Ayn Rand

[Steve H]

Has anyone ever read anything by this ghastly woman? I've read a lot about her, but never anything by her until now: I decided to read her 'The Virtue of Selfishness', to see if her dreadful, hard-right philosophy was as bad as I'd read. In the first 18 pages by this self-proclaimed philosopher, I found an example of ontological reductionism ("nothing-buttery"), a dodgy syllogism, and an attempt to get an "ought" from an "is". Her title says it all about her appalling ideas: she despised altruism, and thought people should only act in their own selfish interest. She was a great exponent of de-regulation, to let capitalists have as free a hand as possible. De-regulation of the farming industry under Thatcher led directly to the BSE crisis, and I have read it opined that de-regulation of the financial sector by Alan Greenspan, an avowed disciple of hers, contributed to the global crash of 2008. Her literary style is pretty abysmal, as well: she spends page after page carefully explaining the bleeding obvious, and is much too fond of italics. The book itself is cheap and nasty, poorly printed on low-quality paper, as befits such a nasty woman.

[jeremyp]

Has anyone ever read anything by this ghastly woman?

Not me. I do know, of course, that Atlas Shrugged is a kind of Bible for the American libertarians.

[Robbie]

I'd heard of. Prompted by this thread I googled & read more about the author.

Interesting, maybe. Not my thing though, she'd look down her nose at me or anyone with my job  .

[Udayana]

Her "philosophy" is specious.

There is a film adaptation, rather arcane, of the "The Fountainhead" that is worth watching.

[Nearly Sane]

I've read both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, though many years ago. To be honest I quite enjoyed their rather grandiose pretensions. She managed to get the philosophy in without ruining the story, though she needed a better editor for length.

As for the philosophy, it too is pretentiously grandiose. It takes the common criticism of ethical altruism, that it's merely prettified self interest, and combines that with left over bits of Nietzsche to argue that an 'honest' selfishness is rational, and that the most 'capable' should be allowed to act on it. I feel her calling it Objectivism was clever marketing.

[Steve H]

The fact that she always uses "altruism" as a boo-word and "selfishness" as a hooray-word tells you most of what you need to know about her.

[Nearly Sane]

The fact that she always uses "altruism" as a boo-word and "selfishness" as a hooray-word tells you most of what you need to know about her.

The great philosophy show Friends covers most of this.

https://youtu.be/DowJfUmlzeI

[jeremyp]

The great philosophy show Friends covers most of this.

https://youtu.be/DowJfUmlzeI

Hmm, Phoebe's plan immediately fails because she really made the $200 donation to win an argument with Joey.

[Dicky Underpants]

I've read both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, though many years ago. To be honest I quite enjoyed their rather grandiose pretensions. She managed to get the philosophy in without ruining the story, though she needed a better editor for length.

As for the philosophy, it too is pretentiously grandiose. It takes the common criticism of ethical altruism, that it's merely prettified self interest, and combines that with left over bits of Nietzsche to argue that an 'honest' selfishness is rational, and that the most 'capable' should be allowed to act on it. I feel her calling it Objectivism was clever marketing.

I read the Fountainhead and The Virtue of Selfishness many years ago. I tried to get into Atlas Shrugged but found it pretty hard going, and gave up. I friend of mine summed her up rather succinctly by saying "I always get the feel that her cunt is talking". Pardon his French.
On the basis of The Fountainhead, I'd say she can tell a story. It's supposed to be based on the life and work of Frank Lloyd Wright. It is however not difficult to see it as an effort to make fascism not seem so bad after all. Not something I'm likely to concur with in this lifetime.

It's interesting to read her descriptions of her taste in music. Strangely, it's not at all 'heroic'. Just the more gentle Chopin pieces and stuff from the heydays of Vienna - operetta and the Waltz Kings. Not a very consistent character, I think, and certainly not one I'd have liked to have known. She apparently surrounded herself with an impenetrable wall of sychophants, who fenced off any attempts by serious writers to get into discussion with her. Very much the Fountainhead, dispensing her pearls of wisdom and not to be contradicted in any way.