The Objectivity of Ethics (Show 090)
In response to my own request for the discussion, for Show 089 Mosley and Arthur consider the question: How does one validate the objectivity of ethics, namely life as the standard and ultimate value, as opposed to a standard that is arbitrarily chosen?
Topics include: the objectivity of ethics; life as the standard of value; two methods of approach on the issue; what gives rise to values; life as an end in itself; rational goals as dependent on the pursuit of life; subjectivism defined; ethical subjectivists and their arguments; the purpose of ethics; types of subjectivism; the relationship of happiness to ethics; what virtue is; the cardinal values and virtues; The Virtue of Selfishness & OPAR as useful resources; Objectivism & dogmatism; etc.
There was no show on the following Sunday, December 28th, but there will be this Sunday, January 4th. We hope to see you there, and Happy New Year!
January 1st, 2009 at 8:19 pm
> “. . . The Virtue of Selfishness & OPAR as useful resources . . .”
I would like to second the recommendation of Ayn Rand’s anthology, The Virtue of Selfishness. In particular, I would like to encourage readers to pay very serious attention to the first essay, “The Objectivist Ethics.”
In a study group in Study Groups for Objectivists, participants discussed three pages per week. (The first half of the 12-week study group is complete, and the second half of the study group starts in a week or so.)
At that slow pace, I saw for the first time the great care with which Ayn Rand structured her paper. (If I recall correctly, she originally read the paper at a philosophical conference four decades ago.)
It deserves a very slow reading, serious note-taking, and discussion to bring out the many connections possible in her very concise essay.
Thank you for bringing up the subject.