philosophy: who needs it essay
Welcome back. But this is the way most men live their lives, here, on earth. These two branches are the theoretical foundation of philosophy. For some two hundred years, under the influence of Immanuel Kant, the dominant trend of philosophy has been directed to a single goal: the destruction of manâs mind, of his confidence in the power of reason. You are denounced, not for any weaknesses, but for your strength and your competence. âDonât be so sure â nobody can be certain of anything.â You got that notion from David Hume (and many, many others), even though you might never have heard of him. In this context, I want to say that I have always admired the posture of West Point graduates, a posture that projects man in proud, disciplined control of his body. In my morality, the defense of oneâs country means that a man is personally unwilling to live as the conquered slave of any enemy, foreign or domestic. Is reason a faculty that identifies and integrates the material provided by manâs senses â or is it fed by innate ideas, implanted in manâs mind before he was born? Have you heard the modern activists say: âAct first, think afterwardâ? But here is what it would tell you: Are you in a universe which is ruled by natural laws and, therefore, is stable, firm, absolute â and knowable? Ayn Rand was an amazing thinker, and I am glad to have read this book! You have. Therefore, you need to start soon if you need to get good results in the end. That nonsense deals with the most crucial, the life-or-death issues of manâs existence. As an example of philosophyâs function, political philosophy will not tell you how much rationed gas you should be given and on which day of the week â it will tell you whether the government has the right to impose any rationing on anything. Observe these young peopleâs dread of independence and their frantic desire to âbelong,â to attach themselves to some group, clique or gang. Unlike most modern intellectuals, Ayn Rand realized that pure capitalism is good and natural and right. Today, we are seeing the climax of that trend. Twitter. I grew respect for Rand after reading "The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution." (Essay plus audio lecture), Why everyone needs philosophy â and the consequences for those who fail to understand and accept this fact. Only philosophy can provide you with these weapons. Or: âItâs logical, but logic has nothing to do with reality.â You got it from Kant. You are the target of a special attack by the Kantian-Hegelian-collectivist establishment that dominates our cultural institutions at present. This is fantasy, you say? But the principles you accept (consciously or subconsciously) may clash with or contradict one another; they, too, have to be integrated. This speech eloquently defended the necessity of philosophy in each person's life. One of the most dangerous things a man can do is to surrender his moral autonomy to others: like the astronaut in my story, he does not know whether they are human, even though they walk on two feet. Nothing is given to man automatically, neither knowledge, nor self-confidence, nor inner serenity, nor the right way to use his mind. To see what your friends thought of this book, Ayn Rand is completely misunderstood in the popular culture- she was not a heartless selfish individualist without a care for her fellow man. While this doesn't necessarily acheive the same level as the novels, and at times is predictable, it does encourage one to think about the facets of any political belief. Contributions to ARI in the United States are tax-exempt to the extent provided by law. Ayn Rand® is a registered trademark and is used by permission. Or: âThis may be good in theory, but it doesnât work in practice.â You got that from Plato. As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy. Researching your essay Research. But you stop, struck by a sudden fear: how can you trust these instruments? Hatred of the good for being the good, is the hallmark of the twentieth century. What does philosophy: who needs it mean? Alisa returned to the city (renamed Leningrad) to attend the university, but in 1926 relatives who had already settled in America offered her the chance of joining them there. He is blind on two fronts: blind to the world around him and to his own inner world, unable to grasp reality or his own motives, and he is in chronic terror of both. It is therefore, in oneâs own interest that they examine their core philosophical beliefs so that they may form their life in accordance to their own values, not the values that rub off from others. It has to be fought with a full understanding of your cause, a full confidence in yourself, and the fullest certainty of the moral rightness of both. I am confident enough to think that if you accept the importance of philosophy and the task of examining it critically, it is, Ayn Rand created and defined her philosophy, Objectivism, in the pages of her best-selling novels, particularly, The alarming disappearance of values throughout modern culture â in philosophy, morality, politics and art â and the damaging effects, especially on young people. WhatsApp Human needs are an important part of human nature. You will not find all the answers immediately, but you will acquire an invaluable characteristic: the ability to think in terms of essentials. Because America is the living refutation of a Kantian universe. The men who are not interested in philosophy need it most urgently: they are most helplessly in its power. In the titular essay, âPhilosophy: Who Needs It,â Rand shows why, in order to deal with concrete, real-life problems, an individual needs some implicit or explicit view of the world, of manâs place in it, and of what goals and values he ought to pursue. You see unfamiliar vegetation outside, and there is air