> The invisible hand: "Every individual...generally, indeed, neither
> intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is
> promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign
> industry he intends only his own security; and by directing that
> industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value,
> he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other
> cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of
> his intention."
>
> ...individuals intent on their own gain, and hardly ever "intending"
> the good of others. But the remarkable thing was that nature (or
> Providence) had so contrived things that despite intentions to the
> contrary, individuals "necessarily" labored for the public interest,
> that is, by increasing society's annual revenue to its utmost capacity.
> This was the doctrine of natural or pre-established harmony,...
>
> "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the
> baker, that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their
> own interest."
>
> Adam Smith:
> The Wealth of Nations, Book IV Chapter II
>
http://www.adamsmith.org/smith/won-b4-c2.htm
>
> Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead
>
> Ayn Rand's story of Howard Roark, a brilliant architect who dares to
> stand alone against the hostility of second-hand souls. First published
> in 1943, this best-selling novel is a passionate defense of
> individualism and presents an exalted view of man's creative potential.
>
>
http://www.ayn-rand.com/ayn-rand-fountainhead.asp
>
> Howard Roark, a brilliant young architect, is expelled from his
> architecture school for refusing to follow the school's outdated
> traditions. He goes to New York to work for Henry Cameron, a disgraced
> architect whom Roark admires...
>
>
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/fountainhead/summary.html
>
> Howard Roark is the undisputed hero of The Fountainhead, and his story
> drives the novel. His name contains the words "hard" and
> "roar," both of which accurately describe his tough, determined
> character. Roark has friends and colleagues, but relies on himself
> alone. Roark's buildings suggest his personality, for like Roark they
> are innovative and austere. Roark never compromises or deviates from
> his principles. Rand holds him up as everything that man can and should
> be. Consequently, Roark does not develop over the course of the
> novel-the ideal man does not need to change.
>
> Although Rand despised religion, she often describes Roark as if he is
> a religious figure. Roark does not preach, and he never actively seeks
> converts, but he inspires absolute devotion and rapture in his
> followers.
>
> Cameron, Mallory, Dominique, and Wynand change their entire
> *belief_systems* after meeting him. Dominique in particular exhibits a
> religious passion for Roark, racked by ecstasy and guilt as if inspired
> by a messiah. Like all Christ figures in literature, Roark's enemies
> persecute him. Despite the hatred of the world, Roark lives life as
> Rand thinks it should be lived.
>
>
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/fountainhead/canalysis.html
>
> The Primacy of the Individual
>
> Howard Roark is the novel's embodiment of the perfect man. Rand wants
> us to admire his talent and courage, and his struggle to resist
> society's sway and remain true to himself. The Fountainhead revolves
> around Roark's struggle to retain his individuality in the face of
> forces bent on bringing him to heel.
>
> At his second trial, Roark argues that individuals, not societies,
> propel history. He says that individual creators are the fountainhead
> of civilization. Roark's speech is passionate and lyrical, and the
> audience receives it with awed silence. The struggle for individuality
> is not confined to Roark.
>
> ...the desire to assert one's self becomes the single greatest virtue
> a character can possess. The novel ends triumphantly not because Roark
> defeats or converts his enemies, but because he has won the right to
> act according to his own principles.
>
> The thesis at the heart of The Fountainhead is that society has a herd
> mentality, and individuals must act selfishly in order to be free.
>
> The Importance of Reason
>
> The Fountainhead disapproves of sentimentalism, and argues that
> everything worth thinking or feeling should be the product of reason
> and logic, not emotion. Whenever Roark, Dominique, or Wynand expound on
> the supremacy of the individual, they justify their positions with
> logical arguments rather than with emotional appeals. The novel
> respects logic and reason so much that everything it applauds is
> scientific, factual, and pure.
>
> The novel's mathematicians, engineers, builders, and businessmen are
> inevitably more intelligent than its sentimental writers and
> journalists. Roark bases all of his designs on the simplest geometrical
> shapes, such as triangles or squares. Rand condemns sentimentality and
> compassion as the enemies of reason because they confuse the mind and
> compromise individualism.
>
> The arch-villain Toohey controls the weak by advocating such values as
> selflessness. Collectivism, altruism, and mysticism are depicted as
> illogical beliefs that manipulate the heart rather than engage the
> mind. In order to justify the novel's tough attitude, Rand argues
> that even the best intentions lead to imprisonment, while cold,
> unflinching reason sets man free.
>
> The Cold Ferocity of Love
>
> In The Fountainhead, love, like integrity and invention, is a principle
> worth fighting for and defending. The protagonists constantly hone and
> improve their relationships. Even Roark and Dominique forego some of
> their fierce devotion to independence and eventually allow themselves
> to surrender to one another.
>
> The emotion of love might seem to contradict the novel's devotion to
> reason, but the characters demand relationships so perfect that they
> come to seem logical and mathematical.
>
> Roark stands by while Dominique marries first Keating and then Wynand
> as if watching her enact an algebraic equation. He calculates that she
> will emerge from the marriages more suited to him, so he bears the pain
> of losing her to other men. Even in their passionate encounters, Roark
> and Dominique refuse to yield to emotion. Instead, they make love with
> a violent and calculating fury in scenes that Rand writes in prose more
> technical than romantic. The novel extols the virtues of science and
> logic and argues personal relationships can exist within these virtues.
> As long as relationships help people maximize their potential, then the
> novel sees love as a version of logic, and therefore approves of it.
