Ayn Rand - What Is Capitalism? (full course) — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:01ladies and gentlemen is Iron Man
- 0:04[Applause]
- 0:16[Music]
- 0:19ladies and gentlemen to begin at the
- 0:24beginning in once approach to political
- 0:27economy and to the evaluation of various
- 0:30social systems one must begin by
- 0:34identifying man's nature that is those
- 0:37essential characteristics which
- 0:40distinguish him from all other living
- 0:42species man's essential characteristic
- 0:46is his rational faculty man's mind is
- 0:49his basic means of survival his only
- 0:53means of gaining knowledge
- 0:55[Music]
- 1:01men cannot provide for his simplest
- 1:04physical needs without a process of
- 1:06thought he needs a process of thought to
- 1:12discover how to plant and grow his food
- 1:15or how to make weapons for hunting
- 1:18he needs a process of thought to
- 1:20discover how to light a fire how to
- 1:23weave cloth how to forge tools how to
- 1:28make a will how to make an airplane how
- 1:32to perform an appendectomy how to
- 1:36produce an electric light or an
- 1:38electronic tube or a cyclotron or a box
- 1:42of matches yet his life depends on such
- 1:45knowledge and only evolutional advocates
- 1:49consciousness a process of thought can
- 1:52provide
- 1:53a process of thought is an enormous ly
- 1:56complex process of identification and
- 1:59integration which only an individual
- 2:02mind can perform there is no such thing
- 2:07as a collective brain men can learn from
- 2:12one another but learning requires a
- 2:14process of thought on the part of every
- 2:17individual student man can cooperate in
- 2:20the discovery of new knowledge but such
- 2:23cooperation requires the independent
- 2:26exercise of his rational faculty by
- 2:29every individual scientist man is the
- 2:33only living species that can transmit
- 2:35and expand his store of knowledge from
- 2:38generation to generation
- 2:40but such transmission requires a process
- 2:44of thought on the part of the individual
- 2:47recipients as witness the breakdowns of
- 2:51civilization the dark ages in the
- 2:54history of mankind's progress when the
- 2:56accumulated knowledge of centuries
- 2:59vanished from the lives of men who were
- 3:02unable unwilling or forbidden to think
- 3:09[Music]
- 3:11in order to sustain his life every
- 3:15living species has to follow a certain
- 3:17course of action required by its nature
- 3:21the action required to sustain human
- 3:24life is primarily intellectual
- 3:28everything man needs has to be
- 3:30discovered by his mind and produced by
- 3:33his effort production is the application
- 3:38of reason to the problem of survival if
- 3:44some men do not choose the thing they
- 3:47can survive only by imitating and
- 3:50repeating a routine of work discovered
- 3:53by others but those others had to
- 3:56discover it or none would have survived
- 3:59if some men do not choose to think or to
- 4:03work they can survive temporarily only
- 4:07by looting the goods produced by others
- 4:10but those others had to produce them or
- 4:13none would have survived regardless of
- 4:17what choice is made in this issue by any
- 4:20man or by any number of men regardless
- 4:24of what blind irrational or evil course
- 4:27they may choose to pursue the fact
- 4:30remains that reason is man's means of
- 4:34survival and that men prosper or fail
- 4:37survive or perish in proportion to
- 4:40degree of their rationality
- 4:46since knowledge thinking and rational
- 4:50actions are properties of the individual
- 4:53since the choice to exercise his
- 4:56rational faculty or not depends on the
- 5:00individual man survival requires that
- 5:04those who think be free of the
- 5:06interference of those who don't
- 5:11since men are neither omniscient or
- 5:14infallible they must be free to agree or
- 5:17disagree to cooperate or to pursue their
- 5:21own independent course each according to
- 5:25his own rational judgment freedom is the
- 5:29fundamental requirement of man's mind
- 5:34a rational mind does not work under
- 5:38compulsion it does not subordinate its
- 5:41grasp of reality to anyone's orders
- 5:44directives or controls it does not
