Re: Obligation & Compassion

From: Guru George (gurugeorge@sugarland.idiscover.co.uk)
Date: Mon Sep 15 1997 - 15:20:32 MDT


On Sun, 14 Sep 1997 19:37:00 -0700
FWO <fm1@amug.org> wrote:

>"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will
>never live for the sake of another man, nor ask
>another man to live for mine."
>
>John Galt in 'Atlas Shrugged' by Ayn Rand
>
>That someone says, "I have no obligation to
>help another," says absolutely nothing about
>whether that person has compassion or not.
>
>It says nothing about whether or not that
>person would help another in some particular
>circumstance.
>
>John Galt's statement could be loosely
>interpreted as a no-obligation statement.
>It says nothing about Galt's compassion.
>It says nothing about whether or not Galt
>would help another.
>
>Frederick Mann
>
I understand and agree with this: but what do you say to people who say
that's what they're criticising (that this ethic says nothing about
whether or not to have compassion)?

I would say that, actually, it isn't an ethic at all but, very precisely,
a politic.

Guru George



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