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General Discussion
Started by Hotu Matua at 10-30-2009 8:00 PM. Topic has 3 replies.
  
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 10-30-2009, 8:00 PM
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Hotu Matua
Joined on 10-30-2009
Monterrey, Mexico
Posts 10
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Howard Roark as a physician
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Hi everybody.
I am a Mexican 43 old physician who is new to Objectivism. I am reading eagerly Ayn Rand's wonderful books.
I must tell I first got to know Ayn Rand work through Rothbard, Friedman and Nozick
Reading The Fountainhead, I suddendly asked myself: How would Ayn Rand describe the character of Howard Roark had he been a physican rather than an architect?
We doctors take the wellbeing of our patients as our source of professional satisfaction. In serving others, we many times give up sleeptime, time to spend with our families, or entertainment.
I believe that Howard Roark could have spent many hours working late at night in the design of a new building. Howard Roark could have also give up merrily a lot of things to undertake the construction of the skyscraper he dreamed about. But what about working hard to ensure that another human being (generally an stranger for whom we have no love) is relieved from his pain? In what respect the health of a stranger would become Roark's accomplishment?
I would like to know your thoughts about it.
Best regards
To be is to be is to be.
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10-31-2009, 2:14 PM
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galtsgulcher
Joined on 03-15-2009
Posts 47
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Re: Howard Roark as a physician
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Hi Hotu,
I think that if Howard Roark was in the medical field, he would have been an innovator. He would have derived immense personal satisfaction from being absorbed in discovering new cures and pioneering new medical proceedures.
Since the buildings he designed benefitted everyone who either looked at them or used them, in a likewise manner his medical discoveries would also benefit anyone who received them.
You mentioned love...
I define love as doing what is right, so benefitting strangers would fall well within that working definition.
Take Care,
Greg
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10-31-2009, 3:06 PM
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Hotu Matua
Joined on 10-30-2009
Monterrey, Mexico
Posts 10
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Re: Howard Roark as a physician
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Thank you very much for your answer, galtsgulcher.
Indeed, some physicians become investigators and innovators. However, not all can or will be investigators.
The vast majority still spend their time as clinicians, meaning listening to patients, talking to them, touching them, checking whether they are feeling better, and taking their physical and psychological improvement as a personal achievement. And this is where some could attach (falsely enough ) an "altruistic" shade to their work.
Yesterday, however, I found a very insightful answer in the book "Ayn Rand Answers", edited by Robert Mayhew.
To the question "How do you account for the apparent unselfishness of those doctors and nurses who work under extremely difficult conditions?" She answered:
"Good doctors and nurses are never unselfish. They had to be selfish to become competent at their profession, which doesn't mean that they are indifferent to the welfare of their patients. They don't practice their profession for the sake of their patients, as a sacrifice, but because this profession interests them. They are no more unselfish than anybody who takes part in an exchange economy. If you sell books or wait on tables, you have to satisfy your customers by holding high standards and offering values. If their standards agree with yours, you make a trade, each party doing so for his own sake. The same applies to doctors. Since they deal with matters of life and death, they often put themselves in great discomfort, such as being awakened in the middle of the night. But since their purpose is human health, it's not a sacrifice for them to rush to save the patient. If a doctor said "I prefer to play poker for another half hour, so I won't budge" then he doesn't like his profession, let alone his patients."
(Page 122,123).
Thinking about the best colleagues I have known, I give full credit to Ayn Rand's insight. Best physicians do not get trapped in the altruistic delusion. They enjoy saving lives for their own personal joy and satisfaction. They feel heroes, and they are heroes.
Even if we consider those doctors that go with organizations like "Medicins Sans Frontiers" to take care of refugees in Darfur, we must recognize that they consider it as a pleasant adventure. They are not really making a sacrifice of their values, but rather living up to them and for them. And certainly, they are not expecting everyone else to go to Darfur and do the same. They would not conceive to exert coercion (even in the form of blackmail persuasion) to other physicians to abandon their jobs or families and go to Darfur. There is no Kantian imperative in their minds doing something that is expected to be replicated by any other doctor in their same situation. They do not speak for the rest of doctors in the world... they just speak for themselves.
To be is to be is to be.
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11-02-2009, 12:07 AM
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galtsgulcher
Joined on 03-15-2009
Posts 47
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Re: Howard Roark as a physician
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(Hotu wrote...)
"Indeed, some physicians become investigators and innovators. However, not all can or will be investigators."
Hi Hotu,
Of course not. I was only conjecturing what I thought Howard Roark would have been.
(Ayn Rand wrote...)
"Good doctors and nurses are never unselfish. They had to be selfish to become competent at their profession, which doesn't mean that they are indifferent to the welfare of their patients. They don't practice their profession for the sake of their patients, as a sacrifice, but because this profession interests them. They are no more unselfish than anybody who takes part in an exchange economy. If you sell books or wait on tables, you have to satisfy your customers by holding high standards and offering values. If their standards agree with yours, you make a trade, each party doing so for his own sake. The same applies to doctors. Since they deal with matters of life and death, they often put themselves in great discomfort, such as being awakened in the middle of the night. But since their purpose is human health, it's not a sacrifice for them to rush to save the patient. If a doctor said "I prefer to play poker for another half hour, so I won't budge" then he doesn't like his profession, let alone his patients."
That's a beautiful quote.
Loving to work to gain competency in the career you freely chose yields immense personal gratification...
...which makes it an inherently selfish pursuit.
Take Care,
Greg
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The Atlas... » Ayn Rand's Idea... » General Discuss... » Re: Howard Roark as a physician
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