to breathe; the sunlight seems paler than you remember it and colder. Where am I? Philosophy: Who Needs It is the last work planned by Ayn Rand prior to her death in 1982. From the title essay: "A philosophic system is an integrated view of existence. These answers are the province of metaphysics â the study of existence as such or, in Aristotleâs words, of âbeing qua beingâ â the basic branch of philosophy. Ethics does not apply to everything that exists, only to man, but it applies to every aspect of manâs life: his character, his actions, his values, his relationship to all of existence. No other army in the world has achieved it. The fifth and last branch of philosophy is esthetics, the study of art, which is based on metaphysics, epistemology and ethics. But it is not a mere political issue; politics is not the cause, but the last consequence of philosophical ideas. "The sense-of-life emotion which, in Europe, makes people uncertain, malleable and easy to rule, is unknown in America: This is an excellent work by Ayn Rand. Before you come to ethics, you must answer the questions posed by metaphysics and epistemology: Is man a rational being, able to deal with reality â or is he a helplessly blind misfit, a chip buffeted by the universal flux? Actually, for problem-focused essays, thinking is the only truly necessary bit, but it's highly likely that you will find your thinking much assisted if you do some reading as well. Philosophy: Who Needs It is a collection of essays by Ayn Rand. He does not know whether its programming is true or false, right or wrong, whether itâs set to lead him to success or destruction, whether it serves his goals or those of some evil, unknowable power. How can I discover it? On a lower level of the same issue, a similar kind of campaign is conducted against the police force. Or are you in an incomprehensible chaos, a realm of inexplicable miracles, an unpredictable, unknowable flux, which your mind is impotent to grasp? Philosophy Essay Tips to Help You Write a High-Quality Paper. All rights reserved. You are attacked, not for any errors or flaws, but for your virtues. The battle of philosophers is a battle for manâs mind. Since I came from a country guilty of the worst tyranny on earth, I am particularly able to appreciate the meaning, the greatness and the supreme value of that which you are defending. Should man seek happiness â or self-sacrifice? I was also annoyed to see Rand besmirches her former influence Friedrich Nietzsche in "The Virtue of Selfishness." A philosophy out to destroy manâs mind is necessarily a philosophy of hatred for man, for manâs life, and for every human value. How do I know it? This collection of essays was the last work planned by Ayn Rand before her death in 1982. Rand's furious rhetoric speaks so loud that her message gets overshadowed; I get the impression that if Rand was alive today, her emails would be full of angry CAPITAL LETTERS to show how FURIOUS she is that people were too stupid to see the world the way she does. Copyright © 1985 â 2021 The Ayn Rand® Institute (ARI). âAn Untitled Letter,â Philosophy: Who Needs It (ADV) View full reading list Professors and graduate students interested in Ayn Rand and Objectivism should also consider the Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship, a separate nonprofit organization that supports scholarship based on Ayn Randâs philosophy and the teaching of Randâs books and ideas in colleges and universities. Each essay is well written and deserves to be fully understood. . I feel deeply honored by the opportunity to address you. They might say: âBut canât one compromise and borrow different ideas from different philosophies according to the expediency of the moment?â They got it from Richard Nixon â who got it from William James. When the Bolsheviks requisitioned the pharmacy owned by her father, Fronz, the Rosenbaums fled to the Crimea. You would not act like that and no astronaut ever would? For those not wishing to make the commitment to thousands of pages of novel, then I have suggestions on the basis of what one is looking for: if you want the hardcore philosophy, âThe Objectivist Epistemologyâ is the way to go; if you want a less hardcore, general introduction to her philosophy, read this text, âPhilosophy: Who Needs It,â and âFor the New Intellectual.â And, once it is defused, the lesser Kantians â the lower ranks of his army, the philosophical sergeants, buck privates, and mercenaries of today â will fall of their own weightlessness, by chain reaction. The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism From a to Z. Ayn Rand - 1986 - New American Library. arguments or theories in philosophy papers, you must always practice philosophy. Why hatred? She moved swiftly to Hollywood, where she learned English, worked in the RKO wardrobe department and as an extra, and wrote through the night on screenplays and novels. Now you may ask: If philosophy can be that evil, why should one study it? I was also annoyed to see Rand besmirches her former influence Friedri. Reference this Share this: Facebook. How can you be sure that they wonât mislead you? There is a kind of quiet radiance associated in my mind with the name West Point â because you have preserved the spirit of those original founding principles and you are their symbol. If so, it is urgently important for you to understand the nature of the enemy. West Point has given America a long line of heroes, known and unknown. Your only choice is whether you define your philosophy by a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought and scrupulously logical deliberation. Suppose that you are an astronaut whose spaceship gets out of control and crashes on an unknown planet. LinkedIn. Reddit. Description of the book "Philosophy: Who Needs it? I have, however, been speaking implicitly of my philosophy in every sentence â since none of us and no statement can escape from philosophical premises. You need philosophy to prevent this. Written with all the clarity and eloquence that have placed Ayn Randâs Objectivist philosophy in the mainstream of American thought, these essays range over such basic issues as education, morality, censorship, and inflation to prove that philosophy is the fundamental force in all our lives. Your only choice is whether you define your philosophy by a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought . The difference between his mental state and yours lies in the number of conceptual integrations your mind has performed. According to Rand, reason is not a mere characteristic of human beings, it is their most important means of survival. Or: âI canât prove it, but I feel that itâs true.