घरक्या धर्म वस्तुवाद के साथ संगत है?शिक्षाएटलस विश्वविद्यालय
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क्या धर्म वस्तुवाद के साथ संगत है?

क्या धर्म वस्तुवाद के साथ संगत है?

4 mins
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June 14, 2010

Question: Is Objectivism compatible with religion?

Answer: Most major religions have believed in the existence of a supernatural realm, a realm beyond the natural world of physical objects and bodies governed by causal laws, the world we perceive with our senses and can study by rational methods. Some religions posit a personal god (or gods); others believe in impersonal supernatural forces. (See George Walsh, The Role of Religion in History, chapter 1.) Objectivism rejects any notion of the supernatural as incompatible with the objectivity and regularity of nature as identified by reason. There is no credible evidence of miracles, magic, or other supernatural phenomena in nature.

The dominant forms of religion in our culture posit a personal god, a Supreme Being, who created the world, is omnipotent and omniscient, imposes moral duties on man, and expects worship. Those who accept this idea have the burden of showing why such a hypothesis is necessary. In this regard, Objectivists are atheists because the arguments for the existence of such a being are not sound. Objectivists reject the existence of God for the same reason they reject the existence of elves, leprechauns, and unicorns: because there is no credible evidence of such beings.

  • It is said that we need to posit God as a creator in order to explain the existence of the natural world. But there is no reason to think that the existence of this world requires an explanation by anything outside itself. While individual things in the natural world come and go, as a result of specific causes within that world, it does not follow that the world itself must have a cause.
  • It is said that we need to posit God as a designer in order to explain the complex order within the natural world, including the adaptation of living things to their environments. But the existence of order as such does not require an explanation. Any existing thing must have some identity and obey causal laws. It is only with the natural realm that we can explain how a particular type of order arises from natural causes. That includes the particular order we find among living things, for which the best current explanation is the operation of evolutionary processes.

Of course these brief summaries cannot do justice to the arguments, which have been discussed by philosophers for centuries. For further discussion and references, see George Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God.

There is a profound difference, then, between Objectivism and traditional religions in their respective views of the world. But this is not the primary conflict. The primary conflict is reason versus faith as methods of adopting one's worldview in the first place.

Objectivism regards reason as an absolute. It holds that all knowledge is based on the evidence of the senses. It holds that all beliefs, conclusions, and convictions must be established by logical methods of inquiry and tested by logical methods of verification. In short, it holds that the scientific approach applies to all areas of knowledge. Blind faith, by contrast, consists in belief not based on evidence, or based on such spurious forms of "evidence" as revelation and authority. Faith is essentially an arbitrary exercise of the mind, a willful credulity based on subjective emotions rather than objective evidence, a desire for certainty without the scrupulous cognitive effort required to achieve rational certainty. Faith cannot substitute for reason as a means of knowledge, nor can it supplement reason. Reason is incompatible with arbitrary procedures of any kind.

If we accept reason as a method, then the substantive issues that differentiate Objectivism from most religions can be debated openly and rationally, and Objectivists can respect those who differ about what the evidence proves. But there can be no compromise about reason itself as a method.

For some people, religion is not primarily a belief about the world but rather a belief in spiritual values: a belief that a meaningful human life requires more than material possessions and achievements. Objectivism holds that "spiritual values" can be defined in secular terms, and on that basis agrees that they are of vital importance to fulfillment and happiness. Spiritual values are those pertaining to the needs of human consciousness, arising from the human capacity for reason, creativity, free will, and self-awareness. These needs include self-esteem, love, art, and philosophy (a comprehensive view of existence), among others. Achieving these values in one's life is no less important than providing for one's material needs and achieving worldly success.

Objectivism is an idealistic philosophy that affirms and celebrates the grandeur of the human capacity for achievement and heroism. In this respect, as Ayn Rand noted, it provides a secular meaning for such religious concepts as exaltation, worship, reverence, and the sacred. "Such concepts do name actual emotions, even though no supernatural dimension exists; and these emotions are experienced as uplifting or ennobling.… What, then, is their source or referent in reality? It is the entire emotional realm of man's dedication to a moral ideal."

