yromem quote - a bit two faced arnt we mick?
Hmm, if that’s a bit of female philosophy I’m not very impressed 
How about Mary Anne Warren or Suzanne K. Langer?
mick, if you were making a joke that;d be one thing.
but you’re serious arnt you?
Polemarchus quote - Eric Hofer, the “longshoreman philosopher”…
Wait let me guess !
He said “I coulda been a contender…” ?
Gwillgi,
What’s one-sided about presenting a view that opposes a one-sided view? Rand never considered the whole.
I like Susan K. Langer. But I’m odd. I think Mother Jones had as much to say about social philosophy as Foucault does!
Pretty good short summation. My take is that Rand is noteworthy because she created a fifth Aristotelian tradition, distinct from the four major ones that have dominated (a) Aristotle, (b) classical Aristotelians (c) Thomists, (d) modern secular (post-Scholastic) Aristotelians. She is interesting (as opposed to noteworthy) because her stance is a curious synthesis of Aristotle and Nietzsche. I think this latter fact is one of the things that gave Objectivism “legs,” since Nietzsche is hands-down the most widely influential philosopher of the last hundred-plus years (Wittgenstein and Russell-Whitehead running a strong second)
Rand displays little consideration to the fact that man supports man. A savage is self sufficent, an educated man isn’t. Selfishness is only avalible to the savage.
Thank you!
As far as women philosophers, come on. What women do you know who could only be “half-nutty”.
I must have gotten it wrong somewhere, I thought thats what school was for.
Lairs, they have been lieing to me the whole time. They told me since I didn’t have an education that I don’t know anything. Maybe I can take pride in the CDF again.
The work is never done.
x
You obviously haven’t actually read Rand with any attention. The gravamen of her doctrine of "enlightened self interest (she uses the term “selfishness” metaphorically; it’s really self-interest she’s talking about) is that the logical basis for any willful choice depends on the context in which that choice is made, and that context is almost always social. Reducing a complex argument to very simple terms, you should act to maximize your overall satisfaction in the terms of your life, which often means having a definite concern for the smooth functioning of the social order. The idea of “self-interest” that ignored the social basis of your life would be grotesque to Rand. This is the basis of her maxim: “There are no conflicts of interest among rational men.”
In a sense this really ought not to be terribly surprising – it fits in very neatly with Dewey’s investigations of “corporated” individualism in the late twenties and very early thirties – i.e., about the time Rand was being educated.
Rand derives her dramatic incidents the way writers always do – from the corners where there are dramatically exploitable antinomies, where difficult decisions are being made and acted upon. These are in a sense the “lifeboat problem” of the philosophical novel – the exceptions that prove the rules.
Aha! You really are English. In the U.S. Christina Rossetti is not a household name, but I can think of two other women poets who are – Emily Dickinson and, to a lesser extent Elizabeth Barrett Browning (and possibly also Sylvia Plath, though she is in general better known for her fiction – The Bell Jar in particular – than for her poetry)
Aww dammit, I thought it did.
well
it works if you’re still cute.
I’m surprised that nobody has yet mentioned Anscombe.
phawkins1988 wrote
Hi phawkins,
Do you mean the ultra-Papist, cigar smoking, abortion protesting student of Wittgenstein?
Actually, Sara did.
Michael
May she rest in peace!
Just a thought here but, didn’t quite a number of male philosophers get their ethics, morals, beliefs at their mothers knees? Considering it is the female gender that has historically been left to raise and nurture kids. Anyone bother asking these male philosophers who began their education and actual thoughts processing habits? Who could have influenced them in thinking outside the box so to speak. Thought processes don’t spring up suddenly they are nurtured in influencial ways. School has influence as do teachers but, the norm is parental influence for ethics, morals and beliefs. Traditionally Dad is too busy to do much in that department. So has anyone thought about this or done a study? Seems to me that female have a lot of influence in philosophy, more then men think. Women traditionally have not stepped up to the podium but, their voice rings throughout philosophy
TheCDF quote - What women do you know who could only be “half-nutty”.
Yiu should see some of the ladyfriends I’ve had…
From Kriswest - Just a thought here but, didn’t quite a number of male philosophers get their ethics, morals, beliefs at their mothers knees?
No doubt, just as we all did. A much-used philosophical insight of my mothers was - “Comb your hair before you go out, it’s sticking up on top like a cockatoo”
And you consider that admonishment, Philosophical? Ok, Lets break it down to a philisophical view. It Teaches or reinforces self respect and respect for your family and teaching you some common sense.
Appearences help determine how people aproach you. Your mother was telling you to make yourself aproachable so that perhaps you can learn from others rather then scaring them off by looking like a human cockatoo, which also means bird brain which equals having no sense because you can’t even manage to comb your hair. Which means folks are not likely to converse with a person that appears to have no sense and one that lacks self respect.
And if you have no sense or self respect it would appear that your family(mom and or dad) did not teach it to you which makes them look bad and that lacks respect for family.
That is a philosophical maternal lesson, brought to you by a Mom for moms everywhere. 
May I add Mary W. Shelley, whose novel “Frankenstein” may stand alongside Goethe’s “Faust” as a philosophic questioning of knowledge’s unforseen consequences. Forget the hollywood hype, the brute monster nobody can love, and read the original. Mary writes beautifully.
The Faust legend has its origins in the pseudepigraphic “Book of Enoch”, in which fallen angels give humans the knowledge of arts and crafts, but at a human cost! The “Fall”, according to Enoch, was knowledge.