About this title: Ayn Rand here sets forth the moral principles of Objectivism, the philosophy that holds man's life -- the life proper to a rational being -- as the standards of moral values and regards altruism as incompatible with man's nature, with the creative requirements of his survival, and with a free society.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: A Signet Book, New York
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780451163936ISBN:0451163931
Description: Very Good. Book. 12mo-over 6? "-7? " tall. With Additional Articles by Nathaniel Branden; Mass Market Paperback; Later Printing; 173 pages + advertisements; Creasing and minor edge wear to wraps; Minor soiling to foredge of text block; Text unmