"[O]ur mixed economy is the literal, faithfully carried-out product of Pragmatism - and of the generation[s] brought up under its influence. Pragmatism is the philosophy which holds that there is no objective reality or permanent truth, that there are no absolute principles, no valid abstractions, no firm concepts, that anything may be tried by rule-of-thumb, that objectivity consists of collective subjectivism, that whatever people wish to be true, is true, whatever people wish to exist, does exist - provided a consensus says so.
"If you want to avert the final disaster, it is this type of thinking - every one of those propositions and all of them - that you must face, grasp, and reject. Then you will have grasped the connection of philosophy to politics and to the daily events of your life. Then you will have learned that no society is better than its philosophical foundation."~ Ayn Rand, from her article/talk 'The New Fascism: Rule by Consensus' [collected in her book of essays Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal]
2 comments:
So true, great post;)
I often hear ‘pragmatism’ referred to positively by competent people I respect. What they usually mean though is far from what Rand describes. They mean a focus on the practical - what the results are in reality, rather than a flawed theory or religious-like devotion to something that doesn’t work in achieving desired results.
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