1. Ayn Rand’s Objectivist philosophy has been touted by her detractors as the philosophy of self-interested selfishness.

Her four epistemological principles are:

1. Metaphysics: Objective reality of the world and the objects in it.

2. Epistemology: Reason as the one and only key to understanding.

3. Ethics: Self-interest in what behavior is but also what it should be.

4. Politics: Capitalism through the performance of deeds by individuals who are self-interested.

In the early 1960's, a student asked a spokesman for Objectivism what would happen to the poor in an Objectivist's free society.

The spokesman answered, "If you want to help them, you will not be stopped."

If one reads Rand's works, Atlas Shrugged, or The Fountainhead, one will conclude that this would be the answer Ayn would have given to that student as well.

What do you conclude from the answer given by the Objectivist spokesperson?

Is Objectivism, like Moral Relativism, the opposite of ethics?

And what clue in what she taught leads to your conclusion?

2. Different ways to analyze ethical behaviors and dilemmas exist, and many of them will help direct you to the correct or "best" solution to a problem.

As we discussed in week 1 in the "tough choices" .pdf, sometimes right vs. right or wrong vs. wrong decisions have to be made.

In the lecture this week, you are given three ethical dilemma resolution models to try out on a dilemma provided there. Please review that interactive before posting to the threads this week, and let's bring your questions and comments about the "proposed" solutions here to the threads. We will talk about that through mid-week, and then I will post a new dilemma here where we will, as a group, begin analyzing it using the different methods.

You will need to be able to use these three models (Blanchard and Peale, Laura Nash and Front page of the Newspaper) on the final exam ... so let's be sure to practice all three of them together this week.

So, to start this off, let's address the dilemma in the Week 6 Lecture interactive (in the middle of the page). You MUST read the lecture and run the interactive in order to participate in the threads this week!

1. Review the sample solution to the Laura Nash method.

Do you agree with that analysis? If so, what parts do you think really helped you work through the dilemma? If not, which parts do you not agree with?

2. Review the sample solution to the Front Page of the Newspaper method.

Do you think this is one of those types of dilemmas for which this model works? If not, why not? If so, why? How did using this method help you work through the dilemma?

3. Review the sample solution to the Blanchard and Peale method.

Do you agree with the analysis? If not, why not? If so, in what way did this help you analyze this dilemma?