elharo comments on Rationality Quotes Thread February 2015 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: Vaniver 01 February 2015 03:53PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (127)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Vaniver 01 February 2015 03:55:25PM *  1 point [-]

For example: most men have inner conflicts of values; these conflicts, in most lives, take the form of small irrationalities, petty inconsistencies, mean little evasions, shabby little acts of cowardice, with no crucial moments of choice, no vital issues or great, decisive battles--and they add up to the stagnant, wasted life of a man who has betrayed all his values by the method of a leaking faucet.

--Ayn Rand, The Romantic Manifesto

Comment author: elharo 01 February 2015 06:08:19PM *  2 points [-]

Absent context, I notice I'm confused about which sense of the word "values" she's using here. Perhaps someone can elucidate? In particular is she talking about moral/ethical type values or is she using it in a broader sense that we might think of as goals?

Comment author: hwold 02 February 2015 02:11:12PM 1 point [-]

Can’t tell for the Romantic Manifesto, but in Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand uses the word “value” as a synonym of “rule of conduct”. For example, she argue that “rational evaluation” is a correct value for man in the same way that “flying” is a correct value for birds.

She calls her philosophy objectivism because the thinks that correct values, which means rules of conduct that leads to environmental fitness (in her words says : “survival”), are objective.

Comment author: Kenny 09 February 2015 12:41:26AM -1 points [-]

Funny enough, I'm confused by your distinction between moral or ethical values and goals – aren't those really the same?

Ayn Rand held that some preferences were rational or more rational than others.