Recommendation: The Romantic Manifesto

I started a re-read of another book today, and I'd like to strongly recommend it to all of you: The Romantic Manifesto by Ayn Rand. The book is a collection of her essays demonstrating her definition of art and its crucial role in human life. In my opinion it is the best written and most insightful publication of her non-fiction work (and also my personal favorite). Her exposition of the Objectivist aesthetics is a subject rarely found in her novels themselves, and the insights of this book provide substantial clarity to her metaphysics and epistemology not found in some other sources.

In the book, she claims that both philosophy and art are fundamental necessities of human life. I could not possibly attempt to define and justify Rand's philosophy of art in a blog post. I had considered writing an honors thesis on the subject, so that should give you an indication of its complexity and scope. But, I can heartedly recommend her book, and share some of my favorite quotes (which will probably happen in several posts as I read it).

This comes from the introduction:

"It is impossible for the young people of today to grasp the reality of man's higher potential and what scale of achievement it had reached in a rational (or semi-rational) culture. But I have seen it. I know that it was real, that it existed, that it is possible. It is that knowledge that I want to hold up to the sight of men--over the brief span of less than a century--before the barbarian curtain descends altogether (if it does) and the last memory of man's greatness vanishes in another Dark Ages.

I made it my task to learn what made Romanticism, the greatest achievement in art history, possible and what destroyed it. I learned--as in other, similar cases involving philosophy--that Romanticism was defeated by its own spokesmen, that even in its own time it had never been properly recognized or identified. It is Romanticism's identity that I want to transmit to the future...

Will we see an esthetic Renaissance in our time? I do not know. What I do know is this: anyone who fights for the future, lives in it today." (Emphasis mine).

Excellent.

In the second chapter, Rand explains the concept of a "sense of life" and its relation to philosophy and art. I love this passage.

"Since religion is a primitive form of philosophy--an attempt to offer a comprehensive view of reality--many of its myths are distorted, dramatized allegories based on some element of truth, some actual, if profoundly elusive, aspect of man's existence. One of such allegories, which men find particularly terrifying, is the myth of a supernatural recorder from whom nothing can be hidden, who lists all of a man's deeds--the good and the evil, the noble and the vile--and who confronts a man with that record on judgment day.

That myth is true, not existentially, but psychologically. The merciless recorder is the integrating mechanism of a man's subconscious; the record is his sense of life."

That is a brilliant insight.

The Romantic Manifesto is about 180 pages and is a relatively quick read (quick in comparison to her novels, for those of you familiar with their complexity and length!). I recommend it!

The Virtue of Independence

As some of you may recall, several weeks ago I wrote a few posts about the virtue of honesty that arose from my reading of Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist by Tara Smith. Having finally completed my re-reading of Atlas Shrugged today, I was able to finish Chapter 5 of Smith's book on the virtue of independence. Given that the virtues of Objectivism are so often misstated and/or misunderstood, I thought I'd highlight a few good points that Smith made in this chapter. This is by no means a full exposition on the virtue, just a clarification on a few interesting misconceptions.

There's definitely some common confusion as to who exactly an independent person is. Some people will definitely think of the non-conformist who rejects what others like simply because it is popular. Others will think of the anti-social hermit who automatically shuns any contact with other people. And others may think of a person who takes up controversial issues, because they are controversial to most people. All of these people seem to be individualists because they stand apart from others.

According to Rand, however, all of these people should be considered fraudulent individualists. Rather, they are actually examples of what she called second-handers. A second-hander is a person whose primary orientation to reality is through other people. Whether it be his beliefs or his actions, everything about a second-hander is determined by the opinion of others.

There are two primary variants of second-hander: one who blindly accepts the thoughts and will of others, because it is not his own; or, one who blindly rejects the thoughts and will of others. The former variant is typified by the image of the conformist whose opinions, beliefs, and actions are tailored based on what is popular, or what all his friends do, or even what his close friend or romantic partner does. That is, a thing is true if some arbitrarily defined group says it is. The latter variant, on the other hand, is the commonly accepted image of the non-conformist, or "individualist." That is, a thing is false because some arbitrarily defined group says it is true. This so-called individualist however is only the opposite side of the same coin. It is not on the basis of any facts of reality that the non-conformist forms his opinion but rather as a reaction against the opinions of others.

The independent person, in contrast, is independent not by how he stands in relation to others, but rather by the nature of his orientation with reality. When judging if the sun is rising on a particular morning the independent person does not find out what others think and follow it blindly, but rather, uses his own judgment of the facts to form a conclusion. Subsequently, when forming opinions on less obvious matters such as musical interests, who to hang out with, what to study in college, and perhaps most important of all--philosophical beliefs, the individualist will judge reality to aid in a decision.

This brings up another interesting point of clarification about individualism. Contrary to popular belief, the individualist need not automatically scorn or ignore the opinion of others because it is not his own. In fact, in several cases, taking the opinion of others into account is crucially important in making the right decision. For example, it is often necessary to defer to the testimony of experts in every-day life. Examples include auto mechanics, meteorologists, professors, scientists, and so on. Additionally, there are plenty of cases in which an individual can benefit from the advice of friends and loved ones. What is crucially important to independence is ensuring that the final decision is entirely one's own. That is, the testimony of experts or loved ones must exist as evidence to be taken into account, not the final arbiter for decision-making.

In a similar vein, individualism does not require the abandonment of friendships, romantic relationships, or any other contractual relationship. That is, being an individualist does not entail moving to a deserted island to become a hermit. Indeed, an individual can receive enormous benefits through mutual trade to mutual advantage in all areas of life. It does mean, however, that having other people in your life is not an inherent value. Rather, the individualist must judge the conditions that make human interaction valuable. My life is not enhanced simply by having "friends," regardless of their character and the nature of their relationship to me. And, I do not inherently benefit from having "business partners."For example, in regards to friendship, I receive enjoyment from their character, or we share mutual interests that I enjoy pursuing, and so on. In business, I benefit from voluntary agreements to trade money, goods, and/or services to mutual benefit. In sum, as long as the individual uses his own judgment of reality when interacting with others, there is no betrayal of individualism.

The final paragraph of Smith's chapter on independence is a helpful way to close this post:

"Nothing in Rand's conception of virtuous independence, then, entails shunning other people. Given the tremendous value that human beings can offer one another, that would clearly be a foolish course for anyone committed to his own well-being. What independence does require, however, is that a person's thoughts and actions always be truly his own. Because human life depends on rational action and because rationality is inherently a do-it-yourself enterprise, independence is vital to human survival."