tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427099050036140472.post8059370093211092993..comments2023-03-25T04:52:20.861-07:00Comments on Far From the Madding Crowd: Rationalism in Objectivist Romance : Common Errors Among Young ObjectivistsFar from the Madding Crowdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07027834677035326028noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427099050036140472.post-54632831891378194052011-03-08T09:13:16.808-08:002011-03-08T09:13:16.808-08:00Rand's own views on gender roles and attractio...Rand's own views on gender roles and attraction clearly involve a lot of unstated assumptions that your average evolutionary psychologist would find familiar. I think many standard EP accounts of attraction and gendered behavior are suspicious (I'm reading Sex at Dawn at the moment) but agree with the intention - to understand what sorts of features our minds have evolved in response to selection pressures. That said, it's difficult to say whether we should always go along with these evolved features (read: instincts), even if we could agree on what they are, since they're pretty sneaky - the mind didn't evolve for happiness maximization, after all. Your friend has identified a key conflict between instinct (a real, legitimate part of how humans are that can't be philosophized away) and what would make us happy in a world where rational decisions about values were the only driving force.Lindsay Lennoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03444634935379976865noreply@blogger.com