This is not a dispute over principle. It's over definition.
What is the Randian position over protecting small children from abuse by their parents? Do they have the right not to be abused, and require outside assistance because they are incapable of defending themselves? Or is Randian individualism so pure that it insists that all persons, no matter how helpless, have the responsibility of their own protection?
If the latter is the case, then, yes, protecting the fetus is inconsistent with Randian individualism. (But it would not be surprising in Ryan, as it is a striking characteristic of many activists of his stripe that they show the most tender concern for the fetus, but none at all for the welfare of the child once born, the sort of behavior which caused Barney Frank to invent the quip, "They believe life begins at conception and ends at birth.")
If the former is the case, however, then the definitional dispute over who counts as an individual does not address the philosophical basis of the position.
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Date: 2012-08-23 05:02 am (UTC)What is the Randian position over protecting small children from abuse by their parents? Do they have the right not to be abused, and require outside assistance because they are incapable of defending themselves? Or is Randian individualism so pure that it insists that all persons, no matter how helpless, have the responsibility of their own protection?
If the latter is the case, then, yes, protecting the fetus is inconsistent with Randian individualism. (But it would not be surprising in Ryan, as it is a striking characteristic of many activists of his stripe that they show the most tender concern for the fetus, but none at all for the welfare of the child once born, the sort of behavior which caused Barney Frank to invent the quip, "They believe life begins at conception and ends at birth.")
If the former is the case, however, then the definitional dispute over who counts as an individual does not address the philosophical basis of the position.