On Sat, 2 Jan 2010 17:37:34 -0500 Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
writes:
>
> On Jan 2, 2010, at 4:45 PM, Chris Doss wrote:
>
> > It basically holds that I get to do whatever I want, and everybody
>
> > else will do whatever they want, and things will work out best in
>
> > the long run for everyone.
>
> I'm not fully versed on my Randism, but I think they prefer the
> liberty argument to the efficiency one - selfishness is right and
> just, and Pareto optimality is just a fortunate byproduct, if that
> is
> the byproduct.
Ayn Rand was famously contemptuous of utilitarianism. She took both Friedrich Hayek and her own favorite economist, Ludwig von Mises, to task because they insisted upon defending capitalism in terms of a utilitarian ethic. Rand argued that on the contrary one cannot defend capitalism by appealing to such an ethic, which in her view was better suited as a moral basis for socialism than capitalism. Attempts to defend capitalism in terms of a utilitarian morality can only work through distorted reasoning and special pleading. For her utilitarianism is the moral philosophy of "looters" and so ought to be rejected by any self-respecting advocate for individual rights and capitalism.
Jim F.
>
> Doug
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