Jon Henke, over at Q & O comments on the "conceit of natural rights and morality". I think that Jon's taken the easy way out here by simply throwing out some anti-Rand comments (always allowed on the Internet) without apparently reading on the topic of Natural Rights. He certainly doesn't refer to any of the principles of Natural Rights laid out in the book by Leo Strauss.

The link to an ancient article while admirable, is immediately negated by:

This is the essay on morality that I've been wanting to write for some time now. Since it's been done for me, I'll be happy to pass it along with my recommendation.

Update (30 Jan): By breaking one of my ancient personal rules, that is, "never make any decision or hold any substantial conversation (especially on Randian philosophy or the works of Leo Strauss) after 11:00pm", I've written a bit of gibberish (left above, but stricken). The time of the first post was 00:44.

I was mostly taking offense at the characterization of "Randroids" and unsuccessfully mocking Jon a bit, since he noted, "This is the essay on morality that I've been wanting to write for some time now," yet he spends substantial effort arguing his case in the comments of his post. I think he could have written a good piece on the topic, but didn't, hence my comment "I think that Jon's taken the easy way out here" on linking to that article after throwing the "Randroid" elbow.

Sorry, Jon, for the nonsense. You're free to slant your piece in any way you like, but I do wish you'd read the Strauss book.

And for anyone who can't guess, I firmly believe in natural rights and blame some portion of societal ills and political discord on the moral relativism practiced by much of the Left in the guise of "inclusion" or "political correctness". Does that make me "the final moral arbiter of other people's actions", as Shermer indicates? I think not, but it does mean that my belief system will be on the same foundation tomorrow as yesterday, and not simply blow along like shifting sand.

Aaron Haspell of godofthemachine has a rough opinion of the Collective via the Objectivist Bestiary.

There is no longer one type of Objectivist, if there ever was. In fact there are four.

Protractor, Sense-of-Life Guy, Bully-Boy, and Twitchy. Our superheroes!

"Every achievement of man is a value in itself. but it is also a stepping-stone to greater achievements and values. Life is growth; not to move forward, is to fall backward; life remains life, only so long as it advances. Every step upwards opens to man a wider range of action and achievement - and creates the need for that action and achievement. There is no final, permanent "plateau."

Ayn Rand, in The Virtue of Selfishness

A Short Biography of Ayn Rand

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