If a tree falls

First, I was having lunch alone at a table in a busy diner, when a man asked if he
could join me at my table. I said sure and we began to talk. When I discovered
that the man was a government building inspector, I asked him a question: What
would happen if there were no building bylaws? His answer was immediate,
without any hesitation: They’d all be living in wet basements.
Second, an impossible story:
The Virgin birth, of Mary and Joseph fame, did not happen, could not happen,
will not happen. It’s impossible. End of story.
Third, a plausible story:
Mary gets pregnant. Joseph is impotent and will know that the child can not
be his. But Mary knows her husband well. She knows Joseph is more than just
physically impotent; she knows that he is not a man of independent judgment;
that he will believe almost anything.
In adolescence, Mary had learned she could get what she wanted by manipu-
lating people. In Joseph she had found just the right man to submit to this power.
Mary cooks up a plan: she will tell Joseph that she was impregnated by a ghost.
Now, Joe, he believed in ghosts – and goblins and horoscopes and fortune
tellers and God. He did not believe in facing up to the facts of reality. In fact,
whenever an aspect of reality was too painful for Joe to accept, he would simply
reject that aspect. In his childhood, Joseph had learned this lesson well. He had
learned that he did not like the frustrations involved in learning a new task, or
the possible embarrassment in failure, so to avoid frustration and embarrassment,
he avoided learning new tasks. He was content to let others do for him and think
for him. So, when Mary feeds Joe her story, he does not consider her infidelity –
that would be too painful to contemplate. Instead, immediately, without any
hesitation, he embraces the story and chooses to believe that Mary was impreg-
nated by a ghost – and the two of them go on to raise Jesus, the poor bastard, to
believe he is the Son of God.
And His followers go on to destroy the birthplace of Western culture – Ancient
Greece. They close down universities – universities that taught reality is an abso-
lute, the rules of reason, mathematics and the beginnings of science. (The Ancient
Greeks could and did precisely calculate the circumference of the earth and the
exact distance to the moon!) They destroy democracy. (To this day, still not
limited by an absolute right to property)
Christians go on to teach that this reality, here on earth, is subordinate to a
"higher reality" – a "reality" one can only reach through death. They subordinate
reason to faith. They subordinate the individual to God. They bring about a
mysticism that will rule the world for a thousand years – that hell on earth known
as the Dark Ages.

* * *

In the first story, while this government building inspector may tell himself
that he’s a force for good in the world (he’s not), he actually holds a deep and
utter contempt for man. He believes that, but for him, we would all be living in
wet basements. That, by his nature, man is worthless: that he can not grasp reality –
the need for shelter; that he can not think – acquire the knowledge to build a
shelter; that he has no ambition and will not take responsibility for his own life –
act to build a shelter.
This man, undoubtedly, does not identify the exact nature of his view of man.
He does not see himself as holding man in contempt, but as his benefactor. He
sees himself as doing good, doing the right thing, helping people, taking care
of them, doing what he has been taught to do – to be his brother’s keeper. He is
an altruist.
Altruism is the moral code that holds that man is his brother’s keeper –
the principle and practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of
others (Random House Dictionary). It is the welfare of others that is to be man’s
guiding principle, and to be moral he must put it in practice. And put it in practice
he does. Since, as an altruist, he believes he should unselfishly devote himself to
the welfare of others, to be virtuous, he must help his fellow man, and to do that –
he seeks a position of power.
In the second story? There is nothing to add to the second story.
In the third story, if Mary and Joseph had been rational people, Mary would
have confessed her infidelity, and, with enough effort, the two of them might have
rebuilt a worthwhile marriage. But these two were anything but rational. Both
Mary and Joseph’s only concern was how they could evade the facts of reality.
They were subjectivists.
Subjectivism is the doctrine that knowledge, perception, morality, etc., are
subjective and relative and that there is no external or objective truth (Oxford
Dictionary) – if you think no one preaches such a philosophy, ask your teacher or
your child’s teacher if reality is objective or subjective, and you will find that
many, if not most, will answer subjective. The subjectivist forms an opinion or
feeling and then looks for "facts" to support it, or evades facts that contradict it.
The subjectivist does not like reality – some will admit to this – it interferes with
his feelings, it’s too restrictive. But no man can totally ignore reality – the penalty
for that is death. Even Joseph knew enough not to step in front of a fast moving
camel. So, the subjectivist has a problem. How will he survive? He knows he
must look both ways before crossing the street, but not much more than that. He
is not interested in acquiring knowledge of the facts of reality or learning how to
use those facts to his advantage. No problem. He has a back-up plan. He will
use, not reality, but his fellow man. It is, in fact, his only option – he lusts after
power or submits to it. In the case of Mary and Joseph, it is Mary that exercises
the power and Joseph that submits to it.
In the case of ambitious men who lust after power, they need a moral justifica-
tion to convince their victims to submit, a justification that will give their victims
a "higher" purpose in life. They find it in the morality of altruism. The ambitious
subjectivist finds altruism to be a perfect fit in his quest for power. Altruism
preaches that man must subordinate his welfare to the welfare of others – subor-
dinate his will to the will of society – Stalin’s communist Russia; subordinate
his life to a "superior race" – Hitler’s Nazi Germany; subordinate a rational
Western culture to every faith-based culture – multiculturalism; subordinate
himself to every other life form on the planet – environmentalism; subordinate
competence to incompetence - what else is the meaning of equal praise for
unequal achievement in the classroom or unequal talent in kid’s sports?
Altruism and subjectivism: The latter holds that reality is unknowable, that
there are no objective truths and as a consequence man’s only means of survival
is to lust after power or submit to it. The former holds that man is his brother’s
keeper, that man must be taken care of because on his own he can not grasp an
objective reality, can not think for himself, and will not take responsibility for his
own life.

