Ayn Rand on Self-Defense
Posted by LetsShrug 13 years, 5 months ago to Philosophy
The Virtue of Selfishness
“The Nature of Government,”
The Virtue of Selfishness, 108
Self-Defense
"The necessary consequence of man’s right to life is his right to self-defense. In a civilized society, force may be used only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use. All the reasons which make the initiation of physical force an evil, make the retaliatory use of physical force a moral imperative.
If some “pacifist” society renounced the retaliatory use of force, it would be left helplessly at the mercy of the first thug who decided to be immoral. Such a society would achieve the opposite of its intention: instead of abolishing evil, it would encourage and reward it."
Ayn Rand
(Isn't it time for our schools to stop being run by pacifists?)
“The Nature of Government,”
The Virtue of Selfishness, 108
Self-Defense
"The necessary consequence of man’s right to life is his right to self-defense. In a civilized society, force may be used only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use. All the reasons which make the initiation of physical force an evil, make the retaliatory use of physical force a moral imperative.
If some “pacifist” society renounced the retaliatory use of force, it would be left helplessly at the mercy of the first thug who decided to be immoral. Such a society would achieve the opposite of its intention: instead of abolishing evil, it would encourage and reward it."
Ayn Rand
(Isn't it time for our schools to stop being run by pacifists?)
Things are. Knowledge is. Only ethics is concerned with good and evil, which are value judgements definitially speaking. for example, if you choose to die, then poison is good. What's good for a tiger, may not be good for you. Good and evil are relative to what you are discussing.
"The standard of value of the Objectivist ethics—the standard by which one judges what is good or evil—is man’s life, or: that which is required for man’s survival qua man.
Since reason is man’s basic means of survival, that which is proper to the life of a rational being is the good; that which negates, opposes or destroys it is the evil."
Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness.
As far as philosophy, what is important is that reason IS. That statement on the human condition has many implications.
Finally, reason is ONLY epistemology. You must also look at metaphysics to understand what good and evil are. Both (m and e) come BEFORE ethics.
"Since reason is man’s basic means of survival, that which is proper to the life of a rational being is the good; that which negates, opposes or destroys it is the evil."
Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness
While you decide which of her books or lectures to read, go to the Lexicon to get specific Rand quotes and passages from her books on any topic she may have written on: aynrandlexicon.com