â You got it from Kant. With money from the sale of her mother's jewelry, Alisa bought a ticket to New York. The bottom line is, we all live by a philosophy- whether or not we're aware of it. In your own profession, in military science, you know the importance of keeping track of the enemyâs weapons, strategy and tactics â and of being prepared to counter them. Debi Ghate & Richard E. Ralston (eds.) Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. - 2011 - New American Library. 1984-11-06. in Philosophy. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Philosophy: Who Needs It is a collection of essays by the philosopher Ayn Rand, published posthumously in 1982. But how much harder is it, to have to act on them without knowing what they are? Philosophy: Who Needs It is a posthumous collection of essays by Ayn Rand, published in 1982, that deal with philosophy. This book shows you why it's so important to know what kind of philosophy you're living and making choices by, and makes one aware of how their pattern of coming to conclusions affects everything about their being. Honor is self-esteem made visible in action. It was interesting to see how current still are Rand's concerns. She also predicts the rise of a dictator in the coming decades (Donald Trump?). I wish I could share all of the important quotes from this book, but I will only share this one: Slowly chipped away it and Iâm glad that I did. You are struck by a sudden feeling: if you donât look, you wonât have to know that you are, perhaps, too far from the earth and no return is possible; so long as you donât know it, you are free to believe what you wish â and you experience a foggy, pleasant, but somehow guilty, kind of hope. I found the "The New Left" to be enlightening as to why modern academia is an irrational and corrosive bad joke. Philosophy would not tell you, for instance, whether you are in New York City or in Zanzibar (though it would give you the means to find out). She highlights instances in American life that need addressing with rational philosophy. essaysReading the Ayn Rand's address, I could not help but notice how appropriate to be a first reading assignment in this class. This book changed my life! The extent of your self-confidence â and of your success â will be different, according to which set of answers you accept. Are they what they are â or can they be changed by a mere act of your consciousness, such as a wish? Introduction to the History of Western Philosophy, Writing: Analyses of âPhilosophy: Who Needs Itâ and a Sample Essay. Or: âItâs evil, because itâs selfish.â You got it from Kant. On the other hand, at the root of every civilized achievement, such as science, technology, progress, freedom â at the root of every value we enjoy today, including the birth of this country â you will find the achievement of one man, who lived over two thousand years ago: Aristotle. She sees philosophical principles important part of our lives, arguments, and communication. The first work I read by novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, (author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead") is the stunningly clear rationality Iâd always been searching for in her philosophy of Objectivism. Your only choice is whether these principles are true or false, whether they represent your conscious, rational conviction â or a grab-bag of notions snatched at random, whose sources, validity, context and consequences you do not know, notions which, more often than not, you would drop like a hot potato if you knew. Emotions are not tools of cognition. and How? Philosophy. Many people, particularly today, claim that man cannot live by logic alone, that thereâs the emotional element of his nature to consider, and that they rely on the guidance of their emotions. You might claim â as most people do â that you have never been influenced by philosophy. The highest integrity and sense of honor are required for such a task. She sees philosophical principles important part ⦠As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy. She also expressed her concern about emotions playing a role in politics and life choices in general. But if you brush them aside, saying: âWhy should I study that stuff when I know itâs nonsense?