From: Peter Voss (p.voss@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Sun Sep 22 1996 - 11:13:00 MDT
At 07:05 AM 22/9/96 -0700, Jim Stevenson wrote:
>Why do so many objectivists especially Lenard Peikoff and Ayn Rand,
>hate libertariens more than comunists, nazis etc?
The 'official' argument is in Ayn Rand's collection of essays 'The Voice of
Reason': Peter Schwartz's 'Libertarianism: The Perversion of Liberty'
Essentially, the argument is that Libertarians are harmful to the ideas of
capitalism and individual freedom in that they advocate them while rejecting
or ignoring the underlying philosophical foundations: objective reality,
knowledge and ethics. They can therefore not logically and morally defend
personal and economic freedom, nor do they have the tools to rationally
define or resolve political issues.
I completely agree with this criticism. However, for me it does not follow
that libertarians are 'more evil than communists' - I just think that they
are mistaken in rejecting rational ethics. Objectivists' hatred seems to be
an irrational, non-objective over-reaction born out of contempt for
libertarians who 'should know better', who are 'traitors to Objectivism' and
who, in any case should have recognized Aye Rand as their leader.
Peter
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