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"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. Producti

"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 Socialism is fundamentally opposed to this view.

gnosis 17y ago
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, is The Lord of the Rings."
- maxharris 17y ago
  I was 19 when I first read Rand. I'm 29 now, and I still love her philosophy and her novels. I'm willing to be that you haven't read her very closely. At any rate, your quote is a mere ad-hominem attack, and I don't think that anyone here will mistake it for an actual argument.
  - camccann 17y ago
    No, an ad-hominem would imply an attack on the character or worth of Rand personally. gnosis's comment was merely a bald assertion about the novel, though indeed not an argument as such. Of course, your Rand quote was also pretty much just a bald assertion without any supporting argument, so I guess it works out.
    - maxharris 17y ago
      His comment is an ad-hominem attack on Objectivists (e.g., people like me.)

gnosis 17y ago

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, is The Lord of the Rings."

maxharris 17y ago
I was 19 when I first read Rand. I'm 29 now, and I still love her philosophy and her novels. I'm willing to be that you haven't read her very closely. At any rate, your quote is a mere ad-hominem attack, and I don't think that anyone here will mistake it for an actual argument.
- camccann 17y ago
  No, an ad-hominem would imply an attack on the character or worth of Rand personally. gnosis's comment was merely a bald assertion about the novel, though indeed not an argument as such. Of course, your Rand quote was also pretty much just a bald assertion without any supporting argument, so I guess it works out.
  - maxharris 17y ago
    His comment is an ad-hominem attack on Objectivists (e.g., people like me.)