- 5:48sacrifice its knowledge its view of the
- 5:51truth to anyone's opinions threats
- 5:54wishes plans or welfare such a mind may
- 5:59be hampered by others it may be silenced
- 6:02proscribed imprisoned or destroyed it
- 6:06cannot be forced a gun is not an
- 6:10identity the social recognition of man's
- 6:21rational nature of the connection
- 6:24between his survival and his use of
- 6:26reason is the concept of individual
- 6:29rights rights are a moral principle
- 6:34defining and sanctioning a man's freedom
- 6:37of action in a social context
- 6:39[Music]
- 6:43they are derived from man's nature as a
- 6:46rational being and represents a
- 6:48necessary condition of his particular
- 6:51mode of survival the right to life is
- 6:54the source of all rights including the
- 6:57right to property for a fuller
- 7:00discussion of Rights I refer you to my
- 7:02articles on men's rights and the nature
- 7:05of government in my book capitalism the
- 7:09unknown ideal in regard to political
- 7:13economy property rights require special
- 7:17emphasis man has to work and produce in
- 7:21order to support his life he has to
- 7:24support his life by his own effort and
- 7:26by the guidance of his own mind if he
- 7:30cannot dispose of the product of his
- 7:32effort he cannot dispose of his effort
- 7:35if he cannot dispose of his effort he
- 7:38cannot dispose of his life without
- 7:41property rights no other rights can be
- 7:45practiced
- 7:48now bearing these facts in mind consider
- 7:53the question of what social system is
- 7:56appropriate to men a social system is a
- 8:01set of moral political economic
- 8:04principles embodied in society's laws
- 8:07institutions and government which
- 8:10determined the relationships the terms
- 8:12of association among the men living in a
- 8:16given geographical area
- 8:20there are only two fundamental questions
- 8:24or two aspects of the same question that
- 8:28determine the nature of any social
- 8:31system does a social system recognize
- 8:36individual rights and does a social
- 8:40system ban physical force from human
- 8:44relationships the answer to the second
- 8:47question is the practical implementation
- 8:50of the answer to the first
- 8:55is man a sovereign individual who owns
- 8:59his person his mind his life his work
- 9:02and its product or is he the property of
- 9:05the tribe the state the society the
- 9:09collective that may dispose of him in
- 9:11any way it places that may dictate his
- 9:14convictions prescribed the course of his
- 9:17life control his work and expropriate
- 9:20his product does men have the right to
- 9:25exist for his own sake or is he born in
- 9:29bondage as an indentured servant who
- 9:32must keep buying his life by serving the
- 9:36tribe but can never acquire it free and
- 9:39clear this is the first question to
- 9:43answer
- 9:43the rest is consequences and practical
- 9:47implementations the basic issue is only
- 9:51is man free in mankind's history
- 9:57capitalism is the only system that
- 10:00answers yes
- 10:06capitalism is a social system based on
- 10:09the recognition of individual rights
- 10:12including property rights in which all
- 10:16property is privately owned
- 10:21the recognition of individual rights and
- 10:24Tails the banishment of physical force
- 10:27from human relationships
- 10:28basically rights can be violated only by
- 10:32means of force in a capitalist society
- 10:36no man or group may initiate the use of
- 10:40physical force against others the only
- 10:44function of the government in such a
- 10:46society is the task of protecting men's
- 10:50rights that is the task of protecting
- 10:53him from physical force the government
- 10:57acts as the agent of man's right of
- 11:00self-defense and may use force only in
- 11:04retaliation and only against those who
- 11:08initiate its use thus the government is
- 11:12the means of placing the retaliatory use
- 11:15of course under objective control it is
- 11:21the basic metaphysical fact of man's
- 11:24nature the connection between his
- 11:27survival and his use of reason that
- 11:30capitalism recognizes and protects in a
- 11:35capitalist society all human
- 11:38relationships are voluntary men are free
