Animals in wild are the perfect examples of applied objectivism, as when there is nothing but survival consciousness there is only self interest.
For the life of me, I don't know why anyone who is self actualized would ever present themselves as an "objectivist."
Maslow would rate the objectivist having a lot of work ahead of them on the "evolutionary" path toward wholeness of consciousness.
<img src=http://staff.gc.maricopa.edu/~jpell/blackboard/MASLOW.JPG>
The work of Abraham Maslow offers us a model for wholeness and well being that finally can be realized in the emerging world of work. The list of characteristics that follows might fit every employer's profile of the "ideal candidate" or serve as a working goal for a highly motivated individual.
1. They are realistically oriented.
2. They accept themselves, other people and the natural world.
3. They have a great deal of spontaneity.
4. They are problem-centered rather than self-centered.
5. They have an air of detachment and a need for privacy.
6. They are autonomous and independent.
7. Their appreciation of people and events is fresh rather than stereotyped.
8. Most had profound mystical or spiritual experiences (not necessarily religious)
9. They identify with mankind
10. Intimate relationships with a few specially loved people tend to be profound
11. Their values and attitudes are democratic.112. They do not confuse means with ends.
13. Their sense of humor is philosophical rather than hostile.
14. They have a great fund of creativeness.
15. They resist conformity to the culture, and
16. They transcend the environment rather than just coping with it.
Quote from nitro:
Ayn Ran is not a Philosopher in the way say Spinoza or Hume or Locke were Philosophers - she is closer to a popularizer in the way the Wachowski Brothers (did I spell that right?) the makers of the movie "Matrix" are "Philosophers."
While I do find some value in some of what she proposes, very little if any of it is original. This may be excusable as she was not very well read in Philosophy and may have reinvented the wheel unknowably. But my biggest gripe with her isn't her "Philosophy", but her Ethics, probably best summed up when she makes statements like these:
"..grant the unearned or undeserved, neither in matter nor in spirit" (VS, 26). Men must deal with each other as traders not as looters and parasites. The Christian, on the other hand, is instructed: "bless those who curse you." (Lk. 6:28).
In short, Ayn Rand has no place for mercy (she uses the word "Altruism" alot and claims that it does not exist in pure form.) She espouses extreme individualism as if this is some lofty goal in itself. Anyone who lives day to day in this world doesn't need to read Philosophy to know what a crock of shit this is and that most of civilization as we know it would not function if we all acted like Ayn Rand paper maches. Makes for good fiction though...
Finally, I have never met an "Objectivist" I liked, even if every word she said was true. I think that if every person on this planet turned into an Ayn Rand groupie, I would jump from the highest building I could find.
nitro
