Ayn Rand's 'Objectivism' : Reconsidered

[RascalPuff]

Was Ayn Rand an excessively flawed genius?

http://open.salon.com/blog/idahospud...es_of_ayn_rand

Excerpt from the above url:

Her philosophy in action:
For ten years, 1958-1968, she ruled over a group of admirers who met almost every night in her New York apartment.
“But to the inner circle surrounding and protecting Rand (in ironic humor they called themselves the "Collective"), their leader soon became more than just extremely influential. She was venerated as their leader. Her seemingly omniscient ideas were inerrant. The power of her personality made her so persuasive that no one dared to challenge her. And her philosophy of Objectivism, since it was derived through pure reason, revealed final Truth and dictated absolute morality.




One of the closest to Rand was Nathaniel Branden, a young philosophy student who joined the Collective in the early days before Atlas Shrugged was published. In his autobiographical memoirs entitled Judgment Day (1989), Branden recalled: "There were implicit premises in our world to which everyone in our circle subscribed, and which we transmitted to our students at NBI." Incredibly, and here is where the philosophical movement became a cult, they came to believe that (B. Brandon pp. 255-256):

• Ayn Rand is the greatest human being who has ever lived.
• Atlas Shrugged is the greatest human achievement in the history of the world.
• Ayn Rand, by virtue of her philosophical genius, is the supreme arbiter in any issue pertaining to what is rational, moral, or appropriate to man's life on earth.
• Once one is acquainted with Ayn Rand and/or her work, the measure of one's virtue is intrinsically tied to the position one takes regarding her and/or it.
• No one can be a good Objectivist who does not admire what Ayn Rand admires and condemn what Ayn Rand condemns.
• No one can be a fully consistent individualist who disagrees with Ayn Rand on any fundamental issue.
• Since Ayn Rand has designated Nathaniel Branden as her "intellectual heir," and has repeatedly proclaimed him to be an ideal exponent of her philosophy, he is to be accorded only marginally less reverence than Ayn Rand herself.
• But it is best not to say most of these things explicitly (excepting, perhaps, the first two items). One must always maintain that one arrives at one's beliefs solely by reason.

In what has become the most scandalous (and now oft-told) story in the brief history of the Objectivist movement, starting in 1953 and lasting until 1958 (and on and off for another decade after), Ayn Rand and her "intellectual heir" Nathaniel Branden, 25 years her junior, carried on a secret love affair known only to their respective spouses. The falling in love was not planned, but it was ultimately "reasonable" since the two of them were, de facto, the two greatest humans on the planet. "By the total logic of who we are--by the total logic of what love and sex mean--we had to love each other," Rand told Barbara Branden and her own husband, Frank O'Connor.

It was a classic display of a brilliant mind intellectualizing a purely emotional response, and another example of reason carried to absurd heights. "Whatever the two of you may be feeling," Rand rationalized, "I know your intelligence, I know you recognize the rationality of what we feel for each other, and that you hold no value higher than reason" (B. Brandon, p. 25.

[Mikal]

Gee thanks RP for dropping this second thread on Ayn Rand. Actually with the first drop and her speech to the graduates I found quite abit that seemed flawed to me. I'm having a little chuckle cause I was going to post but was caught up in some work here. I'm chuckling cause I was not aware anyone was above criticism...lol...but then again when you add in the "cultish" flavor it might just be the time that you need to use reason to attack reason which is probably the best way to handle the Objectivist Movement.


Regards Mikal

[Lloyd Gillespie]

Ayn Rand's genius resides in one absolute objective fact: Capitalism always objectively trumps communism and socialism__Eternally__Only capitalism offers the necessary incentives, absolutely required for any systems of wisdom what-so-ever__to properly function... Adam Smith and Ayn Rand trump all other thinkers, in this one regard__alone...!!! Her entire philosophy follows from this central fact...

There exists no debate possible against this one central tenet of human psychology, that just happens to also be sound logic__Incentive(motivation) trumps all other truth...

[RascalPuff]

Ayn Rand's genius resides in one absolute objective fact: Capitalism always objectively trumps communism and socialism__Eternally__Only capitalism offers the necessary incentives, absolutely required for any systems of wisdom what-so-ever__to properly function... Adam Smith and Ayn Rand trump all other thinkers, in this one regard__alone...!!! Her entire philosophy follows from this central fact...

There exists no debate possible against this one central tenet of human psychology, that just happens to also be sound logic__Incentive(motivation) trumps all other truth...

Agreed on that capital note of Capitalism, Lloyd. : )
Most of the critical stuff I've seen on Ayn Rand has been personal, which distracts from the key points in her messages.