One of the most concerning aspects of society is the fact that most people are prepared to engage in life without a system of thought or a value system. They will have a career plan, a shopping list, but they will not develop an explicit value system.
Stranger still is the tendency for people to start studying philosophy when they reach retirement. A philosophy is a system of thought which is intended to help you achieve your goals, yet people engage in philosophy at the end of their life, when they have nothing else to do. How profoundly silly is that.
I can't profess to being much different until I was 19 years old. I did however spend a lot of time reading science. The logic fascinated me. I also had an interest in finance (money) and politics, however those interests were only fully appreciated after I had read Ayn Rand's book 'Capitalism - The Unknown Ideal'.
During my science degree I devoured all of Rand's books. I always did things to the extreme. I purchased many of her speeches which had been bound up into books, and I watched taped lecture courses along with other students. It was a surprisingly fun experience. I never expected philosophy to be fun.
I have long since stopped reading Rand, but I have remained committed to her philosophy, though I would not describe myself as 100% accepting of her views. I differ from her on a number of issues, such as:
1. Empathy - she gave it no merit, though perhaps not hostile to it
2. Politics - she did not profess much other than small government
3. Moralism - She seemed to label anyone who disagreed as immoral, when they might be better be described as scared or motivated by fear. True to her philosophy, they were certainly living by values not consonant with human values. But was her labelling any more 'goal-directed'.
4. Strategy - She believed society would change when the intellectual class was engrained in her philosophy. I think more likely that change will come from two sources - a groundswell of support from actors like Angelina Jolie as well as High Court judges. I believe that judicial activism is likely to emerge as an important basis for political evolution.
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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com
Stranger still is the tendency for people to start studying philosophy when they reach retirement. A philosophy is a system of thought which is intended to help you achieve your goals, yet people engage in philosophy at the end of their life, when they have nothing else to do. How profoundly silly is that.
I can't profess to being much different until I was 19 years old. I did however spend a lot of time reading science. The logic fascinated me. I also had an interest in finance (money) and politics, however those interests were only fully appreciated after I had read Ayn Rand's book 'Capitalism - The Unknown Ideal'.
During my science degree I devoured all of Rand's books. I always did things to the extreme. I purchased many of her speeches which had been bound up into books, and I watched taped lecture courses along with other students. It was a surprisingly fun experience. I never expected philosophy to be fun.
I have long since stopped reading Rand, but I have remained committed to her philosophy, though I would not describe myself as 100% accepting of her views. I differ from her on a number of issues, such as:
1. Empathy - she gave it no merit, though perhaps not hostile to it
2. Politics - she did not profess much other than small government
3. Moralism - She seemed to label anyone who disagreed as immoral, when they might be better be described as scared or motivated by fear. True to her philosophy, they were certainly living by values not consonant with human values. But was her labelling any more 'goal-directed'.
4. Strategy - She believed society would change when the intellectual class was engrained in her philosophy. I think more likely that change will come from two sources - a groundswell of support from actors like Angelina Jolie as well as High Court judges. I believe that judicial activism is likely to emerge as an important basis for political evolution.
------------------------------------------------
Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com
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