- 11:42to cooperate or not to deal with one
- 11:45another or not as their own individual
- 11:48judgments convictions and interested
- 11:51date they can deal with one another only
- 11:55in terms of and by means of reason that
- 11:59is by means of discussion persuasion and
- 12:03contractual agreement by a voluntary
- 12:06choice to mutual benefit the right to
- 12:10agree with others is not a problem in
- 12:13any society it is the right to disagree
- 12:17that is crucial it is the institution of
- 12:21private property that protects and
- 12:25implements the right to disagree and
- 12:27thus keeps the road open to man's most
- 12:31valuable attribute the key
- 12:34mind this is the Cardinal difference
- 12:39between capitalism and any form of
- 12:42collectivism the moral justification of
- 12:49capitalism does not lie in the altruist
- 12:52claim that it represents the best way to
- 12:55achieve the common good it is true that
- 12:59capitalism does if that catchphrase has
- 13:03any meaning but this is merely a
- 13:06secondary consequence the moral
- 13:09justification of capitalism lies in the
- 13:12fact that it is the only system
- 13:15consonant with man's rational nature
- 13:18that it protects man's survival qua men
- 13:22and that its ruling principle is justice
- 13:29every social system is based explicitly
- 13:33or implicitly on some theory of ethics
- 13:37the tribal notion of the common good has
- 13:42served as the moral justification of
- 13:44most social systems and of all tyrannies
- 13:48in history the degree of a society's
- 13:52enslavement or freedom corresponded to
- 13:55the degree to which that tribal slogan
- 13:58was involved or ignored the common good
- 14:02or the public interest is an undefined
- 14:07an undefinable concept there is no such
- 14:12entity as the tribe or the public the
- 14:16tribe or the public or society is only a
- 14:21number of individual men nothing can be
- 14:25good for the tribe as such
- 14:28good and value pertain only to a living
- 14:33organism to an individual living
- 14:36organism not to a disembodied aggregates
- 14:40of relationships when the common good of
- 14:46a society is regarded as something apart
- 14:50from and superior to the individual good
- 14:53of its members it means that the good of
- 14:57some men takes precedence over the good
- 15:00of others with those others consigned to
- 15:04the status of sacrificial animals what
- 15:09makes the victims accept it and permit a
- 15:13society to perpetrate a moral atrocity
- 15:17of that kind the answer lies in
- 15:22philosophy in philosophical theories on
- 15:25the nature of moral values there are in
- 15:34essence three schools of thought on the
- 15:37nature of the good the intrinsic the
- 15:40subjective and the objective the
- 15:43intrinsic theory holds that the good is
- 15:47inherent in certain things or actions as
- 15:51such regardless of their context and
- 15:54consequences regardless of any benefit
- 15:58or injury they may cause to the actors
- 16:01and subjects involved it is a theory
- 16:06that divorces the concept of good from
- 16:09beneficiaries and the concept of value
- 16:12from value and purpose claiming that the
- 16:17good is good in by and of itself the
- 16:23subjective theory holds that the good
- 16:26bears no relation to the facts of
- 16:29reality that it is the product of a
- 16:32man's consciousness created by his
- 16:35feelings desires intuitions or whims and
- 16:39that it is merely and
- 16:41arbitrary posture or an emotional
- 16:44commitment the intrinsic theory holds
- 16:50that the good resides in some sort of
- 16:53reality independent of man's
- 16:56consciousness the subjective theory
- 16:59holds that the good resides in man's
- 17:01consciousness independent of reality the
- 17:07objective theory holds that the good is
- 17:10neither an attribute of things in
- 17:13themselves nor of men's emotional states
- 17:18but an evaluation of the facts of
- 17:22reality by man's consciousness according
- 17:27to a rational standard of valid
- 17:30rational in this context means derived
- 17:34from the facts of reality and validated
- 17:38by a process of reason the objective
- 17:43theory holds that the good is an aspect
