Exactly, these critiques fascinate me for this reason: Objectivist epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics are deeply flawed and yet people still create straw-men that are easily recognized as such by even casual dabblers in Objectivism like myself (your’s being a good example). What causes people to do that?
I think EY gave the answer in Chapter 83. Harry, the consumate rationalist, was lying to himself and lashing out at Dumbledore because one of his sacred values was questioned, and he couldn’t allow that.
Are we to suppose that it’s only Evangelicals for whom it is a crime to doubt the existence of their God? Rand challenges a number of Gods, and the faithful off all varieties can hardly be expected to listen to the lies of the Devil, can they? To even consider her arguments for a moment is to question the sacred, which mustn’t be done. To do so is to travel halfway down the road to heresy.
Exactly, these critiques fascinate me for this reason: Objectivist epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics are deeply flawed and yet people still create straw-men that are easily recognized as such by even casual dabblers in Objectivism like myself (your’s being a good example). What causes people to do that?
I think EY gave the answer in Chapter 83. Harry, the consumate rationalist, was lying to himself and lashing out at Dumbledore because one of his sacred values was questioned, and he couldn’t allow that.
Are we to suppose that it’s only Evangelicals for whom it is a crime to doubt the existence of their God? Rand challenges a number of Gods, and the faithful off all varieties can hardly be expected to listen to the lies of the Devil, can they? To even consider her arguments for a moment is to question the sacred, which mustn’t be done. To do so is to travel halfway down the road to heresy.