1 of 1- Ratspective
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Ayn Rand's Objectivism
I was referred here by a user of this forum to give you the following question:
What objections to Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism do classical theists have?
Objectivism is a broad tradition so I want to focus mainly on the epistemology.
Ive been told to give you a definition of Objectivism so I formed a rudimentary one but if further clarification is needed I can answer a bit or you can refer to Introduction to Objectivist epistemology by Ayn Rand.
Objectivism is the philosophy which in essence takes the view that human concept formation is objective rather than subjective or intrinsic;
meaning: humans do not wait passively for the universe to present them with concepts/universals (intrinsicism) nor do they abstract them on the basis of vague resemblances (subjectivism) but instead they form concepts with direct reference to the essential characteristics of the concretes of perceptual reality, essential characteristics which are discovered by a process of discovering similarities in concretes as opposed to a further removed example of the same kind called a 'foil', (example of which is two shades of blue as opposed to a shade of red, the common denominator of the concepts being colour)
Thanks in advance and hope you all had a good Easter.
- DanielCC
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Re: Ayn Rand's Objectivism
Ratspective wrote:
meaning: humans do not wait passively for the universe to present them with concepts/universals (intrinsicism) nor do they abstract them on the basis of vague resemblances (subjectivism) but instead they form concepts with direct reference to the essential characteristics of the concretes of perceptual reality, essential characteristics which are discovered by a process of discovering similarities in concretes as opposed to a further removed example of the same kind called a 'foil', (example of which is two shades of blue as opposed to a shade of red, the common denominator of the concepts being colour)
The above description would fit a great deal of realist theories of universals though, from phenomenology to Aristotelianism to Russell’s early epistemology. I suppose the phrase ‘perceptual’ reality is to rule out more ‘intuitive’ modes of acquaintance with abstract objects such as numbers or propositions, although the proponents of such a faculty of intuition will take issue with the insinuation of its not being perceptual.
If I might add, with no disrespect intended, it is better to avoid using the term 'concept' to refer to universals, as such talk tends towards Psychologism.
Last edited by DanielCC (4/18/2017 5:41 am)
- John West
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Re: Ayn Rand's Objectivism
Scott Ryan, a former moderator and friend of many here, wrote a book-length critique of Rand's objectivism. It's not from a classical theist perspective. He wrote it during his Blanshard phase. It's, however, worth mentioning.