Illuminating flash of insight
I thought of this in the shower, of course.
Ayn Rand's true believers call themselves Objectivists, call their philiosophy Objectivism, and so forth and so on.
I had always thought that they meant to convey that they were looking at the world dispassionately, seeing it for what it was rather than what they might like, and in general putting themselves in opposition to subjectivity. This is what the audiophile community does when it splits itself into Objectivists (measure!) and Subjectivists (listen!).
However, I was totally wrong.
Rand's Objective is the same as "mission objective". They aren't announcing their superiority through better determination of reality. They're announcing their fanatic devotion to their own goals.
Ayn Rand's true believers call themselves Objectivists, call their philiosophy Objectivism, and so forth and so on.
I had always thought that they meant to convey that they were looking at the world dispassionately, seeing it for what it was rather than what they might like, and in general putting themselves in opposition to subjectivity. This is what the audiophile community does when it splits itself into Objectivists (measure!) and Subjectivists (listen!).
However, I was totally wrong.
Rand's Objective is the same as "mission objective". They aren't announcing their superiority through better determination of reality. They're announcing their fanatic devotion to their own goals.