How much of the Sequences have you read? In particular, have you read 37 Ways That Words Can Be Wrong?
2Shmi
Required reading.
-1Endovior
As a former Objectivist, I understand the point being made.
That said, I no longer agree... I now believe that Ayn Rand made an axiom-level mistake. Existence is not Identity. To assume that Existence is Identity is to assume that all things have concrete properties, which exist and can therefore be discovered. This is demonstrably false; at the fundamental level of reality, there is Uncertainty. Quantum-level effects inherent in existence preclude the possibility of absolute knowledge of all things; there are parts of reality which are actually unknowable.
Moreover, we as humans do not have absolute knowledge of things. Our knowledge is limited, as is the information we're able to gather about reality. We don't have the ability to gather all relevant information to be certain of anything, nor the luxury to postpone decision-making while we gather that information. We need to make decisions sooner then that, and we need to make them in the face of the knowledge that our knowledge will always be imperfect.
Accordingly, I find that a better axiom would be "Existence is Probability". I'm not a good enough philosopher to fully extrapolate the consequences of that... but I do think if Ayn Rand had started with a root-level acknowledgement of fallibility, it would've helped to avoid a lot of the problems she wound up falling into later on.
Also, welcome, new person!
Existence exists; Only existence exists. We exist with a consciousness: Existence is identity: Identification is consciousness.
This seems like a tremendously unhelpful attempt at definition, and it doesn't really get better from there. It seems as if it's written more to optimize for sounding Deep than for making any concepts understandable to people who don't already grasp them.
The only solution is copious dialog, to confirm that what was intended is that which was understood.
The necessary amounts of dialogue are a great deal less copious if one does a good job being clear in the first place.
This seems like a tremendously unhelpful attempt at definition, and it doesn't really get better from there. It seems as if it's written more to optimize for sounding Deep than for making any concepts understandable to people who don't already grasp them.
The necessary amounts of dialogue are a great deal less copious if one does a good job being clear in the first place.