* * *

If a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one there to hear it, does it still make
a sound? The answer is…YES! If man had never evolved on this planet, a tree
crashing to the ground would still make a sound – a lot of sound! Reality exists,
and it exists whether any man wants to acknowledge it or not. A rock is a rock
and a planet is a planet, and the existence of one does not contradict the existence
of the other.
On planet earth, life has evolved. And each life form has its own method of
survival – a tree takes a certain set of actions to survive, a bird takes a different
set of actions. So, the question is – what are the actions man must take in order
to ensure his survival?
Man must think. And to do that properly, he must learn the rules of reason.
Man observes reality with his senses – and there are only five! It’s his senses
that provide the raw data on reality. And man has the unique capacity to think
about his observations. As a hunter-gatherer he observes that a particular patch
of berries that he visits frequently produces better fruit. He thinks about it. He
thinks it might have something to do with the fact that he has trampled down the
plants without berries. He decides to weed his berry patch – and farming is born.
When man decides to actively pursue an understanding of reality, i.e. experiment –
science is born. And man learns that moving a magnet through a coil of copper
wire will produce an electric current.
But how does man know his thinking corresponds to the facts of reality?
Observation is his key method – if he gets better fruit or an electric current, he can
be sure he’s on the right track. There is, however, a law that guides him: the law
of non-contradiction – in a triangle containing a right angle, the area of the square
drawn on the side opposite the right angle is equal to the sum of the areas of the
squares drawn on the other two sides. This is a fact (discovered by those Ancient
Greeks again). Given the dimensions of a right angle triangle as six, five and four
inches where six inches is the side opposite the right angle, then thirty-six square
inches equal forty-one square inches. Obviously, something is wrong – this is a
contradiction – thirty-six can not equal forty-one. Either the law is not true or
something is wrong with the measurements (the law is true – a right angle triangle
can not be drawn with ratios of six, five and four – ratios of five, four and three will
produce only right angle triangles). Arriving at a contradiction guides man back
to the facts of reality, providing, of course, that he does not ignore contradictions.
This ability to observe the facts of reality and integrate them into a logical
whole without contradiction is the power of reason. It is a virtue! Being reasonable
is being virtuous. Being unreasonable is a vice. The unreasonable man does not
concern himself with resolving contradictions. He’s a subjectivist. He’ll believe
anything, and the man who will believe anything has a motive – he believes he can
get away with anything.
It stands to reason that in order to further his life, man must act – to obtain a
meal, actions are required. Successful action demands that a man has a grip on
reality, knows what he is doing, and applies himself. Competence is a virtue.
And life is not without risks. Courage is a virtue.
It stands to reason that successful actions can not be random or he would be
constantly running into things and bouncing off walls. His actions must be purpose-
ful, whether it’s to clear the driveway of snow, plant a garden or build a business.
Purposeful action is goal directed. And to achieve a goal, man needs virtues –
self-motivation, concentration, determination, stamina. And the man that
practices virtues has a virtue that encompasses all virtues, for that is its meaning –
the adherence to, and the practice of, virtues – that virtue is…integrity.
Being virtuous is not an end in itself – it is a means to an end. Practicing virtues
not only earns man his physical sustenance, but it is also the road to happiness.
Does anyone believe he can achieve his happiness by practicing vises? No. But
