Ayn Rand, talking about Capitalism:
"The flood of misinformation, misrepresentation, distortion, and outright falsehood about capitalism is such that the young people of today have no idea (and virtually no way of discovering any idea) of its actual nature. While archeologists are rummaging through the ruins of millennia for scraps of pottery and bits of bones, from which to reconstruct some information about prehistorical existence—the events of less than a century ago are hidden under a mound more impenetrable than the geological debris of winds, floods, and earthquakes: a mound of silence."
“Introduction,”
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, vii
Some talk about Ayn Rand lately, particularly her fiction.
Not much about her non-fiction.
A lot of people do not know that her fiction is only a 30-second movie trailer to what made Ayn Rand a world-class genius, and probably the most fascinating (at least American) woman ever.
Mom cried and sobbed at the world's initial reception of Atlas Shrugged.
If you ever wonder what Rand did to unleash her rage, don't wonder.
Just read her non-fiction.
No more stories.
No more bed time stories about philosophy.
She took off the masks.
She took off the masks of Howard Roark.
She said - okay, no more games - I'm going to give it to you the unedited and perfected fury of Aristotle, not spoken in the words of John Galt, but in the incredible genius who put the words in his mouth.
Atlas Shrugged was a warning.
A warning that America in Ayn Rand's day would turn into the America of today.
The John Galt's of today are the @GlobalWealth types, pointing to international living.
Galt's Gulch is outside of the USA, sad to say.
Anyway, enough ramble.
On to the super-freak genius non-fiction Ayn Rand:
Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.
The recognition of individual rights entails the banishment of physical force from human relationships: basically, rights can be violated only by means of force. In a capitalist society, no man or group may initiate the use of physical force against others. The only function of the government, in such a society, is the task of protecting man’s rights, i.e., the task of protecting him from physical force; the government acts as the agent of man’s right of self-defense, and may use force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use; thus the government is the means of placing the retaliatory use of force under objective control. ~ Ayn Rand
Source: Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal
When I say “capitalism,” I mean a full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism—with a separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church. ~ Ayn Rand
Source:
“The Objectivist Ethics,”
The Virtue of Selfishness, 33
"The moral justification of capitalism does not lie in the altruist claim that it represents the best way to achieve “the common good.” It is true that capitalism does—if that catch-phrase has any meaning—but this is merely a secondary consequence. The moral justification of capitalism lies in the fact that it is the only system consonant with man’s rational nature, that it protects man’s survival qua man, and that its ruling principle is: justice." Ayn Rand
Source:
“What Is Capitalism?”
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 20
The action required to sustain human life is primarily intellectual: everything man needs has to be discovered by his mind and produced by his effort. Production is the application of reason to the problem of survival . . . .
Since knowledge, thinking, and rational action are properties of the individual, since the choice to exercise his rational faculty or not depends on the individual, man’s survival requires that those who think be free of the interference of those who don’t. Since men are neither omniscient nor infallible, they must be free to agree or disagree, to cooperate or to pursue their own independent course, each according to his own rational judgment. Freedom is the fundamental requirement of man’s mind. ~Ayn Rand
Source:
“What Is Capitalism?”
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 17
"It is the basic, metaphysical fact of man’s nature—the connection between his survival and his use of reason—that capitalism recognizes and protects.
In a capitalist society, all human relationships are voluntary. Men are free to cooperate or not, to deal with one another or not, as their own individual judgments, convictions, and interests dictate. They can deal with one another only in terms of and by means of reason, i.e., by means of discussion, persuasion, and contractual agreement, by voluntary choice to mutual benefit. The right to agree with others is not a problem in any society; it is the right to disagree that is crucial. It is the institution of private property that protects and implements the right to disagree—and thus keeps the road open to man’s most valuable attribute (valuable personally, socially, and objectively): the creative mind."
SOURCE:
“What Is Capitalism?”
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 19
"It is . . . by reference to philosophy that the character of a social system has to be defined and evaluated. Corresponding to the four branches of philosophy, the four keystones of capitalism are: metaphysically, the requirements of man’s nature and survival—epistemologically, reason—ethically, individual rights, politically, freedom."
“What Is Capitalism?”
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 20
"Capitalism demands the best of every man—his rationality—and rewards him accordingly. It leaves every man free to choose the work he likes, to specialize in it, to trade his product for the products of others, and to go as far on the road of achievement as his ability and ambition will carry him. His success depends on the objective value of his work and on the rationality of those who recognize that value. When men are free to trade, with reason and reality as their only arbiter, when no man may use physical force to extort the consent of another, it is the best product and the best judgment that win in every field of human endeavor, and raise the standard of living—and of thought—ever higher for all those who take part in mankind’s productive activity." ~ Ayn Rand
“For the New Intellectual,”
For the New Intellectual, 25
The economic value of a man’s work is determined, on a free market, by a single principle: by the voluntary consent of those who are willing to trade him their work or products in return. This is the moral meaning of the law of supply and demand.
“What Is Capitalism?