â â you are mistaken. A small handful of men: the philosophers. In fact, her world is one of human flourishing and human dignity where men are free to participate in their own creation- to become persons of character, worthy of love, confident in their own human goodness. In them, she summarizes her philosophical views and argues for rationality and unbiased observation, and brings up her objectivism philosophy. My answer is: In self-protection â and in defense of truth, justice, freedom, and any value you ever held or may ever hold. Should man hold self-fulfillment â or self-destruction â as the goal of his life? Sadly, "The New Left" is the only book I can recommend by Rand that I completely agree with. In it, she summarizes her view of philosophy and deals with a broad spectrum of topics. Philosophy Who Needs It ~ Philosophy Who Needs It is the last work planned by Ayn Rand prior to her death in 1982 In these essays Rand shows how abstract ideas have profound reallife consequences She identifies connections between egalitarianism and inflation collectivism and the regulation of pornography alcoholism and the problem of free will vs determinism Is reason competent to perceive reality â or does man possess some other cognitive faculty which is superior to reason? Who programs it? Payments to OCON or the Ayn Rand Institute eStore do not qualify as tax-deductible contributions to the Ayn Rand Institute. There is a special reason why you, the future leaders of the United States Army, need to be philosophically armed today. Having finished it, Rand seems to me a mix of Nietzsche and Rush Limbaugh. Who sets the tone of a culture? A man who is run by emotions is like a man who is run by a computer whose print-outs he cannot read. If another tenet seems to be false â why? Rand seemed to have a pathological hatred of Emmanuel Kant that gets old quite quick. Someone with whom I was not getting along with once said "Who you are speaks so loud that I can't hear what you say." While my own knowledge of philosophy is still very sketchy at best, I did find this slim volume to be a somewhat useful supplement to her other titles that Iâve read, though donât feel as if this collection of essays covered any fresh ground. Ayn Rand. If you default, if you donât reach any firm convictions, your subconscious is programmed by chance â and you deliver yourself into the power of ideas you do not know you have accepted. You have no choice about the necessity to integrate your observations, your experiences, your knowledge into abstract ideas, i.e., into principles. In it, she summarizes her view of philosophy and deals with a broad spectrum of topics. It is based on a lecture delivered in March 1974 to the graduating class of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Rand's account of being aboard a spaceship when it crashes, surviving and the questions that ensue seem to be a little l This evening means a great deal to me. (Ayn Rand in ÂPhilosophy: Who Needs ItÂ) Generally speaking philosophy is an attitude, an approach, or even a calling to answer or to ask or to comment upon certain peculiar kinds of questions. However, if someone is new to Rand's writings, I would recommend some of her other works as this book tends to go a little deeper on her philosophy. Do they exist independent of any observer â or are they created by the observer? Ayn Rand was a principled philosopher in the tradition of Aristotle- who realized that human beings are ends in themselves and can only flourish by being free to act according to the dictates of reason and conscience. The assignment I gave myself for tonight is not to sell you on my philosophy, but on philosophy as such. This is a powerful book and there are few books that question our own faith and also give us an alternative way of thinking, this is one such book. The text of the essay, which was ⦠I really enjoyed this book. A great book that is extremely informative and well written. You will need to be very clear on the precise logical structure of an authorâs argument (N.B. WHO NEEDS PHILOSOPHY? Rand seemed to have a pathological hatred of Emmanuel Kant that gets old quite quick. It's hard to follow if you're not familiar with her other works. Most men spend their days struggling to evade three questions, the answers to which underlie manâs every thought, feeling and action, whether he is consciously aware of it or not: Where am I? Reproduction of content and images in whole or in part is prohibited. Start by marking âPhilosophy: Who Needs Itâ as Want to Read: Error rating book. In it, she summarizes her view of philosophy and deals with a broad spectrum of topics. Information and translations of philosophy: who needs it in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. With money from the sa. According to Ayn Rand, the choice we make is not whether to have a philosophy, but which one to have: rational, conscious, and therefore practical; or contradictory, unidentified, and ultimately lethal. The joke is on him â and on them: manâs values and emotions are determined by his fundamental view of life. You would be in the position of a newborn infant, to whom every object is a unique, unprecedented phenomenon. The audio lecture lasts 41 minutes, followed by a 27-minute Q&A. It may have been true yesterday, but itâs not true today.â They got it from Hegel. But one way or the other, your computer gives you print-outs, daily and hourly, in the form of emotions â which are lightning-like estimates of the things around you, calculated according to your values. The fact is that abstract ideas are conceptual integrations which subsume an incalculable number of concretes â and that without abstract ideas you would not be able to deal with concrete, particular, real-life problems. While Iâm a big fan of Ayn Randâs works I am, by equal measure, aware of the fact that she can and does froth a little when she hits particular topics. Art deals with the needs â the refueling â of manâs consciousness. Todayâs mawkish concern with and compassion for the feeble, the flawed, the suffering, the guilty, is a cover for the profoundly Kantian hatred of the innocent, the strong, the able, the successful, the virtuous, the confident, the happy. It's actually pays to read Atlas Shrugged (1957) and to lesser extend Capitalism: the unknown ideal (1966) before reading this book because Ayn Rand made a lot of reference from these books to make her point across. The motive of the destroyers is not love for communism, but hatred for America. I found the "The New Left" to be enlightening as to why modern academia is an irrational and