some think they can get away without practicing virtues – just keeping a garden
free of weeds will not result in any crops, only a bare patch of dirt. In order to
achieve happiness, one must actively pursue it – by practicing virtues.
Notice that being virtuous is necessary even if man lives alone on an island –
that he must employ virtues in order to sustain his life. But man does not live
alone on an island. He lives and trades with other men.
It is each man’s responsibility to live his own life – no man can live a life for
another man. If man is to live and trade with other men, it is his right to his life
that has to be protected. And to protect his life, man must have the right to property;
if he does not have the right to his property, he does not have the right to his life –
if a man plants a garden, he has the right to the fruits of his labour, and not have it
stolen from him and be left to starve to death. If he earns ten dollars for an hours
work, every penny of that is his – by right.
It is to protect man’s right to his life and his property that man institutes a
government. That is its function - and its only function. A proper government
protects man from the use of force and fraud. It creates a police force to protect
man from criminals, an armed forces to protect man from foreign invaders, and
law courts to settle disputes according to objective laws. It does not provide for
the education of our children, health care, old age security, or create a nanny
state that dictates virtues and vices. It keeps its hands off man's property, its
hands off the economy - it allows laissez-faire capitalism - a free market in
goods and ideas.
It's worth mentioning a common objection - not a valid one - to laissez-faire
capitalism. What about the poor and those who can not support themselves?
Well, there's nothing wrong with being poor. Many men, myself included, have
been poor at some time during the course of their life. And those who can not
support their own life? (Those that just don't feel like it should be told to practice
virtues and thus change their feelings.) There is a principle in the function of
property rights that addresses this problem to a huge extent: the percentage of the
population of a given country that can not support itself operates in inverse ratio
to the degree of recognition of property rights in that country. Or, in other words:
the greater the respect for property rights, the lower the percentage of people that
can not support themselves. Suppose a man looses a leg because of disease or an
accident. What chance does this man have of supporting himself in a Third World
country, where the right to property is virtually ignored, and as a result the unem-
ployment rate is sixty or seventy percent? Even the able-bodied are on the verge
of starvation. But in a country that protects the right to property, the unemploy-
ment rate is low, and its economy is much more diverse. This diversity offers a
whole range of job opportunities that don't even exist in the Third World - many
jobs where a missing leg is irrelevant. And not even the leg will be missing for
long - he will be able to afford a prosthesis. As for the remaining fraction of the
population that can not support themselves, they can easily rely on charity - billions
of dollars have been raised by private charities in spite of our governments taking
half of everything we earn. In my opinion, even governments, if they stick to their
proper function, can be financed voluntarily - not now, but eventually.
It is capitalism that protects man's life and his property. It allows each man to
stand on his own judgment and trade voluntarily with other men to the benefit of
each. It allows man his freedom to define his goals and go after them. He is free
to practice his virtues in pursuit of his happiness. He is free to get a grip on reality -
he knows that when a tree falls, it makes a sound. He gets good at what he is
doing - he is competent. He strives to achieve his happiness - he is a fighter. He
takes pride in being the architect of his own character - he is a self-made man.
He is a Champion, a Warrior and a Titan - he is his own hero.