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On Ayn Rand (Philosopher (Wadsworth))

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It is no mean feat to compress the essential elements of Ayn Rand's system of thought into one hundred pages, but this professor Allan Gottelf of The College of New Jersey does extraordinarily well in his book On Ayn Rand. This work is part of a series of books from Wadsworth publishing, each of which is meant to encapsulate the thought of a seminal philosopher. It is promising to see a work on Rand's thought appear in a series of works containing the likes of Plato, Aristotle and Kant, and professor Gotthelf makes good on the judgment to place Rand alongside such thinkers in this short but rich work. Ayn Rand is without a doubt one of the most underrated and neglected thinkers and Gotthelf's book goes a long way toward redressing this grievance, letting readers know what is there in Rand's works to help set the stage for further discussion and for fruitful criticism, and doing so in an objective and scholarly manner.

Gotthelf's book opens with a fascinating account of Rand's life and intellectual development that helps to situate in the reader's mind the influences on and evolution of her thought. One of the things largely missing from the Randian literature is an analysis of the philosophers to whom Rand owes debts or borrows or modifies ideas (for instance, Rand claims that the only philosopher to whom she owes a debt is Aristotle, but she doesn't really go into this herself to any satisfactory length). While the work is a short exposition and not an exegesis of Rand's thought, it is threaded through with tantalizing acknowledgements of debts owed by Rand to other philosophers (mainly those owed to Aristotle). This is the sort of treatment that is needed to stimulate scholarly debate on Rand's ideas.

Most of Gotthelf's book covers Rand's metaphysics, epistemology and ethics, the areas that Rand judged to be the fundamental areas of philosophy and from which the other branches of philosophy are derived. Gotthelf's coverage of these areas, especially of her metaphysics and theory of concept formation, is exemplary and evidences a deep understanding of Rand's ideas. Given the constraints under which professor Gotthelf was working (a one-hundred page limit) it reflects sound judgment that he chose to concentrate on the areas that Rand judged to be fundamental and cover these areas well (relative to the book's size constraints). But her political theory is such an important and radical aspect of her thought (about as much could be said of her aesthetics) that it seems cheating to end the work with just a couple of pages on it. One gets a sense of the axiomatic structure of her thought from the book and can hypothesize how she arrives at the positions that she takes in the other branches of philosophy (politics, aesthetics), but Gotthelf doesn't show how she arrives at them (although he sketches out how she does) and it couldn't be obvious to one not acquainted with her thought how she arrives at them and how successful her defense of these positions is.

On Ayn Rand is a must read for any student of Rand's thought and for anyone interested in studying philosophy. The other books in this Wadsworth philosophers series would be fortunate to do as well as this one.

A plus. It doesn't get any better than this. In 100 pages, Dr. Gotthelf draws on everything known about Ayn Rand, from her novels, books, articles, journals, even spoken lectures and interviews, and gives the correct essentials. The emphasis is on her underlying philosophy, Objectivism, 'the philosophy for living on earth.' The politics of capitalism are only briefly sketched in. He clearly explains Ayn Rand's most complex innovation, her theory of concepts. Under ethics, he covers the 6 most important virtues. He opens and closes with Ayn Rand's benevolent universe premise and heroic view of mankind. He concludes with a passage from John Galt's speech in Atlas Shrugged. 'Fight for the value of your person. Fight for the virtue of your pride.... Fight with the radiant certainty and absolute of knowing that yours is the Morality of Life and that yours is the battle for any achievement, any value, any grandeur, any goodness, any joy that has ever existed on this earth.'

Allan Gotthelf's short book allows you to hold Ayn Rand's philosophy and sense of life in one breath which makes her philosophy very real to any reader. He starts with what attracts people to Ayn Rand-her benevolent universe premise and her heroic view of man-and establishes that hers is not a universally held view, and even the cause of hostility towards Ayn Rand. He then asks which is true? Is life inherently tragic or can we understand ourselves and the world, establish values, and ultimately succeed? That is what Ayn Rand's philosophy establishes: the supreme power of reason, the supreme power of the individual, the supreme power of capitalism, the supreme power of man to achieve values and happiness-if he fights for reason, individualism, and freedom.

The view that life is inherently miserable and tragic has no philosophic basis. Expressing Ayn Rand's view, he says "the greatest amount of suffering in mankind's history has not been due to anything about the nature of the universe. It has been due to the philosophies men have accepted." That is a powerful message for anyone who wants to improve their life or change the world. That accounts for Ayn Rand's appeal. Ideas matter. Good ideas are vital to human happiness.

His last chapter is like a work of art, in that, you see on one page that each core Objectivist principle is necessary for man to have confidence in himself and the world.

Given the limitations inherent in any introduction, Gotthelf briefly indicates Ayn Rand's revolutionary understanding of the senses. A major epistemological point of Ayn Rand's is that the form of perception (color, flavor, tones, texture) does not negate the fact of perception (sight, taste & smell, hearing, touch.) Form is the *direct* experience of the interaction of our sense organs with the external world-which establishes the fact of touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing. This truth may seem obvious to most people, but most philosophers have fought against this view (if they know of it at all) which in the end undermines all knowledge, values, moral certainty, and happiness.

This book weaves together the core themes of Ayn Rand's philosophy and is an excellent introduction, worth including in every introductory philosophy course.

Millions of readers have recognized that Ayn Rand's novels present a revolutionary view of morality and politics. Sadly, however, very few of these readers--whether Rand's admirers or opponents--possess an adequate grasp of the foundations of her philosophic system. By focusing on her metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics, "On Ayn Rand" presents a sympathetic, intellectually rigorous introduction to this philosophic system. A close reading (and re-reading) of Gotthelf's superb little volume would benefit greatly both beginning and advanced students of philosophy.

