Notes on Philosophy: Who Needs It

Next up on my philosophy reading was Philosophy: Who Needs It by Ayn Rand. This was a non-fiction survey of a number of philosophical, political, and cultural issues from the perspective of Objectivism.

My biggest takeaway is the idea that philosophy affects culture and psychology at a profound level, in a way that we don't think about consciously and take for granted. The many catch phrases and colloquialisms we all use are grounded in the type of philosophy we inherently accept. This raises the importance of paying attention to one's language and listening carefully to what others say. It also makes philosophy a subject that's vitally important to everyone's understanding and living a good life -- not just a purely intellectual subject that's all about abstractions (the more common view of philosophy).

The book spent a lot of time explaining why the philosophy of Kant is evil. I haven't personally read Kant, but I want to read it in the future to better understand this author's point of view. Overall, the book spent a lot of time in a negative tone, using strong negative words (the author apparently loves the words "bromide," "dribble," "louse," and "tripe" -- I think those words are funny too). I thought there was a bit too much time spent critiquing others' work and philosophies and not enough actually teaching/explaining her own. Nonetheless, I did learn a lot about how she thinks and what her philosophy represents (especially from the earlier chapters).


Intro

• Salesman of philosophy
  
• Primarily advocate of reason and its supremacy
  
• Reason requires capitalism and objectivism
  
• Man needs philosophy and for practical purpose
  
• Wants to know which ideas are right
  

1 Philosophy: who needs it

• Most men live life evading 3 questions: where am I, how do I know it, what should I do
  
• Usual answer to last is whatever everyone does
  
• Philosophy answers these 3 questions
  
• Branches of science are for topics; philosophy the soil of the tree
  
• Metaphysics study of existence; where am I 
  
• Epistemology: study of knowledge, how do I know it, means of cognition
  
• Ethics is technology, morality to define code of existence
  
• Politics: principles of proper social system
  
• Aesthetics: study of art, refueling of man's consciousness
  
• In order to deal with real life problems, need philosophy
  
• Platitudes of convos/colloquialisms come from old philosophers
  
• Integrate experiences into conceptual integrations
  
• All ppl use abstract ideas to deal with life better than infant
  
• Integrations through philosophic system
  
• Need to know root of system to know how I integrate
  
• Either u define philosophy u use carefully or u use one that's grabbag of notions
  
• Ur conscious mind programs ur computer or ur subconscious will do it by chance
  
• Emotions are hourly printouts from computer of how reality meets values
  
• Garbage in to computer, garbage out
  
• Emotions not tools of cognition
  
• Under Kant, trend towards abandoning reason
  
• Approach philosophy as detective story
  
• Why and how: ask about each philosophy u study
  
• Want to be Proud, disciplined, and in control of body and mind
  
• Army of free country to defend free rights
  

2 Philosophical detection

• Bad catch phrases
  
• Examine and break down until get to irreducible primary 
  
• "it may be true for you but not for me": breaks law of identity
  
• Analyze catch phrases literally
  
• Emotions are not irreducible primary; must look deeper for cause
  
• Introspection: what do I feel, why do I feel it
  
• Rationalization makes reality meet emotions, cheats you
  
• Active mind not open mind
  
• Stolen concept fallacy
  
• Essentials:
  
• Metaphysics: law of identity
  
• Epistemology: supremacy of reason
  
• Ethics: rational egoism
  
• Politics: individual rights, capitalism
  
• Aesthetics: metaphysical values

3 metaphysical and man made

• Power of choice and volition means there are things man can change
  
• Premises of existence and consciousness
  
• Premise of existence
  
• Existence exists, universe exists independent of consciousness
  
• Package dealing messes up philosophy
  
• Creation is rearrangement of natural elements of reality
  
• Accepted in regards to physical sciences but not in humanities and how man deals with man
  
• Metaphysically given not questioned; man made should be
  
• Must differentiate from one to the other; metaphysically given not right or wrong but just standards
  
• Premise of consciousness believes that all determined by consciousness not natural reality

4 the missing link

• Stories of ppl giving views without reasons and logic
  
• Anti conceptual mentality
  
• Passivity in regard to process of conceptualizaton
  
• Brain feels it has enough and stops caring further
  
• Absence of concern with why and what for kills of past with causality and future with purpose
  
• Results without worrying about causes
  
• Substitution of men for ideas and man made for metaphysical they can't understand
  
• Tribalism
  
• Caste systems
  
• Racism
  
• Ancestor worship
  
• Gangs
  
• Motion not acting
  
• Feeling not thinking
  
• Focusing on now not tomorrow
  
• Collectivist
  
• Men should associate with others based on ideas they share not accident of birth or force
  
• Missing link between animals and man: anticonceptual mentality
  

5 selfishness without the self

• Man needs personal values
  
• Needs to judge self against objective standards
  
• I'm good because...
  
