[net.philosophy] re -- Not more Rand

msimpson@bbncca.ARPA (Mike Simpson) (10/25/83)

Quote from Laura Creighton (uctsstat!laura):

	>> Whatever I use to appreciate music and art and the taste of
	>>	strawberries probably isn't reason. And I refuse to live
	>>	according to a moral standard that does not include an
	>>	appreciation for strawberries and whipped cream.

        Rand's philosophy cerainly does include an appreciation
for art, music and good food.  Note that one of Rand's "men of
the mind" who go on strike in ATLAS SHRUGGED was composer Richard
Halley.  His conversations with Dagny Taggart certainly convey a
deep appreciation of music and what it means to man, yet also
show the reason for which most artists (in my opinion) want to be
appreciated -- not necessarily because it makes one feel good,
but because you, the viewer/appreciator, has assessed the
artist's work and found it worthy of merit.  Blind adulation does
nothing except falsely inflate the egos of the adulator and the
adulatee. 

        I was a musician long before I had ever heard of Ayn
Rand, and I have only ANTHEM and ATLAS SHRUGGED to draw upon, but
I see no contradiction between being Objectivist and loving
music, art and food (my waistline testifies to that!)

		        -- cheers,
			   Mike Simpson
			   Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc.
			   Ten Moulton Street,
				   Cambridge, MA 02238 (USnail)
			   msimpson@bbn-unix (ARPA)
			   decvax!bbncca!msimpson (Usenet)
			   msimpson.bbn-unix@udel-relay (CSNET)
			   617-497-2819 (Ma Bell)