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And I was right.Ayn Rand found an incredible way of exposing her philosophy in an exhilarating novel that is not easy to put down.Basically, it is a sort of Capitalism Gospel, that describes the social and moral transformation of a country when its government begins to interfere with the natural course of the economy.Being a Latin-American, where intellectual circles are highly influenced by the so-called 'progressive' views, it is very shocking to read a book that preaches the virtuosity of egoism (sometimes being a little naive, in my opinion). I must confess that I kept this book on my bookshelf for a lot of months before I decided to read it. It was one of the best books I ever read. However, I couldn't avoid feeling that my own country (Argentina in this case but could be Venezuela, Mexico or any other) was being described as the story progressed.To sum up, a highly recommendable reading. More than 1K pages were keeping me away of it. But from the moment I read the first 2 pages, I knew that this was going to be an amazing, thought-provoking book.
This is a MUST read for everyone. Although Rand sometimes drags on her descriptions a bit too much for my taste, I found Atlas Shrugged to be the most thoughtful book I've ever read. Her insights into how society works and the downfall that ensues too much government involvement is eye opening (and scary).
In an interview with the author of one of the recent biographies of Ayn Rand, Jon Stewart winkingly referred to her novels being filled with lots of "dirty, dirty sex." Those are, in fact, the best scenes. Sure, Rand was prescient---because she identified clearly what certain principles would mean in practice, principles which are now being implemented. I just re-read Atlas Shrugged, which gets better each time, and can say with certainty that it is the greatest achievement in history, in part because it provides the fullest identification of what makes all the others possible. Francisco and Dagny learning together about the wonderful pleasure their bodies can give them the summer after she begins her first job on the railroad as night operator of the Rockdale station; her affair with Rearden beginning at Ellis Wyatt's house after their first run on the John Galt line; and, of course, the encounter in the underground tunnels of the Taggart terminal.it simply doesn't get any better than that. But she was much more concerned with what might be and ought to be. It is a hymn to unfettered human intelligence.It is also the most spiritually rich work of literature I have ever read. A lot of people are turning to it now because of its prescience, but its description of political control and economic collapse are not what's most important (Rand herself, far from aiming at being a prophetess, regarded as one of the novel's strengths the fact that it wasn't even particularly realistic but rather her most fully Romantic work).
I look forward to my next purchase knowing how hassle free it is. I actually received the wrong book but they were very helpful in getting me the right one.
Her grasp of Kant's system is limited, to say the least. I saw this book at the store and found the jacket intriguing.I must have read it a thousand times after that. 'Objectivism' is little more than a patchwork of ideas gleaned from the likes of Aristotle, Adam Smith, Thomas Aquinas and others. or listen to the radio. When they fall in love, it's almost a rivalry.
Personally, I don't believe she ever actually read what he wrote. Both are built around a romanticized version of humankind, lacking in depth, warmth, weakness, vice and, above all, feeling.Eventually, I could not inhabit that mindset anymore. She frequently resorts to 'ad hominem' attacks, especially where Immanuel Kant and other philosophers are concerned. (The last time I mentioned this theory to a person with a degree in psychology, they laughed).The downfall of Rand's philosophy is her novels.
Go on a date. There is no originality to be found in all of Rand's 'philosophy'. Oh, wait. I would constantly recommend them to friends and acquaintances, and viciously argue with anyone who dared to contradict the things I learned from them.Because she was not a trained philosopher her arguments are all too often speculative, her proofs sophomoric. I first read "Atlas Shrugged" after 9/11.
I read Kant, Hume, and many of the other philosophers she abhors, and found that most of what she wrote about them is a complete fabrication. That's ok. The next several years were spent studying her novels, essays, and a book written by Leonard Peikoff entitled, appropriately enough, "Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand".You could say that I came under the spell of Rand's thought- I brought "Atlas" or "The Fountainhead" everywhere I went. Read the Critique of Pure Reason and show me where Kant unveils the darkness in his soul. But I would say to them, if I had the chance, open your mind.
I was 19, scared to death that I might be drafted to go fight and die in a war somewhere in the middle east, and very vulnerable. My favorite bit was when we see John Galt refusing to take part in the welfare program adopted by his employers. But read the book, then decide if I'm right.P.S. They do not grow old and die, they do not have children, they do not get laid off or marry or anything at all, except work. You can't, because it isn't there.Rand offers us a vision of a world that is wholly unlike our own, filled with people wholly unlike us. Objectivists may find my comments unhelpful.
Watch t.v. read a 'regular' novel. There is so much that is beautiful in this world and so much that is ugly in Rand's.
Listen to the Beatles or Bob Dylan. I was enthralled by the philosophical passages and attempted to live my life according to the ideas Ayn Rand introduced me to. As the title of the review says, this is all very juvenile and unrealistic.In the end, I decided that what she advocates- the capitalist, unfettered and unopposed, is at best, misguided and at worst, fascist.
The downfall of her novels is her philosophy. Memo to objectivists: You can use a syllogism to "prove" anything. Rand constantly psychologized her (perceived) intellectual opponents, accusing them of secretly hating life, "the good", etc, which is a danger one learns to avoid if one wants to be taken seriously by serious people.The most original aspect of Randian thought is the idea of "measurement-omission" in concept formation; the most current research in this area, however, completely contradicts Rand's theory.
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