21 December, 2009

Philosophy on one leg


A quote I heard years ago but had forgotten, repeated by the excellent Mary Ellen Synon in the Mail. The capitalist philosopher Ayn Rand is making a pitch to a publisher who can't quite follow it. He told her to explain her philosophy standing on one leg (on the grounds that if you can't explain it in the time you can stand on one leg you don't understand it yourself).


Balanced on one high heeled shoe she says 'My metaphysics, objective reality. My epistemology, reason. My ethics, self-interest. My politics, capitalism.'


She got the book deal.


Love it.

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