Materialism amounts to the idea that ideas don’t exist, or the thought that there are no thoughts.
Rand saw that man, like all living things, has a means of survival. Whereas plants survive by means of an automatic vegetative process (photosynthesis), and whereas animals survive by means of automatic instinctive processes (hunting, fleeing, nest-building, etc.), man survives by volitional means—by choosing to use his mind to identify and pursue the requirements of his life.
Rand saw a pattern: In each case, someone was attempting to substitute psychological pressure for rational argument. She termed this fallacy “The Argument from Intimidation.”
In these and similar encounters, Rand saw a pattern: In each case, someone was attempting to substitute psychological pressure for rational argument. She termed this fallacy “The Argument from Intimidation.”
People who engage in the argument from intimidation do so because, as Rand put it, “they have no arguments, no evidence, no proof, no reason, no ground to stand on.” Their use of this method “is a confession of intellectual impotence.”
To live, man must produce the goods on which his life depends; he must produce homes, automobiles, computers, electricity, and the like; he must seize nature and use it to his advantage. There is no escaping this fact. Even the allegedly “noble” savage must pick or perish. Indeed, even if a person produces nothing, insofar as he remains alive he indirectly exploits the Earth by parasitically surviving off the exploitative efforts of others.
Environmentalism, of course, does not and cannot advocate capitalism, because if people are free to act on their judgment, they will strive to produce and prosper; they will transform the raw materials of nature into the requirements of human life; they will exploit the Earth and live.
In short, according to environmentalism, if nature affects nature, the effect is good; if man affects nature, the effect is evil.
One requirement of your life is that you earn and maintain a good reputation, especially in regard to your profession, the work through which you make your living.
Virtue owes nothing to vice.
Exploiting the Earth—using the raw materials of nature for one’s life-serving purposes—is a basic requirement of human life. Either man takes the Earth’s raw materials—such as trees, petroleum, aluminum, and atoms—and transforms them into the requirements of his life, or he dies.
The basic principle of environmentalism is that nature (i.e., “the environment”) has intrinsic value—value in and of itself, value apart from and irrespective of the requirements of human life—and that this value must be protected from its only adversary: man. Rivers must be left free to flow unimpeded by human dams, which divert natural flows, alter natural landscapes, and disrupt wildlife habitats. Glaciers must be left free to grow or shrink according to natural causes, but any human activity that might affect their size must be prohibited.
Materialism amounts to the idea that ideas don’t exist, or the thought that there are no thoughts.