Ayn Rand & Objectivism

In Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist, Tara Smith dives deep into the virtues on which life depends, showing why they are requirements and what they demand. Here are six quotes I particularly liked, from Smith's chapter on honesty: "As the refusal to fake reality, honesty consists in a deliberate,…

Roderick Fitts reviews The Passion of Ayn Rand’s Critics: The Case Against the Brandens, by James Valliant.

Examines Daniels’s recent New Criterion article “Ayn Rand: Engineer of Souls” and ponders the question, “Why, to the detriment of his own credibility, would an otherwise capable intellectual so grossly misrepresent Rand’s actual views—and do so, not at a cocktail party, but in a public forum?”

Here’s a note from Diana Hsieh about her growing empire of excellence in activism and living: Hi, I'm  Diana Hsieh.  I'm an Objectivist and a recent Ph.D in philosophy. I oversee an independent network of e-mail lists for friendly discussion and information-sharing among advocates of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism.  They are…

Daniel Wahl reviews Essays on Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, edited by Robert Mayhew.

In my last post, I responded to Will Wilkinson's allegation that Ayn Rand's ethical egoism cannot support the principle of individual rights, because the egoist has no self-interested reason to refrain from using force against others. Wilkinson contended that bureaucrats who feast at the public trough seem to fulfill their…

Commenting on the recent revival of interest in Ayn Rand, libertarian blogger Will Wilkinson recently asserted that while "Rand's emphasis on the role of individual rights in generating creativity and entrepreneurial effort remains enlightening," her moral justification for individual rights fails. Wilkinson, himself a former Ayn Rand enthusiast who became…

Part four of Craig Biddle’s six-hour seminar The Source and Nature of Rights has been posted to UFM’s website and is accessible for free. In this section, Mr. Biddle concludes his discussion of Ayn Rand’s ethics and theory of rights.

Part three of Craig Biddle’s six-hour seminar The Source and Nature of Rights has been posted to UFM’s website and is accessible for free. In this section, Mr. Biddle continues his discussion of Ayn Rand’s ethics and theory of rights.

Robert Mayhew reviews Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right, by Jennifer Burns.