• Love is a response to values
  
• Must be loved for something instead of just being loved for self
  
• Take ideas seriously
  
• Ideas of personal importance to each
  
• Dread responsibilities and thinking
  

6 an open letter to Boris

• Letter to chess master
  
• Requires big intellectual capacity and planning ahead
  
• Metaphysical absolutism of game and exact rules
  
• Players devise long range strategy
  
• Leads to game where players can play for real
  
• Real world rules in soviet union unbearable if had to be chess game
  
• Chess as escape from reality for one who thinks but doesn't get men
  

7 faith and force: the destroyers of the modern world

• Mysticism, collectivism, altruism
  
• Mysticism killed in renaissance
  
• Collectivism killed in WW2
  
• Altruism is what must be killed
  
• Need of others is not ur first purpose
  
• Man can exist just for self
  
• Only mysticism called upon to justify altruism
  
• reason vs mysticism
  
• Progress vs stagnation
  
• Mysticism is acceptance without proof
  
• Mysticism ruled dark ages
  
• Kant most responsible
  
• Kant wanted to save altruism through mysticism
  
• Constructed wrong definition of reason
  
• Straw man argument
  
• Soviet Russia, nazi Germany, social England examples of socialism destruction and collectivism
  
• Soviet Russia best example of altruism
  
• Men can deal with each other with reason or with guns/force
  
• Animal cannot act to destroy itself
  
• Man has constant choice to make between living and dying
  
• Has power to act as own destroyer
  
• Must learn his own knowledge
  
• Must discover values and live them by choice
  
• Man's life as standard of morality
  

8 from the horse's mouth

• Modern philosophy professors who advocate kant have it wrong
  
• Philosophy is not bridge between religion and reason
  

9 Kant vs Sullivan

• Idea that perceptions not needed for science is wrong
  
• Knowledge cannot enter brain without senses or through ghost
  
• Helen Keller play miracle worker Annie Sullivan 
  
• Words critical to knowledge, contain the world
  

10 causality vs duty

• Duty is anticoncept
  
• Kills legitimate concept
  
• Different than obligation
  
• Duty cannot be for self interest or virtue; driven by parents and church and government
  
• Duty from Kant
  
• No absolute obligations except life or death
  
• Everything else choice for man
  
• Causality not duty in rational man
  
• Weighs task against cost and chooses if does it
  
• Kant duty creates guilt and fear in deciding to give up work rationally
  
• Only obligation that matters is personal promise
  

11 an untitled letter

• Biggest enemy is man of ability
  
• Shooting down strong members to help incompetent due to envy
  

12 egalitarianism and inflation

• Looseness of definitions kills writing
  
• Inflation hard to understand and biggest crime
  
• Hunting
  
• Then agriculture
  
• Time, savings, production key concepts
  
• Everything requires savings by time
  
• Money is tool of exchange and saving to get delayed consumption and saving
  
• Must save stock seed
  
• Gold coins
  
• Payments in promissory notes on future production breaks down
  
• Only govt can mortgage ur future without ur consent on ur production in future via tax receipts
  
• Creates inflation
  
• Keynes wrecking
  
• Only producers not consumers matter because producers are the consumers and demand and supply must be of the same people in the market
  
• Investment capital is lending of stock seed and unconsumed earned goods to someone else
  
• Only finances means of production
  
• Credit does not create production but consumption
  
• Juggling debts
  
• Financing for welfare
  
• Subsidies to foreign consumers
  
• Govt consuming this country's stock seed
  
• Stagflation
  
• Inflating stops working
  
• Stops production
  

13 stimulus and response

• BF Skinner book very influential in psychology
  
• Attack on autonomous man
  
• Mystics of spirit and of muscle
  
• Of spirit want consciousness without existence
  
• Of muscle: existence without consciousness
  
• Both destroy muscle
  
• Skinner is mystic of muscle
  
• Doesn't prove anything and doesn't give definitions, just metaphors and small talk
  

14 establishing an establishment

• Govt funding grants for ideas creates orthodoxy an establishment
  
• Should have no role in ideas
  

15 censorship

• Statism
  
• Supreme court rulings criteria for obscenity
  
• Average person using community standards
  
• More power for govt to judge value of artistic work
  
• First amendment
  
• Conservatives reject reason for faith
  
• Liberals reject reason for emotions
  
• Mind body dichotomy kills mind and reason
  

 16 fairness doctrine for education

• Cannot be applied fairly
  
• Fairness of airwaves that public owns and fairness of teaching all ideologies in public institutionsdescribed her ideal curriculum as “Aristotle in philosophy, von Mises in economics, Montessori in education, Hugo in literature”
  

17 what can one do

• Teach men the right philosophy first
  
• Changes come from minority intellectual movements
  
• Develop own convictions
  
• Speak on any scale u can
  
• Express views on issues
  
• Write letters to media and congressman
  

18 don't let it go

• 3 areas to judge individual:
  
• Present course of action
  
• Convictions
  
• Sense of life
  
• Can judge country same way 
  
• Nation has sense of life
  
• Lifestyle taken for granted
  
• Culture sum of intellectual achievements of men others accept
  
• Dominance of ideas determined by many factors or by default
  
• Product of minority
  
• In europe much more statism and less individualism
  
• Fight for reason and man as rational being
  
• Fight for American sense of life 

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