Intrinsicism

From Objectivism Wiki
Revision as of 19:59, 27 August 2010 by Sir Andrew (talk | contribs) (+cat)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Intrinsicism

Intrinsicism is a philosophical position that holds that an idea or concept by its very nature has a specific value, and can be identified as not only true or false but also inherently good or evil. However, Intrinsicism can be associated with dogmatism i.e. An “Arrogant, stubborn assertion of opinion or belief. See: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dogmatism%20

Any Rand named Objectivism as the alternative between Intrinsicism and Subjectivism.

Subjectivism regards judgment as totally subjective , meaning ideas hold no inherent value other than the value given by any individual,whereas Intrinsicism depends on an authority to cast judgments or assign value. The argument posed by many typical religious Intrinsicists takes this format: “Without the supreme authority of God, there is no morality.” Thus, their position is that there is only one true set of moral principles and that moral value is inherently fused to the idea, action or conceptualization. Also, note the common judgment by religious fanatics that a person is guilty for his or her thoughts, thus, to think of lust for a woman is judged the same as the action by a religious Intrinsicist.

Objectivism is not a compromise between Subjectivism and Intrinsicism. Objectivism holds that ideas can be evaluated objectively through reason. Ayn Rand rejected Intrinsicism vs. Subjectivism and identified the two as a false dichotomy.

An Intrinsicist does not require any rational proof of why an idea or action should be categorized as true or false or particularly judged as good or evil.