"Philosophy: Who Needs It" by Ayn Rand

ladies and gentlemen since I am a fiction writer let us start with a short short story suppose that you are an astronaut whose spaceship gets out of control and crashes on an unknown planet when you're again consciousness and find that you are not hurt badly the first three questions in your mind would be where am i how can I discover it what should I do you see unfamiliar vegetation outside and there is air to breathe the sunlight seems paler than you remembered and colder you turn to look at the sky but stop you are struck by sudden feeling if you don't look you won't have to know that you are perhaps too far from the earth and no return is possible so long as you don't know it you are free to believe what you wish and you experience a foggy pleasant but somehow guilty kind of hope you turn to your instruments there may be damage you don't know how seriously but you stopped struck by a sudden fear how can you trust this instruments how can you be sure that they won't mislead you how can you know whether they will work in a different world you turn away from the instruments now you begin to wonder why you have no desire to do anything it seems so much safer just to wait for something to turn up somehow it is better you tell yourself not to rock the spaceship far in the distance you see some sort of living creatures approaching you don't know whether they are human but they walk on two feet they you decide will tell you what to do you are never heard from again see Phantasy you might say you would not act like that and no astronaut ever would perhaps not but this is the way most man lives their lives here on earth most men spend their days struggling to evade three questions the answers to which underlie man's every thought feeling and action whether he is consciously aware of it or not where am I how do I know it what should I do by the times are old enough to understand these questions men believes that they know the answers where am I say in New York City how do I know it it's self-evident what should I do here they are not too sure but the usual answer is whatever everybody else does the only trouble seems to be that they are not very active not very confident not very happy and they experience at times a causeless fear and undefined guilt which they cannot explain or get rid of they have never discovered the fact that the trouble comes from the three unanswered questions and that there is only one science that can answer them philosophy philosophy studies the fundamental nature of existence of men and of man's relationship to existence as against the special Sciences which deal only with particular aspects philosophy deals with those aspects of the universe which pertain to everything that exists in the realm of cognition the special Sciences are the trees but philosophy is the soil that makes the forest possible philosophy would not tell you for instance whether you are in New York City or in Zanzibar so it would give you the means to find out but here is what it would tell you are you in a universe which is ruled by natural laws and therefore stable firm absolute and knowable or are you in an incomprehensible cares a realm of inexplicable miracles and unpredictable knowable flux which your mind is impotent to grasp are the things around you real or are they only an illusion do they exist independent of any observer or are they created by the observer are they the object or the subject of your consciousness are they what they are or can they be changed by a mere act of your consciousness such as a wish the nature of your actions and of your ambition will be different according to which set of answers you come to accept these answers are the province of metaphysics the study of existence as such or in Aristotle's words of being qua being the basic branch of philosophy no matter what conclusions you reach you will be confronted by the necessity to answer another corollary question how do I know it since man is not omniscient or infallible you have to discover what you can claim as knowledge and how to prove the validity of your conclusions does man acquired knowledge by process of reason or by sudden revelation from a supernatural power is reason a faculties that identifies and integrates the material provided by man senses or is it paired by innate ideas implanted in man mine before he was born is reason competent to perceive reality or does men possess some other cognitive faculties superior to reason can men achieve certainty or is he don't the perpetual doubt the extent of yourself countenance unaware success will be different according to which set of answers you accept three sensors are the province elects technology the theory of knowledge which studies man's means of cognition these two branches have the theoretical foundation of philosophy the third branch ethics may be regarded as its technology ethics does not apply to everything that exists only to men but it applies to every aspect of man's life he has character his actions his values his relationship to all of existence ethics or morality defines accord ivalice to guide man's choices and actions the choices and actions are determined the course of his life just as the astronaut in my story did not know what you should do because he refused to know where he was and how to discover it so you cannot know what you should do until you know the nature of the universe you deal with the nature of your means of cognition and your own nature before you come to ethics you must answer the questions posed by metaphysics and epistemology is man a rational being able to deal with reality or is he a helplessly blind misfit a chip buffeted by the universal flux our achievement and enjoyment possible to men on earth or is he doomed to failure and disaster depending on the answers you can proceed to consider the questions posed by ethics what is good or evil for men and why should man's primary concern be a quest for joy or an escape from suffering should men hold self-fulfillment or self-destruction as the goal of his life should men pursue his values or should he place the interests of