Essays on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
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I. The world is perishing from the morality of sacrifice, and the men of the mind are on strike against this morality, which is speeding up the process of destruction (1009–11).
II. The proper, rational morality for man is one of life and reason, based on the axiom that existence exists (1011–24).
III. The morality of sacrifice is the morality of death, for it demands renunciation of that which makes life possible: the mind—and thus of any enjoyment of life on earth (1024–34).
IV. This code is taught by men who, having renounced their minds, seek power over the consciousnesses of other men, by attempting to convince them to renounce their own minds and accept the morality of sacrifice; the deepest motive of these teachers of sacrifice is hatred of existence, of life, of man, of themselves—and their goal is to destroy their victims and themselves (1034–47).
V. If all men who desire to live reject—as we the strikers have—these doctrines of mysticism and sacrifice, realizing that no compromise is possible, and refuse to support their destroyers, demanding instead a society of rights and freedom, then the society of the mystics and looters will perish, and we will come to have a world of reason, freedom, achievement, and joy (1047–69).
Sayfa 384 - Allan Gotthelf, Galt's Speech in Five Sentences
Significantly, allusions to Prometheus figure prominently in Rand’s work. Francisco describes Galt as “Prometheus who changed his mind” (517) and Equality 7-2521, the hero of Anthem, renames himself Prometheus at the end of the novella (Fiftieth anniversary paperback edition [New York: Signet, 1995], 115). The mythological Prometheus represents reason and is supposed to have stolen fire for man from the gods and to have been punished for this by being bound to a mountain where he was pecked at by birds of prey.
Similarly, Galt and the hero of Anthem are paragons of reason who make a new form of energy available to mankind and suffer for having done so. But in Rand’s version, unlike the myth, the suffering is caused by mankind itself; and, instead of submitting to it, the heroes (to paraphrase Francisco) withdraw their fire until the day when men withdraw their vultures (517).
Sayfa 250 - Gregory Salmieri
They claim that they perceive a mode of being superior to your existence on this earth. The mystics of spirit call it “another dimension,” which consists of denying dimensions. The mystics of muscle call it “the future,” which consists of denying the present. To exist is to possess identity. What identity are they able to give to their superior realm? They keep telling you what it is not, but never tell you what it is. All their identifications consist of negating: God is that which no human mind can know, they say—and proceed to demand that you consider it knowledge—God is non-man, heaven is non-earth, soul is non-body, virtue is non-profit, A is non-A, perception is non-sensory, knowledge is non-reason. Their definitions are not acts of defining, but of wiping out. (1035)
Sayfa 244
Observe that Christianity has promoted “love” as the answer for 2,000 years, but the clearest practical expression of its full philosophy was the Dark Ages. Marxists claim to love the people—and have proved it by murdering 100 million of them in ninety years. Love is not the answer—and Hugo, for all his monumental genius and profound nobility of spirit, has not found the answer to the social problems he addresses. Consequently, his heroes have no chance to transfigure the social order.
Sayfa 188 - Andrew Bernstein
In the most important area of human life— ethics—romantics claim to have answers. They hold that there is a moral truth—and that men can know it. This is inherent in the principle of human volition: if men’s choices are to be meaningful, then they must have the ability to choose the good and reject the evil; otherwise, volition is a trivial, inconse-quential faculty. But to choose between X and non-X, one must know them.
To choose the good, men must know the good.
Sayfa 185 - Andrew Bernstein
As Francisco says at the end of his speech about the meaning of money, “When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns—or dollars. Take your choice—there is no other—and your time is running out” (415).
Sayfa 24 - Onkar Ghate