- 17:47of reality in relation to men and that
- 17:51it must be discovered not invented by
- 17:55men fundamental to an objective theory
- 17:59of values is the question of value to
- 18:04whom and for what an objective Theory
- 18:08does not permit context dropping or
- 18:11concept stealing it does not permit the
- 18:14separation of value from purpose of the
- 18:19good from benefices and of man's actions
- 18:22from reason of all the social systems in
- 18:27mankind's history capitalism is the only
- 18:31system based on an objective theory of
- 18:36values the intrinsic theory and the
- 18:41subjectivist theory or a mixture of both
- 18:44are the necessary base of every
- 18:47dictatorship tyranny or variant of the
- 18:50absolute state whether they are held
- 18:53consciously
- 18:55subconsciously in the explicit form of a
- 18:59philosophers treatise or in the implicit
- 19:02cares of its occurs in an average man's
- 19:06feelings these theories make it possible
- 19:09for a man to believe that the good is
- 19:13independent of man's mind and can be
- 19:16achieved by physical force if a man
- 19:21believes that the good is intrinsic in
- 19:24certain actions he will not hesitate to
- 19:28force others to perform them if he
- 19:31believes that the human benefit or
- 19:33injury caused by such actions is of no
- 19:37significance
- 19:38he will regard a sea of blood as of no
- 19:41significance if he believes that the
- 19:44beneficiaries of such actions are
- 19:47irrelevant or interchangeable he will
- 19:51regard a wholesale slaughter as his
- 19:54moral duty in the service of a quote
- 19:58higher good unquote it is the intrinsic
- 20:03theory of values that produces a robbed
- 20:07spear a Lenin Stalin or a Hitler
- 20:11it is not an accident that Eichmann was
- 20:16a Kantian if a man believes that the
- 20:22good is a matter of arbitrary subjective
- 20:25choice the issue of good or evil becomes
- 20:29for him an issue of my feelings or
- 20:33there's no bridge understanding or
- 20:38communication is possible to him reason
- 20:42is the only means of communication among
- 20:45men and an objectively perceivable
- 20:49reality is their only common frame of
- 20:53reference when these are invalidated
- 20:57that is held to be irrelevant in the
- 21:00field of morality force becomes man's
- 21:04only way of dealing with one another
- 21:07if the subjectivist wants to pursue some
- 21:11social ideal of his own he feels morally
- 21:16entitled to force man what for their own
- 21:19good
- 21:20unquote since he feels that he is right
- 21:24and that there is nothing to oppose him
- 21:27but their misguided feelings
- 21:30thus in practice the proponents of the
- 21:35intrinsic and the subjective schools
- 21:38meet and blend it is doubtful whether
- 21:44anyone can hold either of the theories
- 21:47as an actual if mistaken conviction but
- 21:52both serve as a rationalization of power
- 21:56lust and a rule by brute force
- 22:00unleashing the potential dictator and
- 22:03disarming his victims the objective
- 22:10theory of values is the only moral
- 22:13theory incompatible with rule by force
- 22:18capitalism is the only system based
- 22:22implicitly on an objective theory of
- 22:25values and the historic tragedy is that
- 22:29this has never been made explicit if one
- 22:35knows that the good is objective that is
- 22:39determined by the nature of reality but
- 22:43to be discovered by man's mind one knows
- 22:47that an attempt to achieve the good by
- 22:50physical force is a monstrous
- 22:53contradiction in terms which negates
- 22:56morality at its root by destroying man's
- 23:00capacity to recognize the good that is
- 23:03his capacity to value force invalidates
- 23:08and paralyzes a man's judgment demanding
- 23:12that he act against it thus rendering
- 23:15him morally impotent
- 23:18a value which one is forced to accept at
- 23:22the price of surrendering one's mind is
- 23:25not a value to anyone
- 23:28the forcibly mindless can neither judge
- 23:31nor choose nor value an attempt to
- 23:35achieve the good by force is like an
- 23:38attempt to provide a man with a picture
- 23:41gallery at the price of cutting out his