others above his own should men seek happiness or self-sacrifice I do not have to point out the different consequences of these two sets of answers you can see them everywhere within you and around you the answers given by ethics determine how men should treat other men and this determines the fourth branch of philosophy politics which defines the principles of a proper social system as an example of philosophies function political philosophy will not tell you how much ration gas you should be given and on which day of the week it will tell you whether the government has the right to impose any rationing on anything the fifth and last branch of philosophy is aesthetics the study of art which is based on metaphysics epistemology and ethics are deals with the needs the refueling of man's consciousness now some of you might say as many people do I never seen in such abstract terms I want to deal with concrete particularly real life problems what do I need philosophy for my answer is in order to be able to deal with concrete particular real-life problems that is in order to be able to live on earth you might claim as most people do that you have never been influenced by philosophy I will ask you to check that claim have you ever thought or said the following don't be so sure nobody can be certain of anything you got that notion from David Hume and many many others even though you might never have heard of him or this may be good in theory but it doesn't work in practice you got that from Plato ah that was a rotten thing to do but it's only human nobody's perfect in this world you got it from Augustine or it may be true for you but it's not true for me you got it from William James or I couldn't help it nobody can help anything he does you got it from Hegel or I can't prove it but I feel that it's true you got it from or it's logical but logic has nothing to do with reality you've got it from Kant or it's evil because it's selfish you got it from counter have you heard the modern activists say act first think afterward they got it from John Dewey some people might answer sure I've said those things at different times but I don't have to believe that stuff all of the time it may have been true yesterday but it's not true today they got it from Hegel they might say consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds they got it from a very little mind Emerson they might say but can't one compromise and borrow different ideas from different philosophies according to the expediency of the moment they got it from Richard Nixon who got it from William James now ask yourself if you are not interested in abstract ideas why do you and all men feel compelled to use them the fact is that abstract ideas are conceptual integrations which samsoon an incalculable number of countries and that without abstract ideas you would not be able to deal with complete particular real-life problems you would be in the position of a newborn infant to whom every object is a unique unprecedented phenomenon the difference between his mental state and yours lies in the number of conceptual integrations your mind has performed you have no choice about the necessity to integrate your observations your experiences your knowledge into abstract ideas that is into principles your only choice is whether these principles are true or false whether they represent your conscious rational convictions or a grab-bag of notions snatched at random whose sources validity contexts and consequences you do not know notions which more often than not you would drop like a hot potato if you knew but the principles you accept consciously or subconsciously may clash with or contradict one another they to have to be integrated what integrates them philosophy a philosophic system is an integrated view of existence as a human being you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy your only choice is whether you define your philosophy by a conscious rational disciplined process of thought and scrupulously logical deliver or let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap of unwarranted conclusions false generalizations undefined contradictions undigested slogans unidentified wishes doubts and peers thrown together by chance but integrated by your subconscious into a kind of mongrel philosophy and fused into a single solid weight self-doubt like a ball and chain in the place where your minds wings should have grown you might say as many people do that it is not easy always to act on abstract principles no it is not easy but how much harder is it to have to act on them without knowing what they are your subconscious is like a computer more complex and computers and men can build and its main function is the integration of your ideas who programs it your conscious mind if you default if you don't reach any firm convictions your subconscious is programmed by chance and you deliver yourself into the power of ideas you do not know you have accepted but one way or the other your computer gives you printouts daily and hourly in the form of emotions which are lightning-like estimates of the things around you calculated according to your values if you programmed your computer by conscious thinking you'll know the nature of your verus and emotions if you didn't you don't many people particular today claims that man cannot live by logic alone that there's the emotional element of his nature to consider and that they rely on the guidance of their emotions well so did the astronaut in my story the joke is on him and on them men's values and emotions are determined by his fundamental view of life the ultimate programmer of his subconscious is philosophy the science which according to the emotionalism is imported to affect or penetrate the murky mysteries of their feelings the quality of a computer's output is determined by the quality of its input if your sub country's is problem by chance its output will have a corresponding character you have probably heard the computer operators eloquent term giggle which means garbage in garbage out the same formula applies to the relationship between a man sinking and his emotions a man who