Al said...
I don't know, man. What am I missing? Your refutation is that Rand's morality for humans on earth doesn't apply to gods and bugs? Or creatures in some imaginary place?
Thu Apr 03, 02:14:00 PM 2008
I'm sure he'll get back to me soon and I'll let you know what comes of it.
Update: Mr. Holtz engaged my comment thoughtfully, and I rejoined:
Humility is an important concept to me. I understand it as meaning: listening carefully to understand what someone is really saying and then comparing it to what The Universe is saying (as I understand it). What The Universe is saying is Natural Law - it tells you what you can get away with. A careful examination of history and economics will tell you that you can get away with dumping the consequences of your actions on your friends and neighbors for a while, but eventually being an A-hole will come back and bite you in the ass.
There are few humans who want to leave a legacy of ass bites to the ones they love.
Morality is a matter of persuasion more than biology (though loving your family, friends and physical and intellectual offspring seems to be a biological imperitive for humans), and the importance of what I've brought up is the core of what we need to be convincing our neighbors of.
Ooh! Need to work on that grammar.
I have to say here, that I assume that Conversation will not end with my, or anyone else's, last word. I do not assume that every point and ramification can be addressed by a pithy rejoinder. Nor am I so arrogant as to believe that I "nailed it perfectly" with the last thing I said.
For instance, I'm still ruminating, from time to time, on Probligo's hypothetical point about his neighbor building a skyscraper between his home and "his" view of the bay - and whether he has the right to mobilize the community to forcibly stop his neighbor from doing such a thing.
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