The Ideas of Ayn Rand [Hardcover]

Ronald E. Merrill (Author), Ron Merrill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1991

"The Ideas of Ayn Rand" tells of Ayn Rand (1905-1982), who is best-known for her blockbuster novels, "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged". In the 1960s her "Objectivist" ideas, featuring laissez-faire capitalism, atheism, "the virtue of selfishness", and aesthetic romanticism, were promoted in an organized movement, which split apart following Rand's falling-out with protege Nathaniel Branden. Despite this debacle, she continues to attract readers and to exert a major, if largely subterranean, influence on thinking and policy. Recent works on Rand have focussed on the details of her biography: her struggle as a refugee from Soviet Russia to become a literary success in the US, her career as a Hollywood screen writer, and her tortured private life. "The Ideas of Ayn Rand" offers an examination of the development of Rand's thought, with the events of her life presented as necessary background. Dr Merrill's standpoint is neither hostile nor uncritical. He gives a detailed analysis of all Rand's important fiction works, illustrating the development of her writing technique. He demonstrates the influence of Nietzsche upon Rand's early thought, and her subsequent, not entirely candid attempts to deny that influence. The author aims to give a fresh interpretation of Rand's views on metaphysics and ethics, and a critical account of her political activities.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 191 pages
• Publisher: Open Court Publishing Company (December 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812691571
• ISBN-13: 978-0812691573
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,147,346 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointingly superficial., July 28, 1998

By 

psychephile - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ideas of Ayn Rand (Paperback)

Given the publisher of this book, I had hoped to find a systematic presentation and evaluation of Ayn Rand's ideas. Unfortunately, both the presentation and evaluation were superficial. The author failed to motivate Rand's ideas by a central theme, and his evalutions were ad hoc and disintegrated.

The book's strongest potential virtue was to delineate Nietzsche's influence on Rand's philosophy. Yet while the author claims that Rand's writings were influenced by Nietzsche, he provides little documentation for any early influence and no evidence for any lasting influence. His claim that Rand derived her critique of Kant from Nietzsche, for example, was never documented. A substantial revision of this section of the book, particularly in light of recent publications, would be warranted--without such a revision, the book has little to recommend it.

Finally, the author's narration of recent scholarly interest in Rand--both inside and outside academia--was also disappo! intingly superficial. His treatment was marred by his conflation of these intellectual developments with much non-scholarly (and uninformative) interest in her personal life and the lives of her self-proclaimed admirers.

With the publication of "Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand," "Letters of Ayn Rand," and "Journals of Ayn Rand," the current volume has been entirely superceded. Save your money.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent overview, September 29, 2008

By 

William B. Swift (Cumberland, MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ideas of Ayn Rand (Paperback)

While the discussions of the influence of Nietzsche on Rand and the analyses of her novels are interesting, the real strength of this book is the clarification and extension of Rand's ethics. The unification of oughts, operational ought and normative ought are the same, the replacement of Man's Life as ultimate end with Man's Life as ultimate means, and his clarification of the goals of ethics (as making yourself the kind of person you should be, rational, productive, and self-improving) are more than worth the price of the book.

He points out the weaknesses and problems with Rand's esthetic theories.

Unfortunately, he does not do the same for Rand's epistemology, which has always been the weakest part of her work.

The last part of the book deals with her attempts to make a practical difference through politics and the continuing disagreements Objectivists have with libertarianism.

The book is also extremely readable and well organized.

5 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice book, November 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ideas of Ayn Rand (Paperback)

This is a nice work in independent commentary and interpretation, something Peikovians cannot stand. And yes, the book has useful commentary.