[lucio]

Every example of "Ayn Rand philosophy" you present it's exactly the opposite of what it should be.

"for the greater good"? "stealing is ok"? These are the arguments of the villains in Ayn Rand novels.

"selfishness" (as defined by Rand) means to preserve what you value most and do not sacrifice a higher value for a lesser value.

[CSenn]

"Stealing is ok" was just an example of how a rational truth can be flawed, it had nothing to do with Ayn Rand's teachings. My impression from Ayn Rand's teachings was that the best possible society was created when people acted in self interest, this is what I mean by the "greater good". In the novel the politicians always spoke about the greater good, but her argument was they were not doing it right, and actually destroying society. The purpose of the essay was about some people's interpretation of her ideas more then the ideas themselves, which is why I believe they have received such a cult following.

[spikels]

How is the reader supposed understand all this unless you actually say it in your essay. Instead you present a distorted caracature of ideas you clearly don't understand.

Let me ask you this: if people don't act in their own self-interst, how should they act? And more importantly how should they express their many desires if not through their actions?

[CSenn]

The point is I am not making an argument one way or the other. I am simply expressing how I have seen her views interpreted. Some people use her teachings as a foundation for how they make decisions, they have rationalized it is proper to act purely in self interest, and some of those times it is damn cold. And many extremely intelligent scholars have argued for many years about her teachings, writing is a way for me to traverse my mind to come to deeper understandings.