the psychology of objectivism - one possible narrative

I read that one, toots. That’s what prompted me to post here.
And I know you’re camus. You have the uncanny skill of using the word dasein in your every post.
I am not an objectivist. Read my posts in the thread I linked, toots.

Where satyr situates his morals is where a bit of an incoherence lies. You will see him say that there is no objective morality, no absolutely correct representation of reality, but at other times you will see him say “I speak of reality as it is”.
He really should be saying I speak of reality as I see it… shouldn’t he?

In any case, reality is the ultimate judge of whether an opinion is correct or not. Accuracy is measured by success.
If existing is the game, and thriving is the objective, and cooperating is the strategy, morals are the rules. And as rules go, the strategy only works if everyone who is participating agrees to the rules and follow them. If someone breaks the rules, and gets caught… I guess we kick his ass, eh? :wink:

As with most objectivists of his ilk, the crucial point I am trying to raise has little to do with whatever particular behaviors Satyr deems to be moral or immoral, noble or ignoble. Rather it is the manner in which he insists that only the manner in which he insists on differentiating the ubermen from the sheep, reflects the manner in which you are either one of Us or one of Them.

Really, how different is Satyr’s spiel from Ayn Rands? You are either at one with her [him] or you are at one with the collectivists [the retards].

From my perspective [and that’s all it is], moral and political objectivism is more likely to be a psychological agenda than a philosophical one.

And the reality of success will revolve more or less around “might makes right” or around “moderation, negotiation and compromise”.

But this would seem to be so only in recognizing that, in the absense of God, mere mortals have no other recourse. Sans God, how do mere mortals arrive at an actual deontological agenda such that it can be demonstrated that all rational men and women must behave in one way rather than another? Even Nietzsche’s ubermen recognized the inherent ambiguities embedded in a Godless universe.

They can either take what they want and rationalize it in terms of a world where the strong prevail over the weak, or they can try to justify what they do by constructing an intellectual contraption like Satyr’s. In other words, he feels compelled to justify his behaviors as more than just the brute facticity of might makes right. Instead, what he rationalizes must be seen as the noble and virtuous thing to do. Only he hardly ever brings this down to earth such that the discussion revolves around actual conflicting human behaviors that we are all familiar with. Instead, it’s always ascribed in the lofty [and didactic] rhetoric of The Intellectual.

Or, being less kind, The Pedant.

Sure. One or another social, political and economic consensus rooted in one or another historical and cultural and experiential context. But from my frame of mind this all goes back to dasein, conflicting goods and political economy.

There is no “objective reality” means that reality is not an object, i.e. it is not static, so there is no objective stance which should be adopted without being processed by the brain (without questioning/thinking.)

When people seek “absolutely correct representations of reality”, i.e. “objective truths”, they are really only seeking someone to tell them how to live their lives, since they are too cowardly to think for themselves.

iambiguous is of that sort.

He wants to be told how to live his life. He wants to be comforted. He automatically submits to anyone who appears to be confident in his ideas. Metaphorically speaking, he sucks your dick without asking for permission, and if he does not like it, he accuses you of being a pretend “alpha male”.

He cannot think.

He cannot tolerate other people’s opinions if they are not comforting.

So he falsifies the other in order to make it easy for himself.

Both you and iambiguous have unresolved psychological issues.

You automatically and unconsciously submit to other people.

You have zero self-control.

And what is this self-control that I am talking about?

Self-control is the capacity to refuse to ingest what you cannot digest.

It is about knowing yourself, knowing your limits.

iambiguous’s obsession with identity tells us that he has an extremely poor self-consciousness.

His conclusion that identity is unknowable is a projection of his own incapacity onto the universe.

It is not him who is too stupid to know his identity, who is too weak-willed to create psychological calm necessary for any genuine thinking to being, but it is the universe, the laws of nature, that forbid(s) him to do so.

Well thanks for chewing this over.
It’s obvious enough that you have not managed to digest what is going on and therefore offer us this vomitus.
Might I suggest some virtual Gaviscon?

I like what Carl Jung said - in his “Psychological Reflections” (Awareness and creative living).
I think a good response to the above -

“Never in any circumstances should one indulge in the unscientic illusion that one’s own subjective prejudice is a universal and fundamental psychological truth. No true science can spring from this, only a faith whose shadow is intolerance and fanaticism. Contradictory views are necessary for the evolutution of any science, only they must not be set up in any rigid opposition to each other but should strive for the earliest possible synthesis.”

