Ayn Rand - Capitalism & the Common Good

[GalneGunnarTV]

I really enjoy all the excellent Ayn Rand clips that you upload to your channel. Thank you!

[bma]

@ToxinalX There are two points to consider with this. 1. Ayn Rand was born in 1905. She lived in a time when it was not known conclusively to the general public that smoking tobacco habitually was indeed deleterious to one's health. I don't know the full details, but when both Rand and Peikoff were told by their physicians in the 1970s that they needed to quit smoking, they quit cold-turkey. Second point continued on next comment...

[Adeikov]

"A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand."

If people are not united, they are divided, how ever then will the enterprise of civilisation proceed without collapse?

The common good is that which unites and brings people together for the purpose of that enterprise of civilisation. We live in common with each other while we take part in society and share the fruits of each others labour. There is no need for money if we act like a family caring for one another. A family has common interest.

[bluefootedpig]

If you want more information on the mentality of what Ayn Rand goes against, it is called utilitarianism. Where basically you are worth your utility. If you haven't ever been, check out the philosphy class on acedemic earth, he covers this I think 2 lessons in.

[xlucim]

Who decides what is good for society? Who enforces that "good"?

[antonioperales]

The US really needs essays on how greed is good...

[BrotherWoody]

I agree with your assessment of Collectivism but I would suggest 2 books: "The Struggle For Power: The American Revolution" by Theodore Draper & "The Empire Has No Clothes" by Ivan Eklund. Both expose the either/or contentions for Corporatism or the monetary/"free" market value system under which Randians are so enthralled. It's the international corporate & banking monopolies & their govts. that fail to establish Justice & it undermines & debunks all the good ideas of "free" market capitalism.

[bma]

@bma051000 2. You have to evaluate the moral status of a given action in the context of reality. In other words, as Aristotle not Plato. Plato would say: "Smoking is bad" without any context given, completely disconnected from reality. Aristotle would say that we need to go to reality first and evaluate the facts on the ground. What this means is that it's perfectly rational and moral to smoke a cigarrete (such as one a day) if it presents no threat to your life or other values.

[fzqlcs]

I don't think she is a servant of capital as much as she is a servant of reason. Her point is simply that capitalism (voluntary exchange based on mutual self-interest) produces more for both individuals and society than the "common good" visions of self-serving politicians. Defining what is the common good is a useless exercise. There is no common good. Everything is good for someone and bad for someone else. Like it or not, that is reality. Come join the party.

[Adeikov]

Common good means a good that is good for everyone. You cannot know it does not exist unless you go check it out it the real world.

[Bigturns]

Rand talked about the seperation of state and Economics. I agree fullly about the banks but who is the one just like in recent times is keeping the banks alive that deal with such corporatism? It is the "Government". The state has bailed them out those to whom tried to minipulate the market and should have feel like a goliath. The facts of reality in a true free market system have shown what im saying to be true time and time again.

[Awbrfg]

...but that's not capitalism, that's government.

[centurionad]

....but this HAS been gone over before in 1775, with the publishing of An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.

[Adeikov]

Ayn Rand is a servant of Capital. She raises it above and beyond the well-being of society. She's just not trying to define a common good.

[bma]

@ToxinalX Hitler wasn't selfish, though. Hitler preached more selflessness and self-sacrifice for the state, the collective and the race (Aryan) than any other. In order to be truly selfish, one has to consistently act rationally to pursue values to further ones life and happiness. However, since humans have free will, and may act immorraly, we need a government devoted to and only devoted to protecting individuals from force and fraud.

[bluefootedpig]

The problem with society, and all this is what Kant mentioned about enlightenment. That people are stuck in immaturity, unable to apply logic to situations. We are told from an early age that there are "experts". We look to "experts" for this and that, and so we never learn to think for ourselves. For those of you who are fans of this channel, look at how young people are debating Friedman. Today, someone that young would never stand up to an intellectual. They would just nod and agree. Sheeple

[clemonsx]

@BrotherWoody1 Debunking free markets? Even socialists will admit that capitalism allows for the production of substantially more wealth than socialism - they instead argue that we should forgo wealth in order to go back to "sustainability", that wealth isn't everything, and/or that capitalism victimizes people by not protecting them from competition or poverty. However, man begins his life in a state of natural poverty, which is the norm, and its only the freedom to produce which elevates him.

[bma]

@ToxinalX Because rationality is the only means of survival for humans. Look at what Hitler's actions led to. He committed suicide; if he hadn't he wouldv'e been killed in an attack or executed. He did not act in his self-interest to pursue values and happiness, but self-destructively. Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy. A joy without penalty or guilt. A joy that does not clash with any of your virtues and does not work for your own destruction.

[BrotherWoody]

Since we're social creatures who live with one another, the common good must always be established as best we can even though, it's a moving target. Rand's moral philosophy makes some sense within her Closed Objectiveism but fails to always come to grips with a society's living commitment to justice & its DUTIES to renounce & abstain from all injustice. Rand never addresses the old moral bugaboo: Can my ends ever justify my means? Consequentialism is as fallacious as the others she mentions.

[bma]

@nannyberries I don't want to accuse you of it, but I think you're still holding a mind-body dichotomy premise. Man is NOT just a material being with only material needs. Man is an indivisible entity, an integrated unit of matter and CONSIOUSNESS. Leonard Peikoff wrote an article about honesty, where he describes how you actively hurt yourself by being manipulative and dishonest, since it affects one's consciousness and therefore one's ability to effectively deal with reality.