Web Link: AZ Quotes – Top 25 Ayn Rand quotes
So reading through this Ayn Rand quote page got me to realize how utterly irrational Conservative or Libertarian beliefs are if they are built on Rand‘s Objectivism philosophy. Actual scientific research (you know the rational approach to learning about objective reality through inductive and deductive reasoning that is the basis of Ayn Rand‘s Objectivism) on the subjects of feelings, love, relationships, meaningfulness, and atruism all demonstrate that her beliefs about “rational self-interest” are objectively wrongheaded.
Emotions matter, and in fact you are less rational, less intelligent, and less competent if you don’t know how to use them – see Paul Ekman, Daniel Goleman, Martin Seligman
Love matters, and in fact you are not actually loving if you are not giving it to others – see Barbara Fredrickson, George Vaillant
Self-worth matters, and in fact meeting the needs of others and having others meet your needs reinforces self-worth more than acting in your own self-interest – see Kristin Neff, Daniel Siegel, Attachment Psychology
Atruism matters, and in fact it is the basis of the experience of meaningfulness, which is the highest predictor of life satisfaction – see Martin Seligman and the rest of Positive Psychology research
So to recap, Ayn Rand‘s own philosophy of Objectivism dictates that her life’s work should be ignored because her ideas have failed the test of scientific rigor. And yet fanboys like Paul Ryan and other free-market Conservative politicians are still trying to build American economics around these catastrophic, dehumanizing, and objectively irrational ideas and use this irrational rationale to justify being terrible to the poor and disadvantaged.
No Simple Answers 