is run by emotions is like a man who is run by a computer whose printouts he cannot read he does not know whether its programming its true or false right or wrong whether it's said to lead him to success or destruction whether it serves his goals or those of some evil unknowable power he is blind on two fronts blind to the world around him and to his own inner world unable to grasp reality or his own motives and he's in chronic terror of those emotions are not tools of cognition the men who are not interested in philosophy needed most urgently they are most helplessly in its power the men who are not interested in philosophy absorbed its principles from the cultural atmosphere around them from schools colleges books magazines newspapers movies television etc who sets the tone of a culture a small handful of men the philosophers as Earth's power Zahra lead either by conviction or by default for some 200 years under the influence of Immanuel Kant the dominant trend the philosophy has been directed to a single goal the destruction of man's mind of his countenance in the power of reason today we are seeing the climax of the trend when men abandon reason they find not only that their emotions cannot guide them but that they can experience no emotions save one terror the spread of drug addiction among young people brought up and today's intellectual passions demonstrates the unbearable inner state of men who are deprived of their means of cognition and who seek escape from reality from the terror of their impotence to deal with existence observe these young people's dread of Independence and their frantic desire to belong to attach themselves to some group prick or gang most of them have never heard the philosophy but they sense that they need some fundamental answers to questions say they're not asked and they hope that the tribe will tell them how to live they are ready to be taken over by any witch doctor guru or dictator one of the most dangerous things a man can do is to surrender his moral autonomy to others like the astronaut in my story he does not know whether they are human even though they walk on two feet now you may ask if velocity can be that evil why should one study particularly why should one study the philosophical series which are blatantly false make no sense and bear no relation to real life my answer is in self-protection and in defense of truth justice freedom and any value you ever held or may ever hold not all philosophies are evil though too many of them are particularly in modern history on the other hand at the root of every civilized achievement such as science technology progress freedom at the root of every value we enjoy today including the birth of this country you will find the achievement of one man who lived over 2,000 years ago Aristotle if you feel nothing but boredom when reading the virtually unintelligible theories of some philosophers you have my deepest sympathy but if you brush them aside saying why should I study that stuff when I know it's nonsense you are mistaken it is nonsense but you don't know it not [Applause] [Music] not so long as you go on accepting all their conclusions all the vicious catchphrases generated by those philosophers and not so long as you are unable to refute that nonsense deals with the most crucial the life-or-death issues of man's existence at the root of every significant philosophic Theory there is a legitimate issue in the sense that is an authentic need of man's consciousness which some theories struggle to clarify and others struggle to obfuscate to corrupt to prevent men from ever discovering the battle of philosophers is a battle for man's mind if you do not understand their theories you are vulnerable to the worst among them the best way to study philosophy is to approach it as one approaches a detective story follow every trail crew and implication in order to discover who is a murderer and who is a hero the criterion of detection is to questions why and how if a given tenant seems to be true why if another tenant seems to be false why and how is it being put over you may not find all the answers immediately but you will acquire an invaluable characteristic the ability to think in terms of essentials nothing is given to men automatically neither knowledge nor self-confidence nor inner serenity not the right way to use his mind every value he needs or wants has to be discovered learned and acquired even the proper posture of his body in this context I want to say is that I have always admired the posture of West Point graduates I'm in it a pastor that projects man in proud discipline control of his body well philosophical training gives men the proper intellectual posture a proud disciplined control of his mind in your own profession in military science you know the importance of keeping track of the enemy's weapons strategy and tactics and of being prepared to counter them the same is true in philosophy you have to understand the enemy's ideas and be prepared to refute them you have to know his basic arguments and be able to bless them in physical warfare you would not send your man into a booby trap you would make every effort to discover its location well Khan's system is the biggest and most intricate booby trap in the history of philosophy but it's so full of holes that once you grasp is gimmick you can defuse it without any trouble and walk forward over it in perfect safety and once it is diffused the lesser Canton's the lower ranks of his army the philosophical sergeants buck privates and mercenaries of today will fall of their own weightlessness by chain reaction there is a special reason why you the future leaders of the United States Army needs to be philosophically armed today you are the target of a special attack by the Kantian Hegelian collectivist establishment that dominates our cultural institutions at present you are the army of the last semi free country left on earth yet you are accused of being a tool of imperialism and imperialism is the name given to the foreign policy of this country which has never engaged in military conquest and has never profited from the two world wars which