Ask a Philosopher

Whether you explicitly acknowledge it or not, you have in your mind a philosophy—a generalized view of the world and your place in it—and you live your life in accordance to it. Have you ever wondered whether your philosophy is true? Philosophy, like any other science, is a body of principles derived from reality. How did you come to acquire these principles? Did it occur to you to test and validate your principles against reality? How have you settled on your philosophy? Is the course of life you are leading based on true principles? Is yours a rational philosophy?

Everyone is entitled to his view of the world, whether it is correct or not. He is also free to retain his philosophy, even if it is false, false according to reality; but he is not free to escape the consequence of whatever philosophy he holds. If the philosophy is true, the consequence is life; if false, death.

To ascribe a philosophy as rational is to claim that (1) it is the owner's manual for living and that (2) it provides informed answers to the cultural issues of the day. Objectivism audaciously claims to be a rational philosophy for living on earth. Among the principles it claims as true are these:

The world exists independently of any knower.
Man can know the world through his faculty of reason.
Reason is man's basic means of survival.
A man lives for no others' but his own happiness.
Man's nature requires him to live in a free society, a society that bans the use of physical force in all human relationships.

If you have a philosophical question that needs a rational answer, ask away.

The philosopher-in-residence, if he or she is in the house, will take your question, evaluate it for appropriateness, and post it within twenty-four hours along with an answer, the underlying reasoning, and references to the Objectivist literature.