- 23:44eyes values cannot exist cannot be
- 23:48valued outside the full context of a
- 23:52man's life needs goals and knowledge the
- 23:59objective view of values permeates the
- 24:03entire structure of a capitalist society
- 24:07the recognition of individual rights
- 24:11implies the recognition of the fact that
- 24:14the good is not an ineffable abstraction
- 24:18in some supernatural dimension but a
- 24:21value pertaining to reality to this
- 24:24earth to the lives of individual human
- 24:28beings note the right to the pursuit of
- 24:32happiness it implies that the good
- 24:35cannot be divorced from beneficiaries
- 24:38that men are not to be regarded as
- 24:41interchangeable and that no man or tribe
- 24:45may attempt to achieve the good of some
- 24:48at the price of the emulation of others
- 24:55the free market represents the social
- 24:58application of an objective theory of
- 25:02values since values are to be discovered
- 25:06by man's mind men must be free to
- 25:09discover them to think to study to
- 25:12translate their knowledge into physical
- 25:14form to offer their products for trade
- 25:18to judge them and to choose be it a
- 25:22material goods or an idea a loaf of
- 25:26bread or a philosophical treatise since
- 25:30values are established contextually
- 25:32every man must judge for himself in the
- 25:36context of his own knowledge goals and
- 25:39interests since values are determined by
- 25:43the nature of reality it is reality that
- 25:47serves as man's ultimate arbiter if a
- 25:51man's judgment is right the rewards are
- 25:54his if it is wrong he is his only victim
- 25:59it is in regard to a free market that
- 26:02the distinction between an intrinsic
- 26:06subjective and objective view of values
- 26:09is particularly important to understand
- 26:13the market value of a product is not an
- 26:17intrinsic value not a value in itself
- 26:21hanging in a vacuum every market never
- 26:25loses sight of the question of value to
- 26:29whom and within the broad field of
- 26:33objectivity the market value of a
- 26:36product does not reflect its
- 26:40philosophically objective value but only
- 26:43its socially objective value
- 26:47by philosophically objective I mean a
- 26:51value estimated from the standpoint of
- 26:55the best possible to men that is by the
- 26:58criterion of the most rational mind
- 27:01possessing the greatest knowledge in a
- 27:04given category in a given period and in
- 27:07a defined context nothing can be
- 27:10estimated in an undefined context for
- 27:14instance it can be rationally proved
- 27:17that the airplane is objectively of
- 27:21immeasurably greater value to men to men
- 27:24at his best than the bicycle and that
- 27:28the works of Victor Hugo are objectively
- 27:32of immeasurably greater values and true
- 27:35confession magazines but if a given
- 27:41man's intellectual potential can barely
- 27:45manage to enjoy true confessions there
- 27:48is no reason why his meager earnings the
- 27:52product of his effort should be spent on
- 27:55books he cannot read or on subsidizing
- 27:59the airplane industry if his own
- 28:02transportation needs do not extend
- 28:05beyond the range of a bicycle nor is
- 28:10there any reason why the rest of mankind
- 28:13should be held down to the level of his
- 28:16literary taste his engineering capacity
- 28:19and his income values are not determined
- 28:25by fired nor by majority rule just as
- 28:29the number of its adherents is not a
- 28:32proof of an ideas truth or falsehood of
- 28:36an art works merit or demerit of a
- 28:40products efficacy or in efficacy so the
- 28:44free market value of goods or services
- 28:47does not necessarily represent their
- 28:51philosophically objective value but only
- 28:54is their socially objective value
- 28:57that is the sum of the individual
- 29:01judgments of all the men involved in
- 29:04trade at a given time the sum of what
- 29:08they valued each in the context of his
- 29:12own life
- 29:14thus a manufacturer of lipstick
- 29:17may well make a greater fortune than a
- 29:20manufacturer of microscopes even though
- 29:23it can be rationally demonstrated that
- 29:26microscopes are scientifically more
