Of Values
| Reason reflected in the virtue of Rationality, which is the primary virtue and the source of all other virtues. The virtue of Rationality means the recognition and acceptance of reason as one’s only source of knowledge one’s only judge of values and one’s only guide to action. It means one’s total commitment to a state of full, conscious awareness, to the maintenance of a full mental focus in all issues, in all choices, in all of one’s waking hours. It means: Independence your acceptance of the responsibility of forming your own judgments and of living by the work of your own mind; Integrity that you must never sacrifice your convictions to the opinions or wishes of others; Honesty that you must never attempt to fake reality in any manner; Justice that you must never seek or grant the unearned and undeserved, neither in matter nor in spirit; that you must never desire effects without causes, never enact a cause without assuming full responsibility for its effects and, above all, never seek to get away with contradictions. Purpose reflected in the virtue of Productiveness, which is the recognition of the fact that productive work is the process by which your mind sustains your life. It is the consciously chosen pursuit of a productive career, in any line of rational endeavour, great or modest, on any level of ability. It is not the degree of your ability nor the scale of your work that is ethically relevant, but the fullest and most purposeful use of your mind. Self – Esteem reflected in the virtue of Pride, which is the recognition of the fact that as you must produce the physical values you need to sustain your life, so must you acquire the values of character that make your life worth sustaining. It means never accepting any code of irrational virtues impossible to practice and by never failing to practice the virtues one knows to be rational – by never accepting an unearned guilt and never earning any, or, if you have earned it, never leaving it uncorrected – by never resigning yourself passively to any flaws in your character – by never placing any concern, wish, fear or mood of the moment above the reality of your own self – esteem. And, above all, it means the rejection of the role of a sacrificial animal, the rejection of any doctrine that preaches self – immolation as a moral virtue or duty. *The philosophical premise for these values is (standing on one foot), in: Metaphysics Objective Reality. "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" or "Wishing won't make it so". Epistemology Reason. You can't eat your cake and have it, too. Ethics Self-interest. Man is an end in himself. Politics Capitalism. Give me liberty or give me death. Stuart Macdonald *See The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand |