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21 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Systems 'Atlas Shrugged' critiques |
- Communism
- Socialism - Social democracy - New Deal welfare state |
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Ayn Rand's background |
Born in pre-Revolution Russia. Lives through Revolution. Emigrates in late teens. Works in Hollywood as screenwriter through Great Depression & New Deal. |
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Relativism |
What constitutes truth is different for every person; truth is relative |
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Subjectivism |
Reality emanates from what individuals perceive, feel, or think. Reality is a subjective experience. |
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Idealism |
Everything is mental, the spirit precedes everything. We can never be sure that anything outside our mental consciousness exists. |
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Existentialism |
Nothing can be proven or known that is not personally experienced. One must form their own identity, no possible outside standard can exist. |
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Manichaean worldview |
Highly dualistic. Pure good/evil, black/white. |
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Rand's metaphysics (theory of being) |
Realism: there is a concrete, defined reality that exists independently of the human mind. |
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Rand's epistemology (theory of knowledge) |
Rationality: the full exercise of the unique human capacity to know. |
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Rand's ethics (theory of right & wrong) |
Egoism: pursuit of one's own self-interest; you only have one life to live and it's your own. |
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Rand's sociopolitics |
Classical liberalism: life, liberty, happiness, & freedom. |
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Rand's purpose of life |
Utilize your reason => engage in production => this is an affirmation of human life |
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Rand vs. Marx re: philosophy/economics |
Rand: economics arises as a result of philosophy. Marx: philosophy is a result of economic order. |
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Rand on altruism |
Benefiting others through your work is not a bad thing as long as you also benefit. Benefiting others at your own expense, however, is altruism and awful. |
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What aspect of wealth favors redistributive policy? |
Diminishing marginal utility. Going from $1 million to $1 million and ten isn't a big deal, but going from $1 to $11 is a huge deal. |
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Rent seeking |
Seeking special favors or extraordinary privileges. Encouraged by socialism b/c wealth is determined by central redistributing agency, not fruits of labor. |
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Bourgeois equality of opportunity |
Removing socially constructed inequalities ex. Castes, slavery, institutional racism |
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Left-liberal equality of opportunity |
Removing socially circumstantial inequalities. ex. Poverty, cultural racism, social background |
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Socialist equality of opportunity |
Removing inborn or all unchosen inequalities. ex. physical handicap, mental health/handicap. End result is that all differences b/t individuals reflect only taste & choice. |
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Otteson's practical socialist problems |
Never-ending chain of redistribution results in sub-optimal outcomes. Market capitalism acts as a 'knowledge machine' that ideally creates & distributes resources. Central socialist redistribution will always have imperfect knowledge. |
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Otteson's principled socialist problems |
Socialist planning denies the fundamental human rights to autonomy, individualism, moral agency, and self-determination. This is morally flawed. |