- 29:29valuable than lipstick but valuable to
- 29:34whom a microscope is of no value to a
- 29:38little stenographer struggling to make
- 29:40living a lipstick to her may mean the
- 29:45difference between self confidence and
- 29:47self doubt between glamour and Rajai
- 29:51this does not mean however that the
- 29:54various ruling a free-market are
- 29:56subjective if the stenographer spends
- 29:59all her money on cosmetics and has none
- 30:03left to pay for the use of a microscope
- 30:05for a visit to the doctor when she needs
- 30:09it she learns a better method of
- 30:12budgeting her income the free market
- 30:16serves as her teacher she has no way to
- 30:19penalize others for her mistakes if she
- 30:24budgets rationally the microscope is
- 30:26always available to serve her own
- 30:29specific needs and no more as far as she
- 30:33is concerned she is not taxed to support
- 30:38an entire Hospital a research laboratory
- 30:41or a spaceships journey to the moon
- 30:44within her own productive power she does
- 30:47pay a part of the cost of scientific
- 30:51achievements when and as she needs a she
- 30:54has no social duty her own life is her
- 30:59only responsibility and the only thing
- 31:02that the capitalist system requires of
- 31:05her is the thing that nature requires
- 31:08rationality that is that she live an act
- 31:12to the best of her own judgment within
- 31:17every category of goods and services
- 31:20offered on a free market it is the
- 31:24purveyor of the best product at the
- 31:27cheapest price who wins the greatest
- 31:30financial rewards in that field not
- 31:34automatically nor immediately nor by
- 31:37fire but by virtue of the free market
- 31:41which teaches every participant to look
- 31:44for the objective best within the
- 31:47category of his own competence and
- 31:51penalizes those who act on irrational
- 31:54considerations now observe that the free
- 31:58market does not level man down to some
- 32:01common denominator that the intellectual
- 32:05criteria of the majority do not rule
- 32:08every market or a free society and that
- 32:12the exceptional man the innovators the
- 32:15intellectual Giants are not held down by
- 32:19the majority in fact it is the members
- 32:23of this exceptional minority who lift
- 32:27the whole of a free society to the level
- 32:30of their own achievements while rising
- 32:33further and ever further a free market
- 32:39is a continuous process that cannot be
- 32:43held still and upward crosses the
- 32:46demands the best the most rational of
- 32:49everyman and rewards him accordingly
- 32:53while the majority have barely
- 32:56assimilated the value of the automobile
- 32:59the creative minority introduces the
- 33:02airplane the majority learn by
- 33:06demonstration the minority is free to
- 33:09demonstrate
- 33:10the philosophically objective value of a
- 33:15new product serves as the teacher for
- 33:18those who are willing to exercise their
- 33:21rational faculty each to the extent of
- 33:24his ability those who are unwilling
- 33:27remain unrewarded as well as those who
- 33:32aspire to more than their ability
- 33:35produces the stagnant the irrational the
- 33:40subjectivist have no power to stop their
- 33:43betters the small minority of adults who
- 33:48are unable rather than unwilling to work
- 33:51have to rely on voluntary charity
- 33:55misfortune is not a claim to slave labor
- 34:00there is no such thing as the right to
- 34:03consume control and destroys those
- 34:06without whom one would not be able to
- 34:10survive
- 34:11as to depressions and mass unemployment
- 34:15they are not caused by the free market
- 34:18but by government interference into the
- 34:22economy the mental parasites the
- 34:27imitators who attempt to cater to what
- 34:30they think is the public's known tastes
- 34:33are constantly being beaten by the
- 34:36innovators whose products
- 34:39praise the public's knowledge and taste
- 34:41to ever higher levels it is in this
- 34:45sense that the free market is ruled not
- 34:48by the consumers but by the producers
- 34:51the most successful ones are those who
- 34:55discover new fields of production fields
- 34:58which had not been known to exist a
