| | Christopher, you asked, Would you say that the standard of man's life is applicable only to beings who are happy? No, it is applicable only to beings who are capable of being happy. I know that Peikoff said something about the choice to live being pre-moral; are these things connected in some way? I mean, is it the case that one should only choose life as one's standard under certain conditions? No. Life is one's standard under all conditions. Even if one chooses to commit suicide, life is still one's standard, because suicide is justified only if a healthy, viable life -- a life proper to man -- is no longer possible, such as when a person is suffering from terminal cancer. Btw, I don't agree that there is a pre-moral choice to live, because a choice presupposes an end or goal for the sake of which one is making the choice, which means that the choice is subject to moral evaluation in terms of that end or goal. And if this is the case, is there an objective standard by which to make the decision to live or die? Yes, if you have something to live for, then you make the choice to live. A terminal cancer patient whom life has nothing to offer is justified in choosing to end his or her life.
You also wrote, I forgot to ask you: You said in your last post that "Life is an end in itself only because it is an enjoyable process. If it were a veil of tears it would not be worth living." Does this not go against Rand's statement that "Man is an end in himself."? It would seem that that statement was talking about ALL men and not just some of them. No, it doesn't go against Rand's statement that man is an end in himself, by which she simply means that everyone should pursue his own interest as an end in itself. Sometimes, it may be in one's self-interest to end one's life, as in the above example.
Phil, Rand means the same thing by "survival" as she does by "life." She uses these terms interchangeably. For example, she writes, "Ethics is an objective necessity of man's survival -- not by the grace of the supernatural nor of your neighbors nor of your whims, but by the grace of reality and the nature of life." She also states, "The Objectivist ethics proudly advocates and upholds rational selfishness -- which means: the values required for man's survival qua man -- which means: the values required for human survival . . . ."
- Bill
|
|
