Replies

“I believe that many of the sentiments she expressed only work with Judeo-Christian values.”

It has been awhile since I read Atlas Shrugged, and it is the only book of hers I have read. But, it did leave a big impression on me. As a Christian, I had to filter some of the stuff in the book through that. (Just like I do with songs, movies, etc.)

I do know that in my business, I treat my clients fairly, do a good job, and even cut my prices back when needed to help them out. I suppose it is rooted in a Christian upbringing, but it has big payoffs as well. As a kid, I never understood why my old man would cut prices (home builder) on certain things, or even taking a loss on some add-on items. Or pay his two carpenters even when they weren’t building and times were slow (the Jimmy Carter years). Although he always did seem to find odd jobs for them somewhere. As a kid I thought “heck of a way to run a business”.

He died a very happy, well respected, and a fairly wealthy man.

There is nothing in the way your father conducted business that would be anti-Objectivist. Rand did not claim that blind selfishness was a virtue, nor did she claim that monetary reward was the only kind of reward a person can obtain. However, Immanuel Kant -- the moral philosopher Rand most despsied, and justifiably so -- would have said that your father's employment of "unnecessary" carpenters was NOT morally good, precisely because he died a happy man. Since he "got something out of" what you and I certainly agree was highly moral behavior, in Kant's opinion, it was not a moral good.

Kant's drowning man argument is instructive. Two men are drowning. One is your brother, the other a stranger. You can only save one. In Kant's view, it is immoral to save your brother, because it is not truly selfless. Here is another example: a murderer and a millionarie are drowning under the same circumstances. It is less moral (in Kant's inane worldview) to save the millionaire, because there is the possibility of a reward.

It is this making a fetish of altruism that is so destructive to our civilization.

"I do know that in my business, I treat my clients fairly, do a good job, and even cut my prices back when needed to help them out"

In the 1970's I owned a small retail business and found great success in NOT selling things which would bring me a greater profit then the things I did sell to a customer. It is easy to take advantage of a customer who comes in to a store and seeks advice from someone he perceives to be knowledgeable (it's te same idea that causes people to believe an elected official "knows what's he's talking about"). I could have loaded them up with all sorts of stuff to solve their problem and ring up a nice sale but instead chose to only sell them what they needed and to also take the time to guide them in using the product. By taking this approach I was able to generate additional sales by word of mouth advertising as well as build strong loyalty within my customer base. This allowed me to cut back on my advertising budget with the savings going in my pocket.