Objectivism's Key Values

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In Stephen Hicks’s ‘Rand’s Ethical Theory: Reason and Ethics’, Rand focuses on several human virtues or values as the basis for her theory of ethical egoism. Furthermore, he states that in Rand’s view, the following virtues are central to the life of an ethical human being: rationality, productiveness, honesty, independence, integrity, justice, selfishness and pride. I find that the more I read about and from Rand, the more I tend to agree with her opinions and understand her. At first glance, her views might seem too extreme or too critical- or at least, that is how I conceived them. However, I am starting to comprehend her point of view and see things through her perspective more clearly (especially after watching her interview with Mike Wallace). I believe that the virtues Rand thinks are central to an ethical human being make sense and definitely contribute positively to the ethical conduct of a person. One of Rand’s opinions is that reason is the only right to action. She has strong beliefs in reason and also thinks that reason should be the only way to function for an ethical human being. In this case, I agree with her partially. Being rational is undoubtedly an essential human virtue. But can this be applied universally? I believe that there are situations when no one is able to act rationally and this might not always be a negative attribute. This issue makes me think of my father, who often tells me that in one of his most important business decisions, he relied on his ‘gut feeling’ instead of his rational self and still made one of his best decisions ever. Another human virtue in Rand’s list is productiveness, which I cannot argue with. Where would the world be without productive people? I am a strong believer in work and productivity- I think that human beings would perish without being productive and the only way for someone to

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