Objectivism
Posted by nicholaslyx | Posted in Philosophical Moments | Posted on 06-12-2008
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"Altruism is the root of all wickedness"-a banner in the game, Bioshock.
In case you do not know what that means, altruism is the spirit of selflessness. In essense, the complete opposite of selfishness. And partially, I agree with that statement.
I would say I am a pretty helpful person. Since people tend to ignore me on a daily basis, I almost always will volunteer or agree to do some sort of task I guess as a way to get attention. That was until I played Bioshock, looked up the meaning of altruism, and thought "That is so friggin right". And since then, I am a little more critical of whatever task I am asked to do. This is because, despite everything I've done, I don't get anything in return. I know that one should offer help without expecting anything back, but I usually do not benefit from my helpful actions, which takes the form of wasted time, or being unable to do other more desirable activities. And above all, I am still considered the guy who can help out or fill up the missing gap. And it isn't just me neither. A friend of mine, whom everyone in school knows for sure (though I will keep this annoymous), has also been a victim of altruism and those who capitalize on it. Being busy as he is with studies and cocuricular activities, he has nontheless still been subjected to altruistic torture in the form of sacrificing his own happiness for the sake of others.
With such wisdom in a game, I decided to research further into the theme which inspired Bioshock and the principles of Andrew Ryan. What I found was that the principles of Bioshock were inspired by a woman named Ayn Rand and her philosophy: Objectivism.
Of course, not being as simply defined as democracy or communism, please feel free to consult the "experts" of Wikipedia for more information.
Objectivism is about man being a conscious being, aware of reality. Both of which exist seperate, and it is only through the senses that man is able to perceive reality. Thus, man uses the sense to validate concepts and identify the facts of reality. And because man is a conscious being, whose survival instinct is not as automatic as an animal's, then man's motivation is to pursue a conscious state, the pursuit of happiness.
Thus far, doesn't seem any different from what we're doing now right? Read on.
As man survives as a rational being, and not merely driven by animal instincts, man's has only 3 basic values: reason, purpose and self esteem. Every man is an end to himself and not a means to an end for others. Thus, man lives for himself alone and does not sacrifice for others nor have others sacrifice for him. He works for his rational self interest, and his achievement of happiness is his highest moral purpose in life.
Following that, the basic social principal of Objectivism is that no one has the right to seek value from others by means of force. Men have to deal with others as traders, and only do business by mutual consent. As such, capitalism, and by which Objectivism means laissez-faire capitalism, capitalism which allows events to happen with little intervention is the Objectivist form of government. Capitalism is a system which recognises the individual rights, including property rights. The governments only job then, is to ensure that these rights are not infringed upon. Thus, Objectivism rejects any form of collectivism (such as communism) or the mixed economy adopted by most nations, where the government has intervention.
In conclusion, Objectivism, as defined by Ayn Rand when she was asked to define the essense of Objectivism when standing on one foot is as follows.
Metaphysics: Objective Reality
Epistemology: Reason
Ethics: Self-interest
Politics: Capitalism
So, in further simpler terms, Objectivism is kinda like justified selfishness.
Of course, my knowledge of Objectivism remains shallow at best. I am going to acquire some of Ayn Rand's literary works in order to understand Objectivism better. For now though, I like the idea that I can justify selfishness :p
Brought to you by,
Nicholas
I am not going to just be "that guy who can be labour" anymore.
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my dear peasant,
i must commend you on this article. i must say that the quality of your posts have been getting very interesting, mind provoking and stirring.
i am also very glad that out of bioshock you have acquired an intellectuall experience instead of mere electronic entertainment, and kudos again to you for reading up on anrand or whatever her name is and her objectivism is the subsequent support for laissez faire capitalism. indeed, knowing you as the person you are, i am glad that you have been fullfilling your mental potential through reasoning and research.
i wish you the best of luck on your pursuit of knowledge pertaining these matters, and i offer some counters to objectivism in the hopes of offering you some objectivity. no pun intended.
the free market capitalism that you mentioned, is imperfect.a model intially proposed by adam smith, today has been found to be inadequate for the following reasons.
1. buyers and sellers in the market trade with each other because both stand to mutually benefit.in the process, external costs take place that are not bourne by both buyer and seller. for example, in the process of manufacturing a car and selling it to a buyer, the factory that makes the car causes pollution on the environment.these costs are being paid for by the rest of society, who has no part of this transcation of selling and buying the car.
2. what about goods and service that have cannot be quantified monetarily? no markets exist for these goods yet there is a necessity for them. for example, clean air. everyone needs it, but who is willing to pay for it? or public goods like traffic lights, lighthouses. no private sector is going to pay for these.
3. acting in your own self interest does not always produce the best result. in economics, this is called game theory. read up on the prisonner's dilemma story.
and finally, as a last thought,
you are very right in that to act in self-interest is what it means to be man.
to act in the interest of society is what it means to be beyond that.