, but the refusal to know. It is the act of unfocusing your mind and inducing an inner fog to escape the responsibility of judgment –on the unstated premise that a thing will not exist if only you refuse to identify it, that A will not be A so long as you do not pronounce the verdict "It is."…" (Galt's Speech, Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand; see also, The Ayn Rand Lexicon, ed. By Harry Binswanger, "Evasion")
8) What does Ayn Rand mean by "Responsibility", as it relates to her assertion that "there are no conflicts of interest among rational men"? Why does Ayn Rand seem to believe that a person who does not take responsibility for achieving his own goals will tend to adopt the attitude of not being concerned with the interests and lives of others? ("In dropping the responsibility for one's own interests and life, one drops the responsibility of ever having to consider the interests and lives of others –of those who are, somehow, to provide the satisfaction of one's desires." ("The `Conflicts' of Men's Interests" by Ayn Rand, pg 54, _The Virtue of Selfishness_, Signet, ISBN 0-451-16393-1).)
9) What does Ayn Rand mean by "Effort", as it relates to her assertion that "there are no conflicts of interest among rational men"?
>
>
10) Why does Ayn Rand think that there are no conflicts among rational men only if one lives in a free society? What aspects of an unfree society would make such conflicts inevitable in her view?
Friday, July 06, 2007
"The 'Conflicts' of Men's Interests"
When: July 15, 2007
Where: Sign up with http://groups.yahoo.com/group/opar-announce/ for location and time information
What: There has been a request to try something new after we finished OPAR, so at this meeting we will discuss "The 'Conflicts' of Men's Interests" by Ayn Rand, found in The Virtue of Selfishness ( http://www.amazon.com/Virtue-Selfishness-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451163931/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-4637697-5007625?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183758378&sr=8-1 ).
Even if you have read this essay several times already, I ask that you read it again before you come, so that it is fresh in your mind.
I have prepared some questions to help keep the discussion going:
1) What is the theme of this essay?
2) What is given as a common counter-example of the Objectivist assertion that there are no conflicts of interest among rational men?
3) What are the four interrelated considerations which are involved in a rational man’s view of his interests, but which are ignored or evaded by the presentation of the counter-example of two people competing for the same job?
4) What, in this context, does Ayn Rand mean by “Reality”, as it relates to the issue of there being no conflict of interest among rational men? Give an example of an irrational desire, and explain why this is not what Rand means by being in one’s self-interest.
5) What does Ayn Rand mean by “Context”?
6) What is “Context-Dropping”? Give two examples of it.
7) Are all “Context-Droppers” engaged in “evasion”? What is “evasion” according to Rand? (You may need to go to other writings by Ayn Rand to answer this question, such as “Galt’s Speech” in Atlas Shrugged; or The Ayn Rand Lexicon, ed. Harry Binswanger, see entry on “Evasion”.)
8) What does Ayn Rand mean by “Responsibility”, as it relates to her assertion that “there are no conflicts of interest among rational men”? Why does Ayn Rand seem to believe that a person who does not take responsibility for achieving his own goals will tend to adopt the attitude of not being concerned with the interests and lives of others? (“In dropping the responsibility for one’s own interests and life, one drops the responsibility of ever having to consider the interests and lives of others –of those who are, somehow, to provide the satisfaction of one’s desires.” (“The ‘Conflicts’ of Men’s Interests” by Ayn Rand, pg 54, _The Virtue of Selfishness_, Signet, ISBN 0-451-16393-1).)
9) What does Ayn Rand mean by “Effort”, as it relates to her assertion that “there are no conflicts of interest among rational men”?
10) Why does Ayn Rand think that there are no conflicts among rational men only if one lives in a free society? What aspects of an unfree society would make such conflicts inevitable in her view?
Where: Sign up with http://groups.yahoo.com/group/opar-announce/ for location and time information
What: There has been a request to try something new after we finished OPAR, so at this meeting we will discuss "The 'Conflicts' of Men's Interests" by Ayn Rand, found in The Virtue of Selfishness ( http://www.amazon.com/Virtue-Selfishness-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451163931/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-4637697-5007625?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183758378&sr=8-1 ).
Even if you have read this essay several times already, I ask that you read it again before you come, so that it is fresh in your mind.
I have prepared some questions to help keep the discussion going:
1) What is the theme of this essay?
2) What is given as a common counter-example of the Objectivist assertion that there are no conflicts of interest among rational men?
3) What are the four interrelated considerations which are involved in a rational man’s view of his interests, but which are ignored or evaded by the presentation of the counter-example of two people competing for the same job?
4) What, in this context, does Ayn Rand mean by “Reality”, as it relates to the issue of there being no conflict of interest among rational men? Give an example of an irrational desire, and explain why this is not what Rand means by being in one’s self-interest.
5) What does Ayn Rand mean by “Context”?
6) What is “Context-Dropping”? Give two examples of it.
7) Are all “Context-Droppers” engaged in “evasion”? What is “evasion” according to Rand? (You may need to go to other writings by Ayn Rand to answer this question, such as “Galt’s Speech” in Atlas Shrugged; or The Ayn Rand Lexicon, ed. Harry Binswanger, see entry on “Evasion”.)
8) What does Ayn Rand mean by “Responsibility”, as it relates to her assertion that “there are no conflicts of interest among rational men”? Why does Ayn Rand seem to believe that a person who does not take responsibility for achieving his own goals will tend to adopt the attitude of not being concerned with the interests and lives of others? (“In dropping the responsibility for one’s own interests and life, one drops the responsibility of ever having to consider the interests and lives of others –of those who are, somehow, to provide the satisfaction of one’s desires.” (“The ‘Conflicts’ of Men’s Interests” by Ayn Rand, pg 54, _The Virtue of Selfishness_, Signet, ISBN 0-451-16393-1).)
9) What does Ayn Rand mean by “Effort”, as it relates to her assertion that “there are no conflicts of interest among rational men”?
10) Why does Ayn Rand think that there are no conflicts among rational men only if one lives in a free society? What aspects of an unfree society would make such conflicts inevitable in her view?
First Iteration of OPAR Finished
The study group for Leonard Peikoff's Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (OPAR) has now been finished. We will probably start over from Chapter 1 at some point in the future. However, some of the participants have requested that we study some of Ayn Rand's nonfiction essays, so I intend to create questions for some her essays to use in group discussion, similar to the OPAR study guide. If you want to be kept up to date on this, please sign up with the yahoo group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/opar/
Dean Cook
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/opar/
Dean Cook
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