RandQuestionnaire

Do you believe it is good to look out for yourself? To what extent? What is the dividing line between looking out for self and others??

What are the difficulties ethical egoism brings? (list as many as you can think of)

Can/Do open marriages promote a healthy marriage?
Think of justifications for open marriages. Are these teloelogical or deontological?

What do you think of Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden's lifestyle? Can you understand it? Does it make sense?

Do you feel, having watched the video or read the book, that you have a better grasp of ethical egoism? Specify. Would you recommend it for future classes?

What do you think of Frank's reason for not leaving Ayn, "I don't have money, or a profession. I am 54. Where would I who? What would I do?" Would he have been more of a man to leave Ayn?

What do you think of Rand's assault of Caroline, accusing Caroline of wearing "the mask of altruism." She is saying Caroline wants to be admired for her goodness. Is this true or not?

What is your reaction to Rand's brushing off Barbara (Nathaniel's wife) when Barbara calls and asks for help during a panic attack: "How dare you? Do you think only of yourself? Am I completely invisible to you? This is your problem. You call when you know this is our time [ meaning Rand's time to have an affair with Barbara's husband]? Your needs, that's all you think about. Do you have no sense of self? Never dream of coming here."

How does one fall under the spell of another? What leads one to follow others' rules, even & especially if they don't seem quite right? Is it "All evil is ignorance" as Plato says?
When Rand was asked if she had started a cult, she said NO, that there is no cult of an individual. But did she start a cult? Why were so many , including Nathaniel and Barbara under her spell?

One critique Rand has of traditional morality is that it benefits everyone but the one practicing it. Do you agree?

What do you think of Rand's definition of love: It is a command to rise to one's highest potential to be the best and noblest vision of ourselves. It is the greatest reward we can earn, granted to us for the moral qualities we have achieved in our life.

What do you think of Rand's line to her husband, lover & lover's wife in justification of the proposed rational affair: "If the four of us were lesser people we could not accept it. We are not lesser people. Our rules are different. You hold no value higher than reason. Reason brought us together"?

What is your opinion of Rand's philosophy, as explained in the following quotation? What is good about it? What is lacking? Are there half truths?
“My philosophy in essence , is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.” Ayn Rand appendix to Atlas Shrugged

Branden's version of the panic attack: (My Years with Ayn Rand)
"Sometimes when I arrived at Ayn's apartment, I was clearly agitated over Barbara's condition. The truth was, I felt I should be home by Barbara's side. If I did not become cheerful and loving within a few minutes, Ayn would reproach me for my sentimentality, my lack of concern for her feelings, and my failure to appreciate that, whatever was wrong, Barbara had almost certainly brought it on herself.
'Why should I be victimized,' Ayn demanded, 'for Barbara's problems?'..
.I listened in horror as Ayn began to reproach her in a loud voice, saying things like 'How dare you invade my time with Nathan?' and 'Are you indifferent to my context?'...You'll always be unhappy until you learn to stand on your own feet!' Ayn came back into the living room, raving against Barbara and then against me when she saw the stricken expression on my face, and for the next hour I listened to harangues about my 'irrationalism.' She cried, 'Is this what your love for me means? Why do you allow Barbara to manipulate you?....The only thing worse than feeling trapped in a nightmare is forbidding oneself to know that one feels trapped in a nightmare....I would not permit myself to think that Ayn's behavior was sick or evil.....I made love to her somehow...." page 145

Barbara's version of the panic attack: The Passion of Ayn Rand
"It was about eleven o'clock, I had been walking all evening; the anxiety was building to a pitch greater than any I had ever experienced. I began to grow frantic. I believed that my mind might collapse from the bombardment of so great a terror. I had never called Ayn's apartment when she and Nathaniel were together; but that night; I stopped at a pay phone and dialed Ayn's number. When she answered, I told her what was happening, and that I wanted to come over to talk. Her explosion made the telephone drop from my hand - and a moment later I felt her voice pursuing me as I hurried away from it as from the cold clasp of hatred. 'How dare you! Do you think only of yourself? Am I completely invisible to you? I don't ask anyone for help! There's your whole problem in the fact that you called - if you want something, that's all you know or care about! Don't dare to dream of coming here!' And on and on and on, until I was beyond the range of that terrible loathing. I did not, could not hear Ayn's unspoken cry that she had waited and worked all of her life for an evening such as this, an evening of love and passion and exaltation with the man she adored - and I was demanding that she give it up." page 277

inks

http://www.Nathanielbranden.net

http://www.barbarabranden.com

http://ios.org/ objectivist center

Ayn's justification
"Lesser people could not accept it. Our rules are different."

Why he stayed married, "i have no profession, no money. It's al hers. Where would I go. What would I do . I don't have a choice

The man must have the woman who reflects his deepest vision of himself in her surrender is his happiness