Friday, May 29, 2009

Ayn Rand on Voluntary Relationships

"In a capitalist society, all human relationships are voluntary. Men ar efree to cooperate or not, to deal with one another or not, as their own individual judgments, convictions, and interests dictate. They can deal with one another only in terms of and by means of reason, i.e., by means of discussion, persuasion, and contractual agreement, by voluntary choice to mutual benefit. The right to agree with others is not a problem in any society; it is the right to disagree that is crucial. It is the institution of private property that protects and implements the right to disagree - and thus keeps the road open to man's most valuable attribute (valuable personally, socially, and objectively): the creative mind."
Ayn Rand, What is Capitalism?, 1965.

5 comments:

Douglas Porter said...

No, sorry, family relationships are not chosen, nor are office relationships. In fact, based on my experience of whom becomes my friend, I would say that we do not even choose our friends. Cause-and-effect rules all of these relationships.

Josh said...

I disagree.

Chris said...

Oh, did you choose your parents?

Douglas Porter said...

You may choose between two companies, but you do not choose who you work with and i doubt you choose the company either. There is a long line of causes that I can point to that caused you to "choose" Blackberry.

You may like another person, but that doesn't mean you have chosen them. It means you like them. Like is based on literally thousands of internal causes inside your body and brain.

Josh said...

If I choose I don't like someone I work with enough to leave my job, I have that choice. Each individual choice does not exist within a vacuum, but they are still choices.

I may not have chosen to be born to mom and dad, how could I? I wasn't alive when they conceived me. But I choose to keep them in my life now, I choose the existence of this relationship, and I choose the manner of this relationship.