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Sunday, April 25, 2004 - 10:01amSanction this postReply
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Ed,

Needless to say, I love it ;-)

I'd be interested to know to what extent (if any) you'd say Aristotle can be seen as a sort of "proto-Objectivist".

MH


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Sunday, April 25, 2004 - 4:53pmSanction this postReply
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Mr. Younkins,

Thank you for a very well done summary/explanation of the essence of Aristotle.

I do have one comment about the following paragraph:

"For both Aristotle and Rand, the issue of how a person should live his life precedes the problem of how a community should be organized."

The comment is pertinent to this paragraph, but not to the article itself so I will post the comment as a new thread, since I have also used my comment as a brief article. The title (and link) is: Freedom vs. Government.

Regi



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Post 2

Monday, April 26, 2004 - 12:12pmSanction this postReply
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Ed, thank you.

I printed the article out and have just read it carefully. It is obviously the synthesis of a great deal of study and knowledge and I am extremely grateful for what you have imparted, as I had been eager to understand more of what Aristotle wrote, and how this relates to Rand. I recommend that other beginners like me READ and absorb this wisdom about a giant upon whose shoulders western civilisation has undoubtedly been built.


Post 3

Monday, April 26, 2004 - 5:52pmSanction this postReply
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Thanks Matt, Regi and David:

I am pleased that you like my paper!!!!

Please pass it on to people you think may be interested in it.

Cheers!!!!

Ed


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Saturday, November 4, 2006 - 10:59pmSanction this postReply
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This is still a nice bit of work.  It is easy to accept all of this uncritically because it seems like common sense.  If you know only that Ayn Rand lauded Aristotle -- to say nothing of actually reading Rand's own words on that -- the rest follows.  This essay could use footnotes to attribute the sources, since all of it did not spring from the author.  For instance:
According to Aristotle, the “moral” refers to whatever is related to a person’s character. He taught that the value of virtuous activity resides in realizing a state of eudaimonic character. ...
Whatever their differences, it is clear that Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism is within the Aristotelian naturalistic tradition. Rand inherited significant elements of the Aristotelian eudaimonic tradition. Rand, like Aristotle, ...
Human Nature and Eudaimonia in Aristotle by Don Asselin
Human Nature and Eudaimonia in Aristotle (American University Studies Series V, Philosophy) (Hardcover) by Don Asselin
ISBN: 082040778X - Hardcover - List Price: $40.50
also  ISBN 0268009910 (cloth : alk. paper)
Publisher: Peter Lang Pub Inc - Published Date: 03/01/1989
Hillsdale College, Mossey Library
LOC Catalog:  BJ1531 .F74 1995
Descript xi, 374 p. ; 23 cm.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Note: Don Asselin was a professor in the Philosophy Dept. at Hillsdale College.

(Other works by Don Asselin include: "Weakness in the 'standard argument' for natural immortality" in Freedom, virtue, and the common good / Curtis L. Hancock & Anthony O. Simon, editors ; with epilogue by Michael Novak.  Mishawaka, Ind. : American Maritain Association, c1995. Series American Maritain Association publications.  And a talk at Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa, Fall, 1991 on the topic, “Towards a More Medicinal Ethics.”)


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Post 5

Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - 8:33pmSanction this postReply
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I have only got about half of the way through this essay on Aristotle and objectivist philosophy, but I really must  thank you for taking the time and effort to lay it out so clearly. I went on the internet looking to see if any philosophers based their teachings on a foundation of observed objective reality and found my way here.
 It really is a crying shame that I managed to make it through 12 years of public education in the country that spends more on education per student than any country has in the history of the world without learning anything at all about aristotle.
During a recent family visit, I was debating some things with my college-educated sister like religion,evolution, young-earth creationism, cosmology, the big-bang etc. , and in the course of it, it became glaringly obvious to me that the means by which she and I come to KNOW things is fundamentally different.
Without having ever learned anything about Aristotle, I have lived my life since being a teenager according to many of his precepts. I have always based what I know on what I objectively observe and reason to be true. I have always been willing to see what I see, not what I want to see, and let the chips fall where they may in terms of forming a worldview based on those objective observations.
It's been a bit of a lonely road because when you do that, you tend to find yourself holding positions in favor of some things, and opposed to other things, that manage to offend just about everybody  who knows what they know based more upon what they have heard, on what they fear, or on what they hope.
 When I look at the world, the biggest problem I see is people believing in things that are demonstrably NOT TRUE, and nevertheless being unwilling to accept a different reality because they cant deal with  the metaphysical conequences of it.
 I have always equated intellectual honesty with moral integrity because of the tragic real-world consequences of following false ideas.
 Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays on "heroism" and "spiritual laws" always spoke to my soul and encouraged my willingness to follow truth wherever it leads.
I will enjoy learning more about Aristotle because it sounds as though his basic philosophy codified long-ago , much of what I have adopted intrinsically in my own life. It isnt hard to see his ideas as underpinning a great deal of human progress since he lived, including the idea that a government exists to facilitate the happiness of it's people.
Such a simple yet profound idea, yet so many of my fellow citizens lack that fundamental understanding of their proper relationship to the state and to their fellow man. Probably explains the state of our polis... Thanks again for the great info on Aristotle.


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Thursday, October 25, 2012 - 12:58amSanction this postReply
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Welcome aboard! You are a breath of fresh air!

Post 7

Thursday, October 25, 2012 - 9:06pmSanction this postReply
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Wonko the Sane,

Check this out: 5 main branches of objectivist philosophy.

Note you have to preview changes on this forum before you can post your latest edits.

Cheers,
Dean

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