Leiter Finds Free Market Ideas "Amusing"
Back Ayn Rand's Philosophy not "A Propos" to Leiter's Naturalism
Brian Leiter of Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog could not be expected to be a fan of Ayn Rand, because of his contribution to the determinism of scientific naturalism. So it is not surprising that he "finds amusing" http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2008/10/the-end-of-libe.html an article in "Slate" http://www.slate.com/id/2202489/ that describes libertarianism as "ideology [that] makes no sense," and says, "Utopians of the right, libertarians are just as convinced that their ideas have yet to be tried, and that they would work beautifully if we could only just have a do-over of human history."
The problem lies not only with the "Slate" article, but with Leiter's agreement with it that "The worst thing you can say about libertarians is that they are intellectually immature, frozen in the worldview many of them absorbed from reading Ayn Rand novels in high school."*
It was Rand who wrote: "The moral justification of capitalism does not lie in the altruist claim that it represents the best way to achieve “the common good.” It is true that capitalism does—if that catch-phrase has any meaning—but this is merely a secondary consequence. The moral justification of capitalism lies in the fact that it is the only system consonant with man’s rational nature, that it protects man’s survival qua man, and that its ruling principle is: justice."
“What Is Capitalism?”; "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal"; http://www.aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/capitalism.html
And in defining "justice" as "the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake the character of men as you cannot fake the character of nature," Rand would be the first to point out that no justice was accomplished by the shameless, wasteful and reckless extravagance shown by so called "capitalists" who are backed by government funds and act like the immoral, dog-eat-dog money grubbers in "Atlas Shrugged," rather than like "Hank Reardon" or "Francisco D'Anconia," or even like philosophy professor "Hugh Akston" serving hamburgers in a diner.
Anyone who cannot see the difference between the "good businessmen" in AS, and the "bad businessmen" in Fannie, Freddie, and in the giant banks and investments firms has no business claiming Rand's "heroic view of capitalism makes it difficult for [her fans] to accept that markets can be irrational, misunderstand risk, and misallocate resources or that financial systems without vigorous government oversight and the capacity for pragmatic intervention constitute a recipe for disaster. [Her fans] are bankrupt, and this time, there will be no bailout."
Rand's fans, like myself, may have our head in the clouds hoping for the day when the world recognizes it defines the world irrationally; but at least we have our feet planted firmly on the ground, ready to run for "Galt's Gulch."
Will Leiter and the others like him see their own bankruptcy, then?
*A version of this article also appears in this week's issue of Newsweek.
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