he did not initiate but entered and won it was incidentally foolishly over generous policy which [Applause] a policy which made this country waste her wealth on helping both our allies and her former enemies something called the military-industrial complex which is amis or worse is being blamed for all of this country's troubles logic college hoodlums scream demands that ROTC units be banned from college campuses our defense budget is being attacked denounced and undercut by people who claims that financial priority should be given to ecological rose gardens and two classes in aesthetic self-expression for the residents of the slums some of you may be bewildered by this campaign and may be wondering in good face what errors you committed to bring it about if so it is urgently important for you to understand the nature of the enemy you are attacked not for any errors or flaws but for your virtues you are denounced not for any weaknesses but for your strengths and your competence you are penalized for being the protectors of the United States on a lower level of the same issue a similar kind of campaign is conducted against the police force those who seek to destroy this country seek to disarm it intellectually and physically but it is not a mere political issue politics is not the cause but the last consequence of philosophical ideas it is not a communist conspiracy though some communist may be involved as maggots cashing in honor disasters they had no power to originate the motive of the destroyers is not loved for communism but hatred for America why hatred because America is the living refutation of a Kantian universe today's mortgage concern with and compassion for the people the flood the suffering the guilty is a cover for the profoundly Kantian hatred of the innocent the strong the able the successful the virtuous the confident the habit a philosophy out to destroy man's mind is necessarily a philosophy of hatred for men for man's life and for every human value hatred of the good for being the good is the hallmark of the 20th century this is the enemy you are facing a battle of this kind requires special weapons it has to be fought with a full understanding of your cost a full confidence in yourself and the fullest certainty of the moral rightness of both only philosophy can provide you with these weapons the assignment I gave myself for tonight is not to sell you on my philosophy but on philosophy as such I have however been speaking implicitly of my philosophy in every sentence since none of us and no statement can escape from philosophical premises what is my selfish interest in the matter I am confident enough to think that if you accept the importance of philosophy and the task of examining it critically it is my philosophy that you will come to accept formally I call it objectivism but informally I call it a philosophy for living on earth you will find an explicit presentation of it in my books particularly not Mashhad in conclusion allow me to speak in personal terms this evening means a great deal to me I feel deeply honored by the opportunity to address you I can say not as a patriotic bromide but with full knowledge of the necessary metaphysical epistemological ethical political anesthetic rules that the United States of America is the greatest the noblest and in its original founding principles the only moral country in the history of the world there is a kind of quiet radiance associated in my mind with the name West Point because you have preserved the spirit of those original founding principles and you are their symbol there were contradictions and omissions in those principles and there may be in yours but I am speaking of the essentials there may be individuals in your history who did not live up to your higher standards as there are in every institution since no institution and no social system can guarantee the automatic perfection of all its members this depends on an individual's freewill I am speaking of your standards you have preserved three qualities of character which were typical at the time of America's birth but are virtually non-existent today earnestness education a sense of honor honor is self-esteem made visible in action you have chosen to risk your lives for the defense of this country I will not insult you by saying that you are dedicated to selfless service it is not a virtue in my morality in my morality the defense of one's country means that a man is personally unwilling to live as the conquered slave of any enemy foreign or domestic this is an enormous virtual some of you may not be consciously aware of it I want to help you to realize the army of every country has a great responsibility the right to use force but not as an instrument of compulsion and brute conquest as the armies of other countries have done in their history only as an instrument of every nation self-defense which means the defense of man's individual rights the principle of using force only in retaliation against those who initiate its use is the principles of subordinating might to write the highest integrity and sense of honor are required for such a task no other army in the world has achieved it you have West Point has given America a long line of heroes known and unknown you this year's graduates have a glorious tradition to carry on which I admire profoundly not because it is a tradition but because it is glorious since I came from a country guilty of the worst tyranny on earth I am particularly able to appreciate the meaning the greatness and the supreme value of Z which you are defending so in my own name and in the name of many people who think as I do I want to say to all the men of West Point past present and future thank you [Applause] you [Applause]

Channel: Ayn Rand Institute

Views: 9,754

Keywords: ARI, Atlas Shrugged, Anthem, Ayn Rand, Ayn Rand Institute, Fountainhead, Individual Rights, Individualism, Objectivism, Objectivist, Philosophy, Reason, Rights, Capitalism, Freedom, Liberty, Atheism, Secular Humanism, Libertarian, Conservative, Libertarianism, Conservatism

Id: rXtS4FpW3mM

Length: 36min 15sec (2175 seconds)

Published: Fri May 01 2020