For beginning students, Gotthelf provides a number of unique values. First, his two chapters on Rand's life and intellectual development represent the only accurate intellectual biography in print, in part due to his unprecedented access to the Ayn Rand Archives. Second, Gotthelf introduces beginners to many technical issues in Rand's philosophy, and from these, he draws out the interesting, controversial implications, whether it be her avowed atheism, her uncompromising defense of reason, or her glowing appraisal of selfishness. Last, Gotthelf explicitly challenges Rand's views with relevant comparisons to historically important philosophers, including Descartes, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant.

For advanced students of philosophy (including Rand's philosophy), there is too much of value to list here. Of particular note, though, Gotthelf analyzes aspects of Rand's theory of concepts that many students *think* they understand but seldom do, including the motivation *for* a theory of concepts, the how-done and how-to of concept-formation, and what "measurement-omission" really is. Further, Gotthelf's innovative formulations of familiar Objectivist concepts should defrost anyone's frozen abstractions. In just 100 pages, Gotthelf clears up many common misunderstandings of Rand's philosophy, including the ones that typically plague reviews of her books.

I can't recommend this pearl of a book highly enough.

Allan Gotthelf succeeds at condensing Ayn Rand's entire integrated philosophy of Objectivism into a short (97 pp.), easy to read introductory book. Most of the book is devoted to presenting the core of the philosophical system -- metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics -- but there is a glance at politics and esthetics, and two chapters are devoted to a biography of Ayn Rand.

Gotthelf argues that philosophy is not an esoteric game, but a practical tool none of us can do without. He shows how one's ability to make decisions and one's ethical and political views stem from the metaphysical and epistemological premises one accepts. Ultimately philosophy moves the world. *On Ayn Rand* argues that Objectivism is practical: a guide to living one's life, which, when correctly understood and acted upon, will enable its practitioner to achieve happiness.

*On Ayn Rand* introduces all the main ideas of Objectivism in a clear manner, easy for the beginner to grasp. For example, Gotthelf explains that three metaphysical axioms, which are perceptually self-evident, underlie all our thinking and are properly the starting point of philosophy: that something exists, that the act of grasping this implies that one is conscious, and that everything that exists has an identity. Using simple examples he shows how even if one tries to deny these axioms one affirms them.

*On Ayn Rand* is not written in a detached manner, so common to textbooks. Its author had been a student of Ayn Rand and knows his subject. His presentation is both factual and passionate. Convinced of the practicality of ideas and of their power to change the world, Allan Gotthelf has written a clear and enjoyable introduction to a revolutionary philosophy.

A plus. It doesn't get any better than this. In 100 pages, Dr. Gotthelf draws on everything known about Ayn Rand, from her novels, books, articles, journals, even spoken lectures and interviews, and gives the correct essentials. The emphasis is on her underlying philosophy, Objectivism, 'the philosophy for living on earth.' The politics of capitalism are only briefly sketched in. He clearly explains Ayn Rand's most complex innovation, her theory of concepts. Under ethics, he covers the 6 most important virtues. He opens and closes with Ayn Rand's benevolent universe premise and heroic view of mankind. He concludes with a passage from John Galt's speech in Atlas Shrugged.'Fight for the value of your person. Fight for the virtue of your pride.... Fight with the radiant certainty and absolute of knowing that yours is the Morality of Life and that yours is the battle for any achievement, any value, any grandeur, any goodness, any joy that has ever existed on this earth.'

One of the world's foremost experts on Aristotle eludciates Ayn Rand's philosophy: Objectivism. Marred by some errors.

For a complete systematic presentation of Ayn Rand's philosophy get yourself a copy of Dr. Leonard Peikoff's *Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand.* It is generally the book that other authors who write books on Ayn Rand get their information on Objectivism and Ayn Rand's philosophy from.

To present an intelligible over-view of a comprehensive, thoroughly integrated philosophy in 100 pages is a daunting task. All the more so when the originator of the philosophy made a number of revolutionary contributions to epistemology, ethics and esthetics, each of which in themselves would require at least a hundred pages to present clearly.

Dr. Allan Gotthelf has succeeded in this task, authoring "On Ayn Rand" with considerable elegance and charm. In 100 hundred pages-as required by this series on major philosophers-he covers the essentials of Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Beginning with a captivating discussion of Ayn Rand's view of man, Dr. Gotthelf lays out at the same time the theme of his book: the benevolence of heroic man. He is meticulous. He is precise. He cares deeply.

This makes for exciting-and completely refreshing-reading. There is no cynicism here, no tired skepticism, no silly pragmatism. Dr. Gotthelf is at once objective and passionate about the subject of his book. He has the happy skill of making his subject interesting both to those new to Objectivism, and to the long-time student of Objectivism. "On Ayn Rand" is an accurate presentation of the salient points of a philosophy which has influenced countless individual lives and is beginning to change for the positive better the culture in which we live.

Students of philosophy will find On Ayn Rand to be an excellent introduction to Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism.

In 100 pages, Dr. Gotthelf clearly lays out the foundations of Objectivism in a manner that will be accessible to students approaching Rand for the first time. After a beginner puts this book down, he will have a good framework from which to consider Rand's works and ideas.

Advanced students will benefit from the book as well. Not only does it serves as a good summary of Objectivism -- its footnotes provide starting points for further research.

I highly recommend the book.

The essentials of Ayn Rand's life, her works, her attitute towards man and the universe, and especially her philosophy are covered ACCURATELY in fewer than 100 pages.