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    Rand's conflation of survival with flourishing smuggles i... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→If one chooses to live, one must value one's own long-term survival as an ultimate end and morality as a necessary means to that end.

    Rand's conflation of survival with flourishing smuggles in a richer normative standard than biological persistence without justifying the substitution.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Mere biological persistence (eating, breathing, reproducing) differs categorically from flourishing (achieving goals, realizing potential, experiencing meaning).
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    • 2.Rand's ethics requires justifying why rational self-interest demands more than survival; conflating them begs the question rather than deriving it.
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    • 3.A coherent ethical system must distinguish between necessary conditions for life and sufficient conditions for a life worth living.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.For conscious beings, 'survival' inherently includes psychological and volitional dimensions; basic biological persistence alone is impossible to maintain.
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    • 2.The distinction between 'survival' and 'flourishing' may be verbal rather than substantive—both track the same underlying concept of living according to one's nature.
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    • 3.Rand's integration of reason, purpose, and self-esteem into survival is explicit, not smuggled; the alleged substitution lacks textual support.
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    Consequentialism1 linkedVirtue Ethics1 linked

    Related

    A coherent ethical system must distinguish between necessary conditions for life...For conscious beings, 'survival' inherently includes psychological and volitiona...If one chooses to live, one must value one's own long-term survival as an ultima...Mere biological persistence (eating, breathing, reproducing) differs categorical...
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    Rand's ethics requires justifying why rational self-interest demands more than s...Rand's integration of reason, purpose, and self-esteem into survival is explicit...The distinction between 'survival' and 'flourishing' may be verbal rather than s...

    Details

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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    1 edit