One can’t always help leaning toward or evolving through especially No. 7 but one always has to keep Jung’s words in mind, in mnsho.
One can change the word psychological to philosophical and it still fits.

If you gathered from my post that I am seeking for an absolute representation of reality, then you can’t read for shit, kiddo.

I know, hot mama. I have never said that you have said that you are seeking for an absolute representation of reality.

Nonetheless, you are submissive and have zero self-control.

Now spread your sexy legs.

With respect to moral and political value judgements [about which the OP is aimed], my argument [here and now] revolves around this:

If I am always of the opinion that 1] my own values are rooted in dasein and 2] that there are no objective values “I” can reach, then every time I make one particular moral/political leap, I am admitting that I might have gone in the other direction…or that I might just as well have gone in the other direction. Then “I” begins to fracture and fragment to the point there is nothing able to actually keep it all together. At least not with respect to choosing sides morally and politically.

What I am curious about are arguments from others able to poke enough holes in it so that I might be able to reconsider it as perhaps a less than reasonable manner in which to construe the “human condition” sans God.

Instead, I tend to bump into the abstractionists like you and Lyssa and Satyr – scholastic sorts who spew out intellectual contraptions that have almost nothing whatsoever to do with the lives that we live.

All I am trying to do is to actually engage your words down here. Why in the world is that something you always avoid?

Again, you can pick the topic.

I have already explained this to you over at KTS.

It is you who are avoiding to discuss things because you find them too difficult to understand.

You are trying to force people to speak in a language that you can understand. You are burdening them.

You want to discuss, but without making any effort. You want it all served for you.

What I am “obsessed” with is grappling with the question, “How ought I to live”?

And then in exploring the limits of philosophy [logic, language] in providing an answer.

Much of what constitutes my own identity is not unknowable at all: gender, race, age, weight, height, state of health, residence, income, family, neighborhood, nationality, current interests, personality, character and on and on and I. There is much about myself that is clearly true objectively. It has nothing to do with dasein.

No, what fascinates me are those aspects of any particular sense of identity that revolve around conflicting value judgments that revolve in turn around conflicting goods.

Why and how do each of us come to accumulate a set of moral and political values that prompt a set of behaviors that, time and again, come into conflict with others? What experiences did we have, what people did we meet, what information did we happen upon that shaped our values over the years? And, in a world of contingency, chance and change, who knows what new experiences, relationships, knowledge etc, we will happen upon to reconfigure our values and behaviors down the road.

Is there a way philosophically to resolve these conflicts or, instead, must we always resort to either “might makes right” or “moderation, negotiation and compromise”?

All I insist is that when we discuss these relationships our words need to be fully integrated into the world in which we live.

I can only try to imagine what it must be like to be inside that head of yours. :wink:

Anyway, if the day should ever come when you have enough confidence to test those didactic assertions of yours on an actual moral issue, please do it here.

And, just out of curiosity, can you cite a few examples from your own life in which you walked this talk? For instance, confrontations you had with others over value judgments. How were you able to translate your arguments above into behaviors that reflected the most rational option available to any thinking human being?

Oh, I see, that doesn’t apply to me at all. It’s just a useless observation you pulled out of nowhere.
Kind of like all your posts.

I’m glad that you cleared that up.

Phoneutria has sexy legs?

Why haven’t I been told about this?

I’ve got 8.

I hope you aren’t one of those natural chicks who doesn’t shave their legs…

What about your chelicerae? You got real ones or fake ones?

Yeah I kinda left you in a difficult spot; try to say something clever, which would be hard to do with what I left you to work with (my bad), or say nothing at all and risk being mistaken for a dim-wit who can’t say something witty about a spider.

I think you did the right thing. The eight legs comment was good; you’re not trying to keep something going that’s difficult to work with. See now I would, and as per usual I would make a mess of it. That’s just me: if you look up the word ‘obnoxious’, there will be a picture of me in the left margin… right margin if you’re using a Chinese dictionary.

I’m from Brazil. They don’t call them brazillian waxes for nothing.

Oh, these are real, babe. But I think when I hit mid life crisis I’ll get a couple of double dees.

Don’t worry about it. I try to never say anything clever. People might start thinking I’m smart.

You can be obnoxious, and I can be noxious, and we can sing a duet. We may even get a few quarters in our hats.

Oh well, another thread bites the dust… :laughing: :astonished: :laughing: