Viable Values

For one of my class assignments, I have decided to write an article that uses Tara Smith's meta-ethical discussion in Viable Values as a foundation for analyzing ethics in IT.

First let me compliment Smith on a job well done. Her masterful analysis of various ethical theories is a treasure to behold. Although there are several places I think her arguments could be stronger (given my limited knowledge of these theories), it is the overall product that is important. More than anything I'm surprised, not that Smith could do this, but that it took this long for an objectivist philosopher to offer such a devastating critique of alternate theories. While I know Rand laid the foundation, she obviously had no interest in digging into the particulars. But with so many PhDs in philosophy associated with the objectivist movement, I figured there would be more in depth analysis would have been done the same. Instead, I saw a lot of me too-isms, essentially focusing on just Ayn Rand's words and ignoring the rest of the world. While developing Objectivism is a worthwhile cause, many philosophers outside the objectivist movement have little or limited respect for Rand because her articles tended to be short and not detailed. If Objectivism is to take prominence in field of ideas, critiques such as Tara's will put it there. That is why I'm able to write my article, because her book gave me the tools necessary to complete an argument.