--- Ayn Rand vs DEI ---

Article by Nikos Sotirakopoulos.

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"Every culture war issue is, at root, a philosophical issue. Failure to treat it as such ensures defeat;

now, or in the not-so-distant future.

Case study: DEI.

How mainstream philosophy sees DEI,

and why an objectivist lens is the alternative:

Metaphysics

DEI says: Out there are are groups, tribes, collectives; pools from which individuals/avatars-of-their-identity will be chosen.

Objectivist view: only individuals exist, think & act.

Such individuals can form teams and cooperate,

but every act is an act of an individual.

Application contra DEI: any work is the work of individuals, not of ‘representatives of groups’.

Epistemology

DEI says: individuals bring with them their ‘diverse experience/knowledge’.

Objectivist view: human beings know via reason; thinking is a solo act of independent judgment.

Application contra DEI: when you hire, you hire an individual mind. You don’t hire ‘diverse experience’.

Morality

DEI says: Your goal in life is promoting ‘the common good’.

Objectivist view: my goal is my happiness and living my best life.

I don’t sacrifice to others, and don’t want others to sacrifice to me.

Application contra DEI: my work, and my business, exists to serve my goals and values.

Division of labour/cooperation means I deal with other people; such dealings can exist only in a voluntary win-win context - aka the ‘trader principle’.

The case study of justice

DEI says: equity. ‘…to each one according to his needs’.

Objectivist view: reward individuals according to if/what they contribute to your stated goal.

Application contra DEI: reward people to the extent they contribute to your stated goal, as mutually agreed.

Politics/economics

DEI says: a business serves a ‘social goal’.

Private property is ‘entrusted’ to the owner, on the condition he pursues x social goals.

So your business is not really yours.

And the goal of your business is chosen by others: the ‘stakeholders’.

You, businessman, are a social activist for causes designated to you ('social justice', climate change etc), whether you agree with them or not.

Objectivist view: I have a right to pursue my own happiness,

and property rights means I can deal with my own labour/property as I fit.

The goal of my business is to serve my own purposes.

I cooperate with those who choose to cooperate with me, and whose interests/values align with mine.

Application contra DEI: I work for my profit and the profit of my shareholders/partners.

I’m not a social activist (unless I chose so, and for the causes I value).

No one’s ‘stakes’ gives them a say on my business, unless it somehow directly impacts them (e.g. I’m dumping waste on their fields).

That’s the only way to fight DEI.

Challenging its philosophical core.

'Any disagreement that does not challenge fundamentals serves only to reinforce them' (Ayn Rand)"