- 35:01given product may not be appreciated at
- 35:05once particularly if it is too radical
- 35:08and innovation but barring irrelevant
- 35:13accidents it wins in the long run it is
- 35:17in this sense that the free market is
- 35:20not ruled by the intellectual criteria
- 35:23of the majority which prevail only at
- 35:27and for any given moment the free market
- 35:32is ruled by those who are able to see
- 35:35and plan long range and the better the
- 35:39mind the longer during the economic
- 35:45value of a man's work is determined on a
- 35:49free market by a single principle by the
- 35:53voluntary consent of those who are
- 35:56willing to trade him their work or
- 35:58products in return this is the moral
- 36:02meaning of the law of supply and demand
- 36:06it represents the total rejection of two
- 36:10vicious doctrines the tribal premise and
- 36:14altruism
- 36:16it represents the recognition of the
- 36:18fact that man is not the property not
- 36:22the servant of the tribe that a man
- 36:25works in order to support his own life
- 36:28as by his nature he must that he has to
- 36:32be guided by his own rational
- 36:34self-interest and if he wants to trade
- 36:38with others he cannot expect sacrificial
- 36:42victims that is he cannot expect to
- 36:45receive values without trading
- 36:48commensurate values in return the sole
- 36:52criterion of what is commensurate in
- 36:55this context is the free voluntary
- 36:59uncoerced judgment of the traders
- 37:05the Magnificent progress achieved by
- 37:09capitalism in a brief span of time the
- 37:13spectacular improvement in the
- 37:15conditions of man's existence on earth
- 37:17is a matter of historical record it is
- 37:21not to be hidden evaded or explained
- 37:24away by all the propaganda of
- 37:27capitalism's enemies but what needs
- 37:30special emphasis is the fact that this
- 37:34progress was achieved by non sacrificial
- 37:38means progress cannot be achieved by
- 37:43force privations by squeezing a so
- 37:47called social surplus out of starving
- 37:50victims progress can come only out of
- 37:55individual surplus that is from the work
- 37:58the energy the creative overabundance of
- 38:02those men whose ability produces more
- 38:05than their personal consumption requires
- 38:08those who are intellectually and
- 38:11financially able to seek the new to
- 38:14improve on the known to move forward in
- 38:19a capitalist society where such men are
- 38:22free to function and to take their own
- 38:25risks progress is not a matter of
- 38:29sacrificing to some distant future it is
- 38:32part of the living present it is the
- 38:35normal and natural it is achieved as and
- 38:39while men live and enjoy their lives now
- 38:45consider the alternative the tribal
- 38:48society where all men throw their
- 38:52efforts values ambitions and goals into
- 38:55a tribal poo or common pot then wait
- 38:59hungrily at its rim while the leader of
- 39:02a clique of cooks stirs it with a
- 39:05bayonet in one hand and a blank check on
- 39:09all their lives in the other the most
- 39:12consistent example of such a system is
- 39:16the union of socialists
- 39:18republics half a century ago the Soviet
- 39:24rulers commanded their subjects to be
- 39:26patient bear privations and make
- 39:30sacrifices for the sake of
- 39:33industrializing the country promising
- 39:36that this was only temporary
- 39:38that industrialization would bring some
- 39:41abundance and Soviet progress would
- 39:44surpass the capitalistic West today
- 39:49Soviet Russia is still unable to feed
- 39:53her people while the rulers scrambled to
- 39:56copy borrow or steal the technological
- 40:00achievements of the West's
- 40:02industrialization is not a static goal
- 40:06it is a dynamic process with a rapid
- 40:10rate of obsolescence
- 40:12so the retched serves of a plan
- 40:16tribal economy who starved while waiting
- 40:19for electric generators and tractors are
- 40:23now starving while waiting for atomic
- 40:26power and interplanetary travel thus in
- 40:31a people's state the progress of science
- 40:36is a threat to the people and every
- 40:39advance is taken out of the people's
- 40:42shrinking Heights this was not the
