| | I didn't realize how serious the situation was. I thought, "Certainly these SOLO folk are exaggerating; they can't really expect people to buy into these anti-life philosophies." I thought Rand was predicting where philosophy/humanity was headed, not observing the present state.
Then I took a stroll over to a philosophy forum I visit when I'm in the mood to raise my blood-pressure and sharpen my critical thinking skills. This is what I found:
Anti-Morality, Truth and Peace: Beyond Kant and Others - A New Theory
http://forums.philosophyforums.com/showthread.php?t=10717
It's quite long so I only skimmed through. After a profession and defense of nihilism the author then proceeds to bang out a "practical" moral system. I think this quote sums it up fairly well:
"...the pro-truth person is unselfishly primarily trying to help make the world a justifiably better place, for all humanity." (page 102)
So what have I learned so far? Are SOLOists exaggerating? Nope. Was Rand predicting? Nope.
I was curious about what program spawned this idea so I went to the university the author hails from and checked out their philosophy page. Under the section "What is Philosophy?" the first sentence is: "Nobody really knows." Their description of philosophy is concluded with "We won't be able to understand anything completely until we can understand everything, and we're not likely to be able to do that in the foreseeable future."
I wasn't shocked when my parents told me the truth about Santa Claus. I'd figured that one out myself. I guess I made up for it here. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat some comfort chocolate.
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