>
>
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/fountainhead/themes.html
>
> *belief_systems*
>
> When Roark returns from a summer-long yacht trip with Wynand, he finds
> that, despite the agreement, the Cortlandt Homes project has been
> changed. Roark asks Dominique to distract the night watchman one night
> and then dynamites the building. When the police arrive, he submits
> without resistance.
>
> The entire country condemns Roark,
>
> ...but Wynand finally finds the courage to follow his convictions and
> orders his newspapers to defend him. The Banner's circulation drops
> and the workers go on strike, but Wynand keeps printing with
> Dominique's help. Eventually, Wynand gives in and denounces Roark. At
> the trial, Roark seems doomed,
>
> but he rouses the courtroom
>
> ...with a statement about the value of selfishness and the need to
> remain true to oneself. Roark describes the triumphant role of creators
> and the price they pay at the hands of corrupt societies.
> The jury finds him not guilty.
>
> ...Roark marries Dominique. Wynand asks Roark to design one last
> building, a skyscraper that will testify to the supremacy of man.
>
>
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/fountainhead/summary.html
>
>
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/fountainhead/
>
> The Fountainhead - Howard Roark Speech (Ayn Rand)
>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc7oZ9yWqO4
>
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ayn+rand
>
> #####################################
>
> Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to
> leap tall buildings in a single bound! Yes, it is Superman, but
> Nietzsche's Superman is not battling for truth, justice and the
> American way. Rather, Nietzsche's Superman (which literally translated
> from the original German ubermensch is Overman) is a human who has
> battled modern values and overcome the flaws of humanity. Nietzsche's
> philosophy has been associated with everything from socialism and
> fascism to Marilyn Manson.
>
> Superman, according to Nietzsche has reached a state of being where he
> is no longer affected by "pity, suffering, tolerence of the weak, the
> power of the soul over the body, the belief in an afterlife, the
> corruption of modern values (Nietzsche's Overman: Blueprint for the
> Antichrist Superstar)." Superman is constantly changing and in a state
> of rebirth and growth. He determines what is good and what is evil, not
> allowing religion or society to determine these things for him. The
> Superman finds his happiness in this way. He uses a reason that is
> independent of the modern values of society or religion. He determines
> his own values. This creation of his own values gives him joy, and in
> order for the Superman to cope with a changing world, the Superman must
> constantly change. This constant state of change is a constant source
> of joy, leaving little or no room for suffering.
>
>
http://personal.ecu.edu/mccartyr/great/projects/Knowles.htm
>
> Condemned to Be Free
>
> ...Existentialism argues that freedom is such an unavoidable, and
> sometimes uncomfortable, characteristic of life that we are "condemned
> to be free." We are completely free at every moment, absolutely
> everything about us is a product of our own choices, and we are
> responsible for each and every detail of our lives.
>
> ...When you think about it, the tremendous possibilities that come from
> being as free as Sartre envisions us to be are truly thrilling. Think
> of that "I-can-accomplish-anything-I-put-my-mind-to" feeling. But
> Sartre sees freedom as so fundamental and so pervasive that the
> prospect is not all upbeat. A full awareness of our responsibility for
> each and every facet of our lives can be troubling. This much freedom
> ultimately makes us anxious. As Sartre puts it, we are "condemned to be
> free."
>
> This phrase-"condemned to be free"-suggests a variety of difficulties.
> First, we have no choice in the matter. We never asked to be born. Yet
> here we are, thrown into a situation that requires endless, often
> terrifying decisions about everything in our lives.
>
> The phrase also conveys the idea that we are trapped-sentenced to a
> situation we can never break out of. Even if we want to avoid freely
> fashioning our life, we can't. "I bear the whole responsibility without
> being able, whatever I do, to tear myself away from this responsibility
> for an instant," Sartre explains in Being and Nothingness. "For I am
> responsible," he continues, "for my very desire of fleeing
> responsibilities. To make myself passive in the world, to refuse to act
> upon things and upon Others is still to choose myself." Whether we go
> our own way, go along with what everyone else does, or try to do
> nothing, we choose that course of action. We must accept the
> responsibility for absolutely everything we do, including ducking out
> on our responsibilities. We always have the choice. We always have an
> option. We always have control. We can never escape it.
>
> "Man is condemned to be free," writes Sartre:
>
> "...because he did not create himself, yet, in other respects is free;
> because, once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything
> he does. The existentialist does not believe in the power of passion.
> He will never agree that a sweeping passion is a ravaging torrent which
> fatally leads a man to certain acts and is therefore an excuse. He
> thinks that man is responsible for his passion."
>
> "The existentialist does not think that man is going to help himself by
> finding in the world some omen by which to orient himself. Because he
> thinks that man will interpret the omen to suit himself. Therefore, he
> thinks that man, with no support and no aid, is condemned every moment
> to invent man."
> --"Existentialism"
>
> Responsibility and "Bad Faith"
>
> Freedom, of course, automatically carries with it the fact of
> responsibility. If you freely choose to do something, you are
> responsible for your action and its consequences. In Sartre's scheme,
> we must feel responsible all the time.
>
> That can be quite a punishment, especially when most of us regularly
> try to avoid taking full responsibility for our lives. Being
> responsible for making solid, authentic choices at every juncture is
> hard to handle. Yet when we choose not to do it, Sartre accuses us of
> acting in "bad faith"-lying to ourselves about our responsibility.
>
> Discovering philosophy / Thomas I. White. --Brief ed.
>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0135080037/
>
