Ideas Cannot Be Fought Except By Means Of Better...

[Consider the catch phrase:] 

“It may be true for you, but it’s not true for me.” 

~ Ayn Rand

"What is the meaning of the concept “truth”? Truth is the recognition of reality. (This is known as the correspondence theory of truth.) 

"The same thing cannot be true and untrue 

at the same time and in the same respect."

~ Ayn Rand

That catch phrase, therefore, means: 

A. That the Law of Identity is invalid; 

B. That there is no objectively perceivable reality, only some indeterminate flux which is nothing in particular, i.e., that there is no reality (in which case, there can be no such thing as truth); or 

C. That the two debaters perceive two different universes (in which case, no debate is possible). (The purpose of the catch phrase is the destruction of objectivity.)"...

~ Found at the Ayn Rand Lexicon

"The term “interests” is a wide abstraction that covers the entire field of ethics.

"It includes the issues of: 

man’s values, 

his desires, 

his goals 

and their actual achievement in reality."

~ Ayn Rand

A man’s “interests” depend on the kind of goals he chooses to pursue, his choice of goals depends on his desires, his desires depend on his values—and, for a rational man, his values depend on the judgment of his mind.

Desires (or feelings or emotions or wishes or whims) are not tools of cognition; they are not a valid standard of value, nor a valid criterion of man’s interests.".... 

"The mere fact that a man desires something 

does not constitute a proof that the object of his desire is good, 

nor that its achievement is actually to his interest."

~ Ayn Rand

~ Found at Ayn Rand Lexicon

Why Man's Rational Faculty is His Essential...

Fundamentality, Rule of

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"Now observe, on the above example [the definition of “man”], the process of determining an essential characteristic: the rule of fundamentality. When a given group of existents has more than one characteristic distinguishing it from other existents, man must observe the relationships among these various characteristics and discover the one on which all the others (or the greatest number of others) depend, i.e., the fundamental characteristic without which the others would not be possible. This fundamental characteristic is the essential distinguishing characteristic of the existents involved, and the proper defining characteristic of the concept.

Metaphysically, a fundamental characteristic is that distinctive characteristic which makes the greatest number of others possible; epistemologically, it is the one that explains the greatest number of others.

For instance, one could observe that man is the only animal who speaks English, wears wristwatches, flies airplanes, manufactures lipstick, studies geometry, reads newspapers, writes poems, darns socks, etc. None of these is an essential characteristic: none of them explains the others; none of them applies to all men; omit any or all of them, assume a man who has never done any of these things, and he will still be a man. But observe that all these activities (and innumerable others) require a conceptual grasp of reality, that an animal would not be able to understand them, that they are the expressions and consequences of man’s rational faculty, that an organism without that faculty would not be a man—and you will know why man’s rational faculty is his essential distinguishing and defining characteristic..."

~ Found at Ayn Rand Lexicon

Metaphysical

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"I use the word “metaphysical” to mean: that which pertains to reality, to the nature of things, to existence...."

~ Found at Ayn Rand Lexicon

Epistemology

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"Epistemology is a science devoted to the discovery of the proper methods of acquiring and validating knowledge..."

~ Found at Ayn Rand Lexicon

Character

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"“Character” means a man’s nature or identity insofar as this is shaped by the moral values he accepts and automatizes. By “moral values” I mean values which are volitionally chosen, and which are fundamental, i.e., shape the whole course of a man’s action, not merely a specialized, delimited area of his life . . . . So a man’s character is, in effect, his moral essence—his self-made identity as expressed in the principles he lives by..."

~ Found at Ayn Rand Lexicon

Morality

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"What is morality, or ethics? It is a code of values to guide man’s choices and actions—the choices and actions that determine the purpose and the course of his life. Ethics, as a science, deals with discovering and defining such a code..."

~ Found at Ayn Rand Lexicon

A Value Which One Is Forced To Accept At The Price...

Objective Theory of Values

The objective theory of values is the only moral theory incompatible with rule by force. Capitalism is the only system based implicitly on an objective theory of values—and the historic tragedy is that this has never been made explicit.

If one knows that the good is objective—i.e., determined by the nature of reality, but to be discovered by man’s mind—one knows that an attempt to achieve the good by physical force is a monstrous contradiction which negates morality at its root by destroying man’s capacity to recognize the good, i.e., his capacity to value. 

Force invalidates and paralyzes a man’s judgment, demanding that he act against it, thus rendering him morally impotent. 

A value which one is forced to accept at the price of surrendering one’s mind, is not a value to anyone; the forcibly mindless can neither judge nor choose nor value. 

An attempt to achieve the good by force is like an attempt to provide a man with a picture gallery at the price of cutting out his eyes. Values cannot exist (cannot be valued) outside the full context of a man’s life, needs, goals and knowledge.

~ Found at Ayn Rand Lexicon

The Key Concept, In The Formation Of A Sense Of Life...

Metaphysical Value-Judgments

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The key concept, in the formation of a sense of life, is the term “important.” It is a concept that belongs to the realm of values, since it implies an answer to the question: Important—to whom? Yet its meaning is different from that of moral values. “Important” does not necessarily mean “good.” It means “a quality, character or standing such as to entitle to attention or consideration” (The American College Dictionary). What, in a fundamental sense, is entitled to one’s attention or consideration? Reality.

“Important”—in its essential meaning, as distinguished from its more limited and superficial uses—is a metaphysical term. It pertains to that aspect of metaphysics which serves as a bridge between metaphysics and ethics: to a fundamental view of man’s nature. That view involves the answers to such questions as whether the universe is knowable or not, whether man has the power of choice or not, whether he can achieve his goals in life or not. The answers to such questions are “metaphysical value-judgments,” since they form the base of ethics.

It is only those values which he regards or grows to regard as “important,” those which represent his implicit view of reality, that remain in a man’s subconscious and form his sense of life.

~ Found at Ayn Rand Lexicon

im·por·tant

imˈpôrtnt/

adjective

1. of great significance or value; likely to have a profound effect on success, survival, or well-being.

Sacred: The First Spark of What is To Become The Fire...

Sacred

I will ask you to project the look on a child’s face when he grasps the answer to some problem he has been striving to understand. It is a radiant look of joy, of liberation, almost of triumph, which is unself-conscious, yet self-assertive, and its radiance seems to spread in two directions: outward, as an illumination of the world—inward, as the first spark of what is to become the fire of an earned pride. If you have seen this look, or experienced it, you know that if there is such a concept as “sacred”—meaning: the best, the highest possible to man—this look is the sacred, the not-to-be-betrayed, the not-to-be-sacrificed for anything or anyone.

~ Found at Ayn Rand Lexicon

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