Ayn Rand, Objectivists, and the History of Philosophy [Hardcover]

Fred Seddon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0761823085 | ISBN-13: 978-0761823087 | Publication Date: May 20, 2003

In this book, Fred Seddon critically examines the views of Ayn Rand and some of her fellow Objectivists on several of the major figures in the history of philosophy, viz., Plato, Augustine, Hume, Kant and Nietzsche. There is also a chapter dealing with Rand's aesthetics, as well as three appendixes, two on Plato and one detailing the philosophy of Ayn Rand. This book is a must for anyone interested in Ayn Rand or the History of Philosophy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Seddon has a refreshing intellectual honesty that sets himapart frommany Objectivist interpreters.>>>> (Register, Bryan Utopian Studies )

Seddon has a refreshing intellectual honesty that sets himapart frommany Objectivist interpreters. (Bryan Register Utopian Studies )

About the Author

Fred Seddon is Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 206 pages
• Publisher: University Press Of America (May 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761823085
• ISBN-13: 978-0761823087
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,150,381 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, July 4, 2003

By 

Steve Jackson "stevejackson100atyahoocom" (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ayn Rand, Objectivists, and the History of Philosophy (Hardcover)

Say what you want about Ayn Rand, but she wasn't an expert in the history of philosophy. It's widely conceded - even by many Objectivists - that her views on other philosophers weren't always accurate, to say the least. Her simplistic and often fanciful creation of what the leading philosophers taught has been continued by some of her followers. Nonetheless, I'm not aware of a systematic analysis of Rand's thought in this area.

This book contains seven chapters and three appendices. The chapters are on Plato, Augustine, Hume, Kant (2), Nietzsche, and Rand's view of art. Sometimes the chapter focuses on how Rand interpreted a given thinker, other times it focuses on what an Official Objectivist (such as Ridpath or Gotthelf) stated.

I'm disappointed with this work. As Prof. Seddon says in the introduction, many of the chapters in the book were published as separate articles. There's nothing wrong with that, but the book doesn't provide an overview of Rand's view of the history of philosophy. There are also 2 appendices (totaling 35 pages) which merely catalog Aristotle's references to Plato and his dialogues. That's interesting, but there is no discussion about how these citations help the reader understand Rand better. And, speaking of Aristotle, one of the book's glaring omissions is that there is no chapter on Aristotle. Rand asserted that her only philosophical debt was to Aristotle, so a discussion of whether she understood Aristotle well would be an essential part of any discussion. The chapters of the various thinkers are interesting as far as they go (particularly the one on Augustine) but there is no attempt to present them as an integrated whole.

This work was just recently published, so Mr. Seddon had the benefit of two recent works on Rand: Chris Sciabarra's AYN RAND: THE RUSSIAN RADICAL and Scott Ryan's critique of Rand's epistemology. Both works (particularly the first) are quite relevant to any critique of Rand's view of the history of philosophy. Unfortunately, neither is mentioned.

Considering the price of this book, I'm also disappointed about how poorly set it is and the large number of typos and related problems. For example, there is a reference in a footnote to a work "Lennox (2001)." Yet the bibliography contains no reference to a work by Lennox.

11 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable critique, October 9, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Ayn Rand, Objectivists, and the History of Philosophy (Hardcover)

I have read all of Ayn Rand's fiction and some of the non-fiction many years ago. I would not describe myself as an Objectivist but her description of philosophies and philosophers with whom she disagreed, I tended to take at face value. Plato was an evil mystic, Hume an Attila of the spirit, Kant "the most evil man in mankind's history". Of course, it is a tendency of revolutionaries ( and Rand was certainly one) to demonize those with whom they disagree. Professor Seddon shows, on the whole successfully, that Ayn Rand misinterpreted or distorted the views of many of these philosophers and this practice continues to some extent with her intellectual heirs.
I think he makes his point most clearly in the chapters on Kant's ethics and Hume. The quotations from Hume's works and the author's cogent analysis show that Hume is so much a defender of capitalism and reason in the affairs of society that he should be regarded as at least an ally of objectivists. Rand's criticism of Kant's ethics he shows to be so off base as to be embarrassing.
It was difficult for me to follow the arguments in the section on Plato maybe because, as Professor Seddon says, the dialogues have to be read more as plays or myths than as arguments for a position in the modern sense. Appendices A and B also added little to my understanding of the section on Plato.
Appendix C on the other hand, is an excellent 8 page summary of Rand's philosophy. It might have made a good introduction to the book.
Professor Seddon writes with and engaging and fluid style but I found the habit of referring to the works of the philosophers by abbreviations hard to follow, particularly in the section on Nietzsche.
Anyone who is interested in the philosophy of Objectivism would profit from reading this book.