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Interesting post. Exactly which "other men" in Objectivism are deemed the final authority that define human nature and subsequently the human needs and subsequently the human rights that emerge from such a nature?
I am not sure what you mean by "think". I would say the charities that help the disadvantaged are capable of helping those who cannot do it for themselves. For example they can help the mentally ill by providing community care for them.
So long as God is rejected society will gradually decline in one way or another. I guess we can only shine the light of God and hope some will see the light. Reason, logic and evidence can only go so far, then its a question of faith.
None. There are no authorities. There is only logic applied to observed facts. That's where the objective part of morality comes from. Ayn Rand didn't start by going to any authority. She started by asking two questions. What is morality and why does man need it? She looked to reality, not other men. You don't have to look to her either. It takes a genius to discover the principles of morality but average men and women can take those principles and validate them for themselves by looking at reality. Always look to reality. It is the standard and logic is the method.
As long as God is accepted and used as a basis for morality, societies will continue to fail as the morality of self-sacrifice will do its destructive thing and we will have crime, war, poverty, hatred, distrust, violence, rape, etc. So long as those who reject the notion of gods keep the same secular version of the morality of self-sacrifice, the same. There are no general facts about reality that are not available to man through reason guided by logic. We may not know what's under a rock on some unnamed planet on the other side of the galaxy that we can't get to, but we know what a rock is anywhere in the universe. The same goes for any general fact that we can observe and conceptualize here on earth. That's because time and place are measurements that are omitted in the process of forming abstractions. The idea that faith is a valid form of knowledge is actually a complete rejection of reason.
Also, we need to define what a right is. A right is a moral principle that sanctions and defines the limits of human action in a social setting. Rights are a political concept that derives from ethics considered in a social setting.
Can you explain how self-sacrifice causes war, crime, poverty and hatred.
Can you verify with logic and reason why logic and reason are the only way we can know reality.
Yet we live by faith and abstract truths everyday. All that logic proves is that we can know what a rock on the other side of the galaxy may be like, that's it. Though there's still an element of faith in that we have not actually gone there to test that.
Not sure how you got to that interpretation but it is not what the bible says. The actual verse is "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen".
Why, it stands to reason. Humans are moral creatures. We need morality simply because we need to live together as humans can do nasty and horrible things to each other. So we need as a society some moral standard. But any moral standard created by humans is fallible and will fail.
Consistent results for what. Its a limited measure of only certain aspects of reality such as the material things in life. But even logic can be illogical IE logic cannot verify itself as the only true knowledge of reality. Its circular reasoning which is illogical.
That doesn't answer my question, its just a rationalization based on faith in the power of logic in that you accept logic as true despite not being able to prove it is the only way we can know reality.
We already know Gods moral standards, its written in our hearts and conscience. If morals need human interpretation then we are in trouble as human interpretation is fallible and subject to corruption.
Yes the scientific measure is designed to measure the perceived material world. But that's all its good for.
Like I said I don' dispute science. I am saying it has its limits and there's a lot to reality that falls outside it that's every bit as important if not more to how we understand reality.
Exactly who is/are the genius(es) that have disclosed the principles of morality that enlightened average men and women? Without awareness of those moral principles, it would seem objectivism cannot move forward as nothing can be validated a posteriori that is not a priori known.