- 40:47history of capitalism
- 40:51America's abundance was not created by
- 40:55public sacrifices to the common good but
- 40:59by the productive genius of freemen who
- 41:03pursued their own personal interests and
- 41:06the making of their own private fortunes
- 41:11they did not starve the people to pay
- 41:14for America's industrialization they
- 41:18gave the people better jobs higher wages
- 41:21and cheaper goods with every new
- 41:25machines they invented with every
- 41:28scientific discovery or technological
- 41:31advance and thus the whole country was
- 41:35moving forward and profiting not
- 41:38suffering every step of the way do not
- 41:50however make the error of reversing
- 41:53cause and effect the good of the country
- 41:57was made possible precisely by the fact
- 42:01that it was not forced on anyone as a
- 42:05moral goal or duty it was merely an
- 42:09effect the cause was a man's right to
- 42:13pursue his own good it is this right not
- 42:18its consequences that represents the
- 42:21moral justification of capitalism
- 42:24but this right is incompatible with the
- 42:29intrinsic or the subjective theory of
- 42:32values with the altruist morality and
- 42:35the tribal premise it is obvious which
- 42:40human attribute one rejects when one
- 42:44rejects objectivity and in view of
- 42:48capitalism's record it is obvious
- 42:51against which human attribute the
- 42:53authorized morality and the tribal
- 42:56premise stand united against man's mind
- 43:01against intelligence particularly
- 43:04against intelligence apply to the
- 43:07problems of human survival that is
- 43:11productive ability while altruism seeks
- 43:16to rob intelligence of its rewards by
- 43:20asserting that the moral duty of the
- 43:22competent is to serve the incompetent
- 43:25and sacrifice themselves to anyone's
- 43:28need the tribal premise goes a step
- 43:32further it denies the existence of
- 43:36intelligence and of its role in the
- 43:39production of wealth it is morally
- 43:43obscene to regard wealth as an anonymous
- 43:48tribal product and to talk about
- 43:52redistributing it the view that wealth
- 43:55is the result of some undifferentiated
- 43:58collective process that we all did
- 44:02something and it's impossible to tell
- 44:04who did what therefore some sort of
- 44:07equalitarian distribution is necessary
- 44:10might have been appropriate in the
- 44:14primordial jungle with a savage horde
- 44:17moving borders by crude physical labor
- 44:20though even there someone had to
- 44:23initiate and organize the moving
- 44:26to hold that view in an industrial
- 44:30society where individual achievements
- 44:34are a matter of public record is so
- 44:37crass innovation that even to give it
- 44:40the benefit of the doubt is an obscenity
- 44:44observe how seldom and how inadequately
- 44:49the issue of human intelligence is
- 44:52discussed in the writings of the tribal
- 44:55status altruist irritations observe how
- 45:00carefully today's advocates of a mixed
- 45:03economy avoid and evade any mention of
- 45:07intelligence or ability in their
- 45:10approach to political economic issues in
- 45:14their claims demands and pressure group
- 45:17warfare over the looting of the court
- 45:21total social product first quarter it is
- 45:25often asked why was capitalism destroyed
- 45:29in spite of its incomparably be netizen
- 45:32record the answer lies in the realm of
- 45:36philosophy capitalism could not survive
- 45:41in a culture dominated by mysticism and
- 45:45altruism no social system and no human
- 45:49institution or activity of any kind can
- 45:52survive without a moral base on the
- 45:56basis of the altruist morality
- 45:59capitalism had to be and was them from
- 46:03the start
- 46:05the guiltiest men today are not the
- 46:10collectivist
- 46:11the guiltiest men are those who lacking
- 46:16the courage to challenge mysticism and
- 46:19altruism attempt to bypass the issues of
- 46:23reason and morality and attempt to
- 46:27defend the only rational and moral
- 46:30system in mankind's history capitalism
- 46:34on any grounds other than rational and
- 46:38moral thank you
- 47:00you
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