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 26
"The flood of misinformation, misrepresentation, distortion, and outright falsehood about capitalism is such that the young people of today have no idea (and virtually no way of discovering any idea) of its actual nature. While archeologists are rummaging through the ruins of millennia for scraps of pottery and bits of bones, from which to reconstruct some information about prehistorical existence—the events of less than a century ago are hidden under a mound more impenetrable than the geological debris of winds, floods, and earthquakes: a mound of silence."
“Introduction,”
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, vii
Some talk about Ayn Rand lately, particularly her fiction.
Not much about her non-fiction.
A lot of people do not know that her fiction is only a 30-second movie trailer to what made Ayn Rand a world-class genius, and probably the most fascinating (at least American) woman ever.
Mom cried and sobbed at the world's initial reception of Atlas Shrugged.
If you ever wonder what Rand did to unleash her rage, don't wonder.
Just read her non-fiction.
No more stories.
No more bed time stories about philosophy.
She took off the masks.
She took off the masks of Howard Roark.
She said - okay, no more games - I'm going to give it to you the unedited and perfected fury of Aristotle, not spoken in the words of John Galt, but in the incredible genius who put the words in his mouth.
Atlas Shrugged was a warning.
A warning that America in Ayn Rand's day would turn into the America of today.
The John Galt's of today are the @GlobalWealth types, pointing to international living.
Galt's Gulch is outside of the USA, sad to say.
Anyway, enough ramble.
On to the super-freak genius non-fiction Ayn Rand:
Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.
The recognition of individual rights entails the banishment of physical force from human relationships: basically, rights can be violated only by means of force. In a capitalist society, no man or group may initiate the use of physical force against others. The only function of the government, in such a society, is the task of protecting man’s rights, i.e., the task of protecting him from physical force; the government acts as the agent of man’s right of self-defense, and may use force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use; thus the government is the means of placing the retaliatory use of force under objective control. ~ Ayn Rand
Source: Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal
When I say “capitalism,” I mean a full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism—with a separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church. ~ Ayn Rand
Source:
“The Objectivist Ethics,”
The Virtue of Selfishness, 33
"The moral justification of capitalism does not lie in the altruist claim that it represents the best way to achieve “the common good.” It is true that capitalism does—if that catch-phrase has any meaning—but this is merely a secondary consequence. The moral justification of capitalism lies in the fact that it is the only system consonant with man’s rational nature, that it protects man’s survival qua man, and that its ruling principle is: justice." Ayn Rand
Source:
“What Is Capitalism?”
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 20
The action required to sustain human life is primarily intellectual: everything man needs has to be discovered by his mind and produced by his effort. Production is the application of reason to the problem of survival . . . .
Since knowledge, thinking, and rational action are properties of the individual, since the choice to exercise his rational faculty or not depends on the individual, man’s survival requires that those who think be free of the interference of those who don’t. Since men are neither omniscient nor infallible, they must be free to agree or disagree, to cooperate or to pursue their own independent course, each according to his own rational judgment. Freedom is the fundamental requirement of man’s mind. ~Ayn Rand
Source:
“What Is Capitalism?”
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 17
"It is the basic, metaphysical fact of man’s nature—the connection between his survival and his use of reason—that capitalism recognizes and protects.
In a capitalist society, all human relationships are voluntary. Men are free to cooperate or not, to deal with one another or not, as their own individual judgments, convictions, and interests dictate. They can deal with one another only in terms of and by means of reason, i.e., by means of discussion, persuasion, and contractual agreement, by voluntary choice to mutual benefit. The right to agree with others is not a problem in any society; it is the right to disagree that is crucial. It is the institution of private property that protects and implements the right to disagree—and thus keeps the road open to man’s most valuable attribute (valuable personally, socially, and objectively): the creative mind."
SOURCE:
“What Is Capitalism?”
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 19
"It is . . . by reference to philosophy that the character of a social system has to be defined and evaluated. Corresponding to the four branches of philosophy, the four keystones of capitalism are: metaphysically, the requirements of man’s nature and survival—epistemologically, reason—ethically, individual rights, politically, freedom."
“What Is Capitalism?”
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 20
"Capitalism demands the best of every man—his rationality—and rewards him accordingly. It leaves every man free to choose the work he likes, to specialize in it, to trade his product for the products of others, and to go as far on the road of achievement as his ability and ambition will carry him. His success depends on the objective value of his work and on the rationality of those who recognize that value. When men are free to trade, with reason and reality as their only arbiter, when no man may use physical force to extort the consent of another, it is the best product and the best judgment that win in every field of human endeavor, and raise the standard of living—and of thought—ever higher for all those who take part in mankind’s productive activity." ~ Ayn Rand
“For the New Intellectual,”
For the New Intellectual, 25
The economic value of a man’s work is determined, on a free market, by a single principle: by the voluntary consent of those who are willing to trade him their work or products in return. This is the moral meaning of the law of supply and demand.
“What Is Capitalism?
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 26
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