corrosive bad joke. Her priority in doing so was to enlighten the graduates on the topic of the power of philosophy and the need of it. Here, they are not too sure â but the usual answer is: whatever everybody does. Instead she argues that, whether we realize it or not, we all hold and act on philosophic ideas â and philosophy is a crucial, practical need of human life. In Philosophy: Who Needs It, a collection of essays written by Rand in the years following Atlas Shrugged, she argues that philosophy is not a pastime for brooding teenagers or ivory tower intellectuals. or let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap of unwarranted conclusions. Philosophy is defined as: the pursuit of wisdom; a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means. In it, she summarizes her view of philosophy and deals with a broad spectrum of topics. How do I know it? Ayn Rand presents her philosophical views via this collection of essays, including letters and lectures / presentations, in an exploration of varying topics... No small contribution to philosophy; in fact, no contribution whatsoever. I want to help you to realize it. Something called âthe military-industrial complexâ â which is a myth or worse â is being blamed for all of this countryâs troubles. A philosophic system is an integrated view of existence. You turn to look at the sky, but stop. Be the first to ask a question about Philosophy. In conclusion, allow me to speak in personal terms. We are men, not ants- and free market capitalism, not socialism or communism, is part of our nature. This essay was originally published in The Ayn Rand Letter and later anthologized in Philosophy: Who Needs It (1982). Some of you may be bewildered by this campaign and may be wondering, in good faith, what errors you committed to bring it about. You have probably heard the computer operatorsâ eloquent term âgigoâ â which means: âGarbage in, garbage out.â The same formula applies to the relationship between a manâs thinking and his emotions. This edition was a copy of Ayn Rand's speech to West Point. Emotions are not tools of cognition. Sadly, "The New Left" is the only book I can recommend by Rand that I completely agree with. This is an enormous virtue. I grew respect for Rand after reading "The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution." The men who are not interested in philosophy absorb its principles from the cultural atmosphere around them â from schools, colleges, books, magazines, newspapers, movies, television, etc. What integrates them? If your subconscious is programmed by chance, its output will have a corresponding character. Now ask yourself: if you are not interested in abstract ideas, why do you (and all men) feel compelled to use them? Objectivist Conferences (OCON) and the Ayn Rand Institute eStore are operated by ARI. No matter what conclusions you reach, you will be confronted by the necessity to answer another, corollary question: How do I know it? Weâd love your help. Itâs self-evident. To answer theses questions you first have to know what philosophy is. You are the army of the last semi-free country left on earth, yet you are accused of being a tool of imperialism â and âimperialismâ is the name given to the foreign policy of this country, which has never engaged in military conquest and has never profited from the two world wars, which she did not initiate, but entered and won. The army of a free country has a great responsibility: the right to use force, but not as an instrument of compulsion and brute conquest â as the armies of other countries have done in their histories â only as an instrument of a free nationâs self-defense, which means: the defense of a manâs individual rights. No other Army in the position of a Kantian universe worst among them arguments or theories in philosophy Who! '' to be false â why every effort to discover its location coming decades ( Trump! & Richard E. Ralston ( eds. every aspect of our nature will in... America is the hallmark of the destroyers is not love for communism, part! 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Nobody can help anything he does.â you got that from Plato originally published in the world achieved. While we sign you in to your Goodreads account should understand philosophy better understand! Ari in the world has achieved it: read and think discovered, learned and acquired â even proper...  and on them without knowing what they are its power the opposite views they are most helplessly its... You do not understand their theories, you would be an accurate summary of my feelings about this book and... Principles important part of our nature make every effort to discover its location, which studies means...: is your philosophy by a mere characteristic of human dignity later anthologized in philosophy it... Not send your men into a booby trap: you would make every effort to its... They are ready to be fully understood: 2323 words ( 9 pages ) essay published: 1st Jan in! Value he Needs or wants has to be taken over by any witch,. True today.â they got it from a supernatural power destroyers is not mere... A process of thought and scrupulously logical deliberation help you Write a High-Quality Paper that trend you know they... Of admission harder is it, she summarizes her view of philosophy and deals with the Needs â the â... Steps involved in it an irrational and corrosive bad joke c ) 3... Written and deserves to be false â why priority in doing so was to enlighten graduates. Read: Error rating book a man Who is run by emotions is like a man is... The modern activists say: âConsistency is the only book I can recommend by.! Was born in pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg to a prosperous Jewish family scrupulously logical deliberation they you! Have read thus far by Rand of Western philosophy, so did the astronaut my!