A Slight Suggestion For Ayn Rand

 

 

 

 I would like to amend, slightly, an important passage, written by Ayn Rand, on Page 34 of her book, The Virtue of Selfishness: "The moral cannibalism of all hedonist and altruist doctrines lies in the premise that the happiness of one must necessitate the injury of another."

First, let me translate into plain English what Rand writes here, and then, I will follow with the addition that I want added. Moral cannibalism is the grave sin committed by hedonist and altruists against the consciousness of their neighbors that they emotionally devour, cripple, make dependent on others, by blighting their consciousness and filling them with loathing or low self-esteem, and the losses of personal hope, confidence, and ambition.

Rand brilliantly notes that the hedonist seeks after superficial happiness by conflating feeling happy, our purpose, with her ethical standard, to live one's life to the fullest through productive work. Without the hard work and self-discipline, the life of the crass, shallow hedonist ends up poor, cramped, crimped, empty and without meaning.

The altruist sets as her moral ideal, that each person is to sacrifice his life and focus for the common good.

 

I admire Rand for what she has written above. I would like to now rewrite this sentence: "The moral and spiritual cannibalism of all hedonist and altruist doctrines lies in the premise that the happiness of any comes at the expense of injuring another. "

My explanation for rewriting the sentence. I am a moderate ethically, which indicates reality is complex, so both normative egoism and normative altruism are the ethical system to follow, and both are not. How, do I resolve this contradiction, or am I just babbling crap? The proper normal moral code is egoistic more than altruistic, but it is both. Whatever we do or don't do ripples out into the community first, second into the state, third throughout the country, and fourth, around the world.

When we injure others, we not only damage their souls, we damage and diminish our own. When we care for ourselves, we are caring for others, because they do not need to rescue us anymore. When we are kind to others, we are kind to ourselves. The way to care for others is to teach them to fish for a lifetime, to maverize, and that is good for us, good for them, and good for the general welfare. 

Implicit too in the negative ethics of hedonism and altruism is connecting the lives of people together as pack members, and that whole dynamic, whether we are injuring them or reinforcing them, is injurious to all and cannibalizes all. 

People need three gifts that only they themselves and God can grant them. First, they must wield free will. Second, their consciousness must become ambitious, imaginative, and visionary, so that they can set up their personal teleology, their goal to great souldom. Third, the polity and social community must get out of their way and break the shackles holding each denizen back. Liberty is a divine gift for the youngster to become a living angel, and that is a miracle to observe and celebrate.