डॉ. डेविड केली
About the author:
डॉ. डेविड केली

David Kelley fundó The Atlas Society (TAS) en 1990 y se desempeñó como director ejecutivo hasta 2016. Además, como director intelectual, era responsable de supervisar el contenido producido por la organización: artículos, vídeos, charlas en conferencias, etc. Se retiró del TAS en 2018, permanece activo en los proyectos del TAS y continúa formando parte del Consejo Directivo.

Kelley es filósofa, profesora y escritora profesional. Tras obtener un doctorado en filosofía en la Universidad de Princeton en 1975, se incorporó al departamento de filosofía del Vassar College, donde impartió una amplia variedad de cursos en todos los niveles. También ha enseñado filosofía en la Universidad de Brandeis y ha dado conferencias con frecuencia en otros campus.

Los escritos filosóficos de Kelley incluyen obras originales sobre ética, epistemología y política, muchas de las cuales desarrollan ideas objetivistas con nueva profundidad y nuevas direcciones. Es el autor de La evidencia de los sentidos, un tratado de epistemología; Verdad y tolerancia en el objetivismo, sobre temas del movimiento objetivista; Individualismo desenfrenado: la base egoísta de la benevolencia; y El arte de razonar, un libro de texto ampliamente utilizado para la introducción a la lógica, ahora en su quinta edición.

Kelley ha dado conferencias y ha publicado sobre una amplia gama de temas políticos y culturales. Sus artículos sobre temas sociales y políticas públicas han aparecido en Harpers, The Sciences, Reason, Harvard Business Review, The Freeman, On Principle, y en otros lugares. Durante la década de 1980, escribió con frecuencia para Revista financiera y empresarial Barrons en temas como el igualitarismo, la inmigración, las leyes de salario mínimo y la Seguridad Social.

Su libro Una vida propia: derechos individuales y estado de bienestar es una crítica de las premisas morales del estado de bienestar y la defensa de las alternativas privadas que preservan la autonomía, la responsabilidad y la dignidad individuales. Su aparición en el especial de ABC y TV de John Stossel «Greed» en 1998 provocó un debate nacional sobre la ética del capitalismo.

Un experto en objetivismo reconocido internacionalmente, ha dado numerosas conferencias sobre Ayn Rand, sus ideas y sus obras. Fue consultor en la adaptación cinematográfica de La rebelión de Atlas, y editor de La rebelión de Atlas: la novela, las películas, la filosofía.

 

Obra principal (seleccionada):

»Conceptos y naturalezas: un comentario sobre El giro realista (de Douglas B. Rasmussen y Douglas J. Den Uyl)», Reason Papers 42, núm. 1, (verano de 2021); esta reseña de un libro reciente incluye una inmersión profunda en la ontología y la epistemología de los conceptos.

Los fundamentos del conocimiento. Seis conferencias sobre la epistemología objetivista.

»La primacía de la existencia» y»La epistemología de la percepción», The Jefferson School, San Diego, julio de 1985

»Universales e inducción», dos conferencias en las conferencias de GKRH, Dallas y Ann Arbor, marzo de 1989

»Escepticismo», Universidad de York, Toronto, 1987

»La naturaleza del libre albedrío», dos conferencias en el Instituto de Portland, octubre de 1986

»El Partido de la Modernidad», Informe sobre políticas de Cato, mayo/junio de 2003; y Navegante, noviembre de 2003; un artículo ampliamente citado sobre las divisiones culturales entre los puntos de vista premodernos, modernos (Ilustración) y posmodernos.

«No tengo que hacerlo«(Diario IOS, volumen 6, número 1, abril de 1996) y»Puedo y lo haré» (El nuevo individualista, otoño/invierno 2011); artículos complementarios sobre cómo hacer realidad el control que tenemos sobre nuestras vidas como individuos.

Objetivismo
Metafísica
Religión y ateísmo