Ayn Rand's Epistemology Vs. Other Philosophies

#existenceexists #AxiomsofObjectivism #Epistemology

[SmilesUEver]

Abelard was the first to recognize that universals do not exist but are abstractions that the human mind performs to recognize similarities/units to form concepts. In this regard, It was Abelard who first recognized objectivity (although he did not use that word). To quote Abelard: " Universals were neither realities nor mere names but the concepts formed by the intellect when abstracting the similarities between perceived individual things." It was therefore Abelard who recognized objectivism as a normative means of acquiring knowledge, 800 years before Ayn Rand.

[bretanwode]

The only place I remember seeing Ayn Rand acknowledge evolution in a positive light is in the “missing link” article. She sually remarks that she thinks humans are too different to have evolved from apes— but in that “missing link” article about the anti conceptual mind she describes herself as a student of the theory of evolution— Which simply means she was looking into it and finds it plausible.

[Liberty-LLama]

Would existence matter if there wasn't a mind that could recognize it?

[OliviaRodriGoat]

“From Locke’s perspective, you are not aware of reality and can’t conceptualize it.” Strange assumption on a person who is considered to be the founder of empiricism.

As far as his theories in epistemology, he is completely wrong about the mind. The mind has innate ideas. Human behavior is shaped by evolutionary and psychological adaptations.

[resgresg]

but the metaphysics of AR are inherently self-contradicting.
I too love Rand, but the critique of Locke's flawed metaphysics is self-defeating if one's own metaphysics is too (which one simultaniously claims to be true)