Why Businessmen Need Philosophy: The Capitalist's Guide to the Ideas Behind Ayn Rand's AtlasShrugged [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Debi Ghate (Editor), Richard E. Ralston (Editor), John Allison (Introduction)

Book Description

Release date: April 5, 2011 | ISBN-10: 0451232690 | Edition: Rev Exp

The intellectual tooks every business person needs in the boardroom. Includes two rare essays by Ayn Rand!

With government and the media blaming big business for the world economic crisis, capitalism needs all the help it can get. It's the perfect time for this collection of essays presenting a philosophical defense of capitalism by Ayn Rand and other Objectivist intellectuals. Essential and practical, Why Businessmen Need Philosophy reveals the importance of maintaining philosophical principles in the corporate environment at all levels of business from daily operations to executive decisions, and provides the tactical and tactful rational thinking required to defend companies from ideological attacks.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Debi Ghate is Vice President of Academic Programs at the Ayn Rand Institute where she also serves as a corporate officer. Ghate is the senior director of the Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship, a separate organization from ARI that supports scholarly work based on Ayn Rand's corpus. Richard A. Ralston is the publishing manager of the Ayn Rand Institute. He has been the circulation director and publisher of The Christian Science Monitor, a radio producer, a national television news business manager, and a book publisher. He was the revision editor of two books by Ayn Rand in 2005: THREE PLAYS and THE EARLY AYN RAND.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade; Rev Exp edition (April 5, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451232690
• ASIN: B0055X61QE
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #579,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A MORAL REVOLUTION! April 5, 2011

By William Bucko

Format:Paperback

Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" was a moral revolution, illustrating "a philosophy for living on earth." If human life is important, then we should glorify those who make life possible--the Thomas Edisons, Henry Fords and other creators, the businessmen who CREATE wealth (rather than seize it).

Yet today most intellectuals attack the very men and women who keep us alive.

This book explains WHY. It explodes the false ideas that underlie today's worship of omnipotent government: altruism, and the Marxist dogma that the source of wealth is men's muscles rather than their minds. And it gives businessmen an invaluable self-defense kit!

The contents:

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Preface by Debi Ghate and Richard E. Ralston
Acknowledgments
Introduction by John Allison

Part 1: Do Businessmen Really Need Philosophy?

"Why Businessmen Need Philosophy," by Leonard Peikoff
"Philosophy: The Ultimate CEO," by Harry Binswanger
"Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think," by Ayn Rand (from Atlas Shrugged)
"The Businessmen's Crucial Role: Material Men of the Mind," by Debi Ghate
"The Money-Making Personality," by Ayn Rand

Part 2: Why is Business "Public Enemy #1"?

"America's Persecuted Minority," by Ayn Rand (From Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal)
"The Philosophical Origins of Antitrust," by John Ridpath
"The Morality of Moneylending: A Short History," by Yaron Brook
"Why Conservatives Can't Stop the Growth of the State," by Yaron Brook and Alex Epstein
"The Philosophy of Privation: Environmentalism Unveiled," by Peter Schwartz (from Return of the Primitive)
"Energy Privation: The Environmentalist Campaign Against Energy," by Keith Lockitch

Part 3: Doesn't Business Require Compromise?

"The Anatomy of Compromise," by Ayn Rand (From The Objectivist Newsletter)
"Why Should One Act on Principle?" by Leonard Peikoff

Part 4: A Defense for Businessmen

"Atlas Shrugged: America's Second Declaration of Independence," by Onkar Ghate
"An Answer for Businessmen," by Ayn Rand
"The Dollar and The Gun," by Harry Binswanger
"You're guilty of a great sin, Mr. Rearden," by Ayn Rand (from Atlas Shrugged)
"The Sanction of the Victims," by Ayn Rand (from The Voice of Reason)
"I work for nothing but my own profit," by Ayn Rand (from Atlas Shrugged)

Afterword: "Modern Management," by Ayn Rand (from The Ayn Rand Column)

Part 5: Additional Resources

About Ayn Rand
About Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand's Philosophy: Objectivism
The Morality of Capitalism
Ayn Rand's Fiction
Ayn Rand's Nonfiction

Part 6: About the Contributors

About the Contributors
About the Ayn Rand Institute

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars This expanded edition is a bit of a mixed bag January 22, 2012

By Ash Ryan

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Its intended audience might find much of value in this book, if they can get past the first few chapters, which are of somewhat mixed quality (as is John Allison's introduction). And for some reason, the editors left out some of the best essays from the original edition (such as Binswanger's "'Buy American' is Un-American") and retained some of the weaker ones (such as Leonard Peikoff's, which is not his best work, though it is the title essay). To give credit where credit is due, however, the essays by Yaron Brook on the history and morality of money-lending and by Onkar Ghate on Atlas Shrugged as "America's Second Declaration of Independence" are excellent, as are those by Harry Binswanger, Keith Lockitch, and of course Ayn Rand. John Ridpath's and Peter Schwartz's contributions are also good.

5.0 out of 5 stars great book! January 29, 2013

By christopher

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

this book is the perfect companion to Atlas Shrugged! so compatible, one should not consider himself a student of Atlas Shrugged without reading this.