Saturday, December 11, 2021

Ayn Rand And Our Emotional Warning System



 Rand, on page 31 of her book, The Virtue of Selfishness, writes that if a person is rational and living a moral life, and getting after his rational self-interest, then his emotional state is warn him when his specific actions are bring him pleasure or pain--pleasure if he is acting moral, and pain if he is sinning.

Alternatively, if the agent refuses to lead a moral life, but lives in evil and does evil, his irrational choices will be guided by emotional responses that destroy him. What is evil and hurting him will please him, and what is good and benefiting him will be felt and painful.

I am not a psychologist, but I thought this was a novel explanation of how emotional responses fit into an egoist moral code.

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