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)
laura@utcsstat.UUCP (Laura Creighton) (10/27/83)
Mike, I didn't know that you were going to post this -- i got your message in mail, so I sent mail back to you. Why don't you post my mail to NET.PHILOSOPHY where this debate is going on, and we can continue it there and get out of the hair of the net.books readers who do not appreciate us. If your site does not get net.philosophy, let's move to net.flame or net.misc. laura creighton utzoo!utcsstat!laura