The Virtue of Selfishness (Signet)

be selfish.....

At the very least one learns, when reading this, that Rand is a supremely selfish person. And that's good, we learn. If you have any curiousity about or of objectivism this will shed some much needed light on the philosophy and either attract or repel you.

Ayn Rand is perhaps the most widely read philosopher and intellectual novelist of the 20th century-with the Fountainhead and its bigger brother Atlas Shrugged frequently appearing on popular Best Of lists across the States and other parts of North America. Despite this, Rand has received little love from the academic establishment, in no small part because she showed little love to them. This...more

Ayn Rand is perhaps the most widely read philosopher and intellectual novelist of the 20th century-with the Fountainhead and its bigger brother Atlas Shrugged frequently appearing on popular Best Of lists across the States and other parts of North America. Despite this, Rand has received little love from the academic establishment, in no small part because she showed little love to them. This book, a collection of popular philosophical and political essays by her and her then protege Nathaniel Branden, has done little to alter this, and a quick reading of any one of them will show why. Like most of Rand's non fiction, these essays are frequently quite well written and accesible. She was writing for the general public, and there is nothing wrong with that. Many very smart people (Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, George Orwell), and did so without being patronizing or overly commercial. Unfortunately Rand is both here, and humourously, one gets the impression she is largely unaware of this fact. Regardless of what you may think of her philosophy, its hard to deny that these essays are polemical, frequently unfair, and even somewhat hypocritical. In "The Argument by Intimidation" for example, she criticizes modern academics for their snobbishness and willingness to resorty to callous insults to callow opponents. This can be true at points, but Rand seriously undermines her argument by calling persons like Kant the most "evil man who ever lived", and frequently referring to her intellectual opposites as "man haters" "leeches" etc. Far from infrequent, these snide snubs make up a great deal of her arguments, and therefore are likely to appeal largely to those who've already decided they agree with her. For this reason, the essays contained here are largely superficial. I mostly don't agree with Rand's philosophy at all, but I also don't agree with the postive aspects of Nietzsche's thought yet still find him a thrilling and fascinating read. Rand however, does little to inspire respect or even admiration outside of those already inclined to support her   hide

It isn't about what you think by just reading the title. Ayn Rand's "selfishness" means something different than how we've come to view the word.