| | Hi David,
I sort of agree with Francois, but there is more to the story than that. :)
Probably the single most appealing thing about Objectivism is that it presents our world as a place we CAN KNOW, CAN UNDERSTAND and can live in.
This seems almost ridiculous to say, but when you look at other philosophies, you will see that their belief is that the world is some mystical savage place where we can't trust our senses, where we can never know the 'real truth' about anything. That we are figments of our own imagination!
That's scary!
While it is true we don't YET know everything about the world we live in -- we do have the capability to discover it eventually. As little as 50 years ago, we didn't know what DNA was. It was mysterious, but we kept researching and discovering and now we know what it is and have learned enough about it to begin working with DNA to solve real problems in real life. That is because we have to assume that we can learn, that our senses are our tools for perceptions and that we have a brain capable of putting two and two together.
Yes, our world is at times incomprehensible -- but that is only a reflection on how much knowledge we have gathered and is not intended to mean we can NEVER know as other philosophies teach.
Imagine trying to live your life having to second guess every little thing, wondering if you are a figment of your own or someone else's imagination. That some God is control of your life. That no matter what you do, your life is already mapped out (fated) to a certain end you can't change.
You may wonder why there are so many mentally unbalanced people? *grin*
Objectivism in some ways is like 'common sense' -- the world is real, your actions have consequences, you must live for yourself. But the main difference between common sense and Objectivism is that underpinning the entire premise is the idea that Man exists for his own sake -- he isn't born into slavery to some God or into slavery for some government. Man is free to live his own life, by his own efforts, for his own sake.
These ideas are revolutionary and in fact, a revolution was fought for these ideas here in the U.S. back in 1776. :) While our founding fathers were not Objectivists, they were pretty damned close. Jefferson especially understood the importance of Freedom and it is sad we have lost sight of that today. But that's another story.
I hope this is helpful.
Joy :)
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