Next Meeting Topic: September 23, 2007

What: Meeting to Discuss "How Does One Lead a Rational
Life in an Irrational Society?" by Ayn Rand in The virtue of selfishness

Where/When: Sunday, September 23. (Sign up at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/opar-announce/ for time and location details, or e-mail Dean Cook.)


Event Description: This Essay can be found in _The
Virtue of Selfishness_ by Ayn Rand. If you haven't
already done so, I also recommend reading "The
Objectivist Ethics" in that same book before reading
"How Does One Lead a Rational Life in an Irrational
Society?" Attendance is open to prety much anyone, so
long as they agree to my moderation, and agree not to
deviate too far from the questions I have posed here.


Questions:

(Please print out the following questions)

1) What is the theme of the essay “How does One Lead a
Rational Life in an Irrational Society?”?



2) “How does One Live a Rational Life in an Irrational
Society?” was written in 1962. Was American society
really as irrational as Ayn Rand seems to think it was
at this time? (Point to historical facts that would
tend to prove or refute her belief.) Even if American
society in 1962 could have been described as
“irrational”, is this still true of American society
today? (Point to facts that tend to prove your
position on this.) Was Ayn Rand speaking of American
society in particular, or did she mean world society
as a whole, in 1962?




3) What one principle, that is described in “How Does
One Lead a Rational Life in an Irrational Society” as
“…the opposite of the idea which is so prevalent
today…”, does Rand regard as most important to live a
rational life in an irrational society?



4) What does “pronouncing moral judgment” consist of
(focus on what it means to “pronounce” something)?
Does this mean that you must tell every person you see
on the street, wearing a Christian cross (or a Jewish
star, or a Muslim crescent moon, or displaying a
statue of the Buda), that they are helping to
perpetuate 2000+ years of irrationality and human
misery? Does this mean that you must approach your
Socialist (or Christian) boss, and, completely
unsolicited, and without provocation, tell him or her
what you think of the philosophy of Socialism (or
Christianity)? Does this mean that a student at
college must raise his hand to disagree with every
ridiculous thing his left-wing
feminist/environmentalist/multiculturalist professor
says? Does this mean that you must tell a mugger
holding you at gun point, and asking for your money,
that he is initiating physical force against you and
therefore morally evil? Do you have to debate every
Mormon/Jehova’s Witness that comes to your door for
hours, in an effort to convince him that he is wrong?
How does one determine when it is appropriate to tell
someone, morally, “what you think of them”, and how
much is it appropriate to say?




5) In her essay “The Objectivist Ethics” Ayn Rand
describes Rationality as “…man’s basic virtue, the
source of all his other virtues…” (pg. 25, Sig Ed. The
Virtue of Selfishness, “The Objectivist Ethics”); she
also says that the Objectivist ethics holds “…man’s
life as the standard of value –and his own life as the
ethical purpose of every individual man…” (Id.) For
Ayn Rand, “virtue” is the act by which one gains/keeps
the values necessary for maintaining one’s own life.
How would one’s “…never failing to pronounce moral
judgment…” (as recommended in “How Does One Lead A
Rational Life in an Irrational Society?”) tend to
promote the ethical purpose of maintaining one’s own
life? What virtue is involved with “…never failing to
pronounce moral judgment…”?




6) What is “moral agnosticism” for Ayn Rand?

7) Ayn Rand says that “To be a judge, one must possess
an unimpeachable character; one need not be omniscient
or infallible, and it is not an issue of errors of
knowledge; one needs an unbreached integrity, that is,
the absence of any indulgence in conscious, willful
evil.” (pg. 71, Sig Ed. The Virtue of Selfishness,
“How Does One Lead A Rational Life in an Irrational
Society”) Does this mean that one can only engage in
judgment of others if one has never engaged in a moral
breach? What is the “court of appeal from one’s
judgments”? Why would this be considered to be the
final court of appeal according to Ayn Rand’s view of
consciousness and how it relates to reality? What
does a man reveal when he pronounces judgment on
others?


8) Why does the fact that men must make choices mean
that there is “…no escape from moral values…” (pg. 72,
Second Full Para Down, VOS, Sig. Ed. “How Does One
Lead A Rational Life in an Irrational Society”)? What
is the proper moral principle to adopt on the issue of
other men’s choices? Is the issue of “judgment” wider
than judging other men’s character?

9) What does “to judge” mean for Ayn Rand? Describe a
situation requiring “judgment” (not necessarily
judgment of another human being’s character), and
explain exactly how it represents an example of
“judgment”.




10) Ayn Rand says that “When one pronounces moral
judgment, whether in praise or in blame, one must be
prepared to answer ‘Why?’ and to prove one’s case –to
oneself and to any rational inquirer.” (pg. 72, Last
Full Paragraph, VOS, Sig. Ed. “How Does One Lead A
Rational Life in an Irrational Society?”) Imagine the
type of personality who can be described as “the
perpetual debater”, which I encounter from time to
time. Basically, this person will debate an issue
with you, seemingly, forever (why they do this is
probably a complicated issue for the science of
psychology). Eventually, you get so “worn down” that
you simply do not want to discuss the issue any
further with them, usually because of time
constraints. Does the fact that you tell someone, “I
don’t agree with you, but I don’t want to discuss this
issue at length with you.”, especially someone that
you know tends to be a “perpetual debater” mentality,
mean that you are not being true to Miss. Rand’s
recommendation that you be prepared to prove your
case?


11) What is an “error of knowledge”? How is it
different from “human evil”? (pg. 73, Third Paragraph
Down, VOS, Sig. Ed. “How Does One Lead A Rational Life
in an Irrational Society?”) Give an example of an
“error of knowledge”, and explain why it is morally
blameless.