- Capitalism and Alternatives -

A suggested way of reading Rand

In Reply to: The uni-cellular philosophy of Ayn Rand posted by bill on August 02, 1998 at 00:10:18:

The question I would have, bill, is, "to what extent does Randist philosophy presuppose a working class that secretly buttresses the Randist's "individualism" while remaining invisible? The point of revealing a hidden working class behind Rand's discursive maneuvers would be to show Randism as presupposing the existence not of the individual, but of the bourgeoisie. What inspired my query was your paraphrase of Rand here:

: Politics is the application of morality to living among other men. This morality is based on a concept of individual rights which sanction individual autonomous action. "Ša man must be left free to live his own life, so long as he leaves others free to do the same. The most fundamental right is the right to life, and the right to property is its practical implementation. (Reference: "Man's Rights", The Virtue of Selfishness)

Well, in real-life societies, the "right to property" is something secured by a force of armies, cops, prison builders, prison guards etc. -- so who is going to take this dirty work of securing someone else's property rights, if the Randists are all too "selfish" to do it? The hidden working class perhaps?

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