"Any natural phenomenon, i.e., any event which occurs without human participation, is the metaphysically given, and could not have occurred differently or failed to occur; any phenomenon involving human action is the man-made, and could have been different. [...]
Nature does not give man any automatic guarantee of the truth of his judgments (and this is a metaphysically given fact, which must be accepted). Who, then, is to judge? Each man, to the best of his ability and honesty. What is his standard of judgment? The metaphysically given.” Ayn Rand
In her essay The Metaphysical Versus the Man-Made, Rand distinguishes “metaphysical facts from man-made facts—i.e., facts which are inherent in the identities of that which exists, from facts which depend upon the exercise of human volition.”
Join us for a discussion of this ground-breaking essay. The text is available, for free, here:
https://courses.aynrand.org/works/the-metaphysical-versus-the-man-made/
