/lit/ - Literature

>>16254902
I remember thinking this in 8th grade, kys op

>>16254902
It doesn't really get more explicitly egoist than Objectivism as far as practical ideologies go. Property rights may be a spook but they're one that egoists have to work with to profit from it themselves, though of course the communist approach is viable too. Depends on the circumstances, would be silly to suggest all humans aren't working on egoistic principles in the grand scheme of things.

>>16254902
the political expression of egoism would be any system that has you at the top and keeps you there, by all means necessary

>>16254902
Ayn Rand is really is great isn't she? Such a man's woman. Reddit's presence on /lit/ memes her relentlessly but no one can deny The Fountain Head is prime literature. One CAN deny Atlas is but in a certain way it's even greater.
>The second-hander acts, but the source of his actions is scattered in every other living person.
Never has a more damning line of both democracy and socialism ever been penned.
This line floored me. I must have been pacing around my apartment for a goddamn hour ruminating on the glow it left me.

>>16254902
>most people spend their lives selling themselves and making others richer
>expression of egoism

>>16255145
Are they not also becoming richer than if they had abstained? In a developed egoist society there would be no impositions upon the ego save for one; the requirements objective reality imposses. A real egoist is not hurt in any capacity by having to work 3 months at McDonalds, beyond bothered by the fact he couldn't move on even sooner. A man who was an egoist his entire life would more likely than not never need to.

You doomers really are two chips short of a teacup aren't you?

>>16254963
Violence begets retaliation and backstabbers anon. Esteem cements power forever.

>>16254902
Everything you do is a political expression of egoism op. Read his short book.

>>16255190
I mean op posted stirner and capitalism certainly wasn't an expression of egoism in his view

>>16255368
Egoism anon? EgoISM? Yes everything you do must necessarily involve the ego in some capacity, but to align one's actions along explict Egoism requires philosophic development of said philosophy in a given person. And that does not occur automatically.
Let me be more specific than I was in OP. All politics is as a branch of philosophy is the social application of ethics, another branch. This is what I was aluding to. Egoism is an ethics, and so what I was arguing is that it's social application (ie political expression) results in Capitalism if no contradictions tolerated.

>>16255428
read the filename

>>16255453
Everyone knows the thread was a shitpost

>>16254902
>thinks there is a 'political expression' of Uniqueness
read a book before posting moron

>>16255477
But anon drew the wrong conclusion from fact that OP "posted stirner". The being or not being a shitpost isn't under discussion

>>16255535
*the thread being

>>16254920
Having big corporations boss you around doesn't sound very egoist

>>16254902
Capitalism is the subjugation of everyone to an abstract
It is simply Communism without benefits, and without ideals

>>16256265
>communism
>benefits

>>16256084
What happens when two egoists interact? They weigh their interests. Either material gains or spiritual values.
What happens when one is of higher station than the other? An egoist does not envy or resent like some soccie worm he admires and aims higher. An egoist's interests are perfectly well served participating in the division of labor, why the fuck would he not be? Even if he were not inclined reality would not allow it, a man who evades the content and requirements of reality cannot be said to have a potent and (more importantly) developed ego.

>>16256437
If the free market has made it so that eg. your boss doesn't pay you enough for a comfortable living, or your ISP has the right to sell your personal information for cash, an egoist may prefer government intervention to unregulated trade. There is no reason why an egoist would respect property rights when they go violently against his interests.

>>16254902
Whats the best english edition of "The Ego and Its Own"?

I just read "Might is Right" by Redbeard and now I'm ready to see what the Stirn man had to say.

I was looking at the Cambridge edition (pic related)

>>16256316
Here we define communism as you seeing more of the value your labour produces because you are part owner. Imagine all Amazon employees saw an increase in salary equivalent to the division of Bezos' salary. Or perhaps the surplus value would be invested in new equipment to make workers lives easier before it is necessary to stay competitive. I'm sure you can think of other possible benefits to having more control over your work place and life on your own if you think about it, even if you don't think these changes could be implemented.

>>16257328
Half the people I've worked with have been barely sentient. Giving them power in the workplace would have been a disaster

>>16254902
Egoism subordinates itself to no system, political, economic or social. Any adherence is voluntary and directed towards personal gain. Property rights, non-aggression, competition, none of it means anything to the egoist. He would wipe it all out if it meant that he would benefit.

>>16257347
I suppose you're against democracy for this same reason then? Most people are irredeemable idiots and no amount of room for growth, training or education would change that? Everything is biologically determined and so on?

Most philosophers disregarded politics almost entirely. Stop trying to shoehorn great thinkers into your "ism", whatever it is. Ideology is the death of thought.

>>16257374
I'm not that anon, but surely you can see why an egoist would oppose the implementation of a system which benefits menial workers. They lack a fundamental understanding which makes them unqualified for autonomy.

>>16257396
Yes, but surely you equally understand why an egoist could support such a system in which more individuals aquire a fundamental understanding and thus create a more satisfying environment in which the egoist finds nourishment?

>>16254902
You must be at least 18 to post on this board

>>16257420
Some egoists find no satisfaction in the uplifting of others. Furthermore, your argument assumes that these people would not only achieve a comparative level of discourse, but that they would want to do so.

>>16254902
Egoism can express itself in any system that benefits you the most for example see Stalin, probably the biggest egoist i can think of.

>>16257433
And yours assumes they wouldn't. Equally as erroneous.

>>16257448
Yes, but my premise has basis in what we can both observe: the overwhelming majority of people, particularly within the field of menial labor, have never successfully pursued philosophical discourse. But, to my earlier point, there's no guarantee that X egoist would enjoy Y scenario.

>>16257461
Certainly, but they were never given the opportunity and so we can't know what they would have accomplished if they were.

>>16257496
All moral agents have the opportunity to better themselves in every moment in some way. That they have chosen not to do so implies that if they were given further opportunities, they would continue to remain as they are.

>>16257507
Ah so you think you have a spooky moral monopoly on the measure of what bettering oneself is. Further it seems you've dropped the ball friend; my position is merely that 'different conditions can produce different results' and your is clearly 'everything will always be the same regardless of conditions', yet we both know pineapples don't grow naturally in a desert.
Truly a collosal waste of my time to just end up back at >>16257374. And so I bid you ado good sir. As your choice not to better yourself through our discussion implies that given further opportunities you will remain where you are I see no point in any continuation.

>>16257660
And now you're claiming that I have made claims which I did not make. You also never refuted my claim that different egoists have different measures of "benefit".