Ideas Determine History

Ideas determine the course of history.

Good ideas will bring a country freedom and prosperity; bad ideas will destroy one. Virtuous ideas gave birth to America. We have abandoned those ideas, and our country is decaying.

Americans are more stressed, anxious, depressed, drug-addicted, and in debt than ever before. Politicians make empty promises to change and “do better,” but nothing changes. We must challenge society's dominant moral principals to produce substantive changes.

Influencing a broken culture takes time and perseverance. But humans possess free will, and we should make an effort to promote good ideas and to condemn evil ones.

Let's take a look at some principles.

All other actions taken by government are immoral because they prevent individuals from acting volitionally and blocks them from acting in pursuit of happiness.

Laissez-faire capitalism is the only system of government that both protects rights and is consistent with man’s nature. Capitalism allows people to pursue values and cooperate in peace while protecting private property.

All other systems of government impede human action and prevent people from acting in their self-interests. Any intervention by the government (e.g. regulation and drug laws) is immoral and destructive.

Socialism, communism, marxism, and mixed systems necessitate the initiation of force against its citizens and are morally indefensible.

Philosophic inspirations

Aristotle and Ayn Rand are the greatest contributors to philosophy.

Aristotle laid the groundwork for a rational and secular view of human nature without skepticism. Until his time, humans viewed the world as inherently evil and unknowable. Pre-Greek thinkers focused on the afterlife and on how to prepare one’s soul before death. Dying, not living, was the focus of pre-Aristotelian philosophies.

Aristotle discovered, and laid out for the first time, a system acknowledging that the humans can understand reality and that happiness is attainable in this life. We don't need to wait and die, as religion demands, to reach a better place. Joy is possible here and now.

Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism, builds upon this foundation. Her ideas on reality, human nature, knowledge, and ethics are correct (they correspond to reality). Rand has written on why humans need philosophy and outlines the principles by which man needs to survive.

Ok, let’s dig into specifics.

Reality

Metaphysics, the foundation of philosophy, is the study of the nature of reality. Rand beautifully summarizes metaphysics with her signature phrase: “Existence exists.” Grasping this fact is essential to developing a consistent and logical view of the world.

Philosophers and physicists argue that objective reality does not exist. Rejecting reality creates a weak philosophic foundation that leads to destructive ethical and political ideas. Everything else stems from acknowledging that there is a single, objective reality.

This leads to the concept of identity. Everything that exists has a specific nature and a specific set of characteristics. Yet again, Rand summarizes this idea with her pithy phrase: ”A is A.”

In Metaphysics, Aristotle outlines his Law of Non-Contradiction:

It is impossible that the same thing belong and not belong to the same thing at the same time and in the same respect.

Both Aristotle and Rand are correct. Identity is a necessary corollary to existence — an axiom. Axioms are self-evident, foundational statements of knowledge that all other statements are predicated on. It’s like the foundation of your home, or the bottom Jenga block that all the others rest on.

Contemporary philosophers disagree (this is all philosophy beginning with Immanuel Kant). Modern intellectuals claim that we cannot know the nature of reality and that there may be an infinite number of realities. This incorrect and destructive foundation paves the road to skepticism, determinism, and a subjective view of reality. With such a brittle foundation, one cannot create a consistent moral code because determining what is right and wrong depends on the nature of the world we exist in.

Now that we've established the nature of reality, let's move on to epistemology, the study of knowledge.

Knowledge

Epistemology is the study of knowledge and of man’s mind.

What do we know? How do we know things? Is it even possible to know anything? Can we be certain about anything? These are the questions epistemology addresses.

Although we are fallible, knowledge is attainable. Knowledge is an understanding or grasp about a specific fact of reality. For example, you can walk into the forest and see dozens of different trees. Each tree has a different color bark, height, and number of leaves. Perceiving these trees is the simplest form of knowledge; you look at the trees and now have a mental grasp on their existence.

One can go further by abstracting away the general form of a tree. You do this by ignoring the specific characteristics of each tree (i.e. ignore the leaf color, height, number of branches) and focus on what all the trees share in common. Only then can you create the concept of a tree. This is knowledge but at a higher, more complex level.

In general, children gain knowledge on the perceptual level. But as we age and as our brain develops, we are able to understand patterns and categorize items. We are able to create a mental file system of reality. Doing so allows us to build on prior knowledge and enables us to understand reality at a level other animals cannot.

Reason allows humans to create machines, develop constitutions, and build rockets. The luxuries we indulge in today are possible because our minds are capable of understanding reality.

Man must use reason, a faculty of his mind, to take in the sensory data he perceives and to make rational decisions that are in his long-term self interest.

Ethics

Ethics is the code of values which drives our decisions and actions. We all operate on a code of ethics, even if we are not consciously aware of it.

Ethics are necessary for man to live among one another; humans must live by a code of conduct because survival is not guaranteed. Food, water, and shelter are not given to us; man must think and act to create the tools and resources to live. Plants do not need a code of ethics because their nature does not require it. Plants grow and respond automatically to stimuli (like water and sunlight). Ethics are not only irrelevant, but impossible to them (plants cannot develop a system of morality).

The goal of existence is to be happy. Our ethical system must allow for all humans to achieve their own happiness. A proper ethical system declares:

• acting to gain or keep one’s values is moral
• making decisions based on reason is moral (i.e. based on knowledge of reality)
• being confident in one’s ability to understand reality is moral (i.e. self-respect and self-confidence is good and necessary to be happy)
• initiating force prevents people from living freely and is immoral
• acting against one’s own self-interests is immoral
• making decisions on whims or emotions is immoral because it leads to destructive consequences that impedes one’s happiness
• lying is immoral except when used in self-defense (e.g. lying to a murder who is asking where your friend is)

Ethics requires acting to achieve your personal happiness. Setting long-term goals (personal and professional) and being productive (working to achieve those goals) are ethical because they are necessary for a happy life. Humans have free will; some choose to act irrationally and violate the rights of others by resorting to violence or manipulation. To defend against the initiation of force we must develop principles that protect and defend individuals so that they may live and prosper.

This is where politics comes in.

Politics

Everything we have discussed leads us to politics, or as Rand says: “the principles of a proper social system.” Politics is ethics in practice, or ethics applied to society.

Because humans have free will, we must establish a body or entity that defends and protects individuals from those who wish to initiate force. Government is that entity; it is necessary for a civilized society to exist.

Without government (anarchy), everyone must defend for themselves. The most powerful and brutal tribe can act at will without any recourse. It is impossible for mankind to exist peacefully in a social context without government.

Rand explains in The Virtue of Selfishness:

If physical force is to be barred from social relationships, men need an institution charged with the task of protecting their rights under an objective code of rules. This is the task of a government—of a proper government—its basic task, its only moral justification and the reason why men do need a government. A government is the means of placing the retaliatory use of physical force under objective control—i.e., under objectively defined laws.

The sole responsibility of a government is to protect the rights of its citizens. There are three legitimate arms of a government:

• a military to defend against foreign invaders
• a police to defend against local violence or force
• a system of courts to arbitrate disputes and ensure contracts are fulfilled

Remember that no matter how hopeless the situation may appear, things can improve. It will take time - but the right ideas always win out in the end. We have reality on our side.