| | Ed wrote, You guys,
The value of focus becomes evident to any toddler who walks into the edge of a table. Existence invariably punishes humans if they stay out of focus. It is this pain, inflicted by reality onto us, that first leads us to value focus. After that, we may even come to value focus, not for mere pain-avoidance, but for the attainment of lasting joy (for the finer things in life). But the point stands, everyone who has once been a toddler, has experienced the value of focus. Recall Rand's reply (in Ayn Rand Answers) to the question, "Is the choice to focus a rational choice?": "No, it's a primary choice--that is, you won't be rational if your mind isn't focused. But conversely, once you've acquired the rudiments of reason, you focus your mind consciously and volitionally. But how do you learn to focus it originally? In the same way an infant learns to focus his eyes. He is not born with his eyes in focus; focusing his eyes is an acquired attribute, though it's done automatically. (I'm not sure whether it's entirely automatic; but from what we can observe, no volition on the infant's part is necessary.) Why does he learn to focus them? Because he's trying to see--to perceive. Similarly, an infant or young child learns to focus his mind in the form of wanting to know something--to understand clearly. That is the beginning from which a fully conscious, rational focus comes." (p. 154. This was in answer to a question asked at her lecture, "A Nation's Unity," at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston in 1972.) Observe the paradox between her remarks at the start of her answer, in which she says that the choice to focus is not a rational choice (i.e., "No, it's a primary choice--that is, you won't be rational if your mind isn't focused"), and her remarks at the end of her answer, in which she says, "That is the beginning from which a fully conscious, rational focus comes." (emphasis added) Whether this is a contradiction or simply an ambiguity in her explanation depends on what she means by "a fully conscious rational focus." If she means "a fully conscious rational choice to focus," then it is a contradiction. Unfortunately, I suspect that she may indeed have meant it in this sense, for she states that "once you've acquired the rudiments of reason, you focus your mind consciously and volitionally"--which is to say, consciously and rationally); otherwise, of what relevance is the phrase, "once you've acquired the rudiments of reason." In other words, it appears that what she is saying is that once you've acquired the rudiments of reason, you engage in a conscious, intentional process of focus, which is what the choice to focus actually means, since a "choice" is a conscious and intentional act. In any case, her statement that "an infant or young child learns to focus his mind in the form of wanting to know something--to understand clearly" underscores my point about having to value the act of focusing in order to choose it. If you are focusing in order to understand something, then you are focusing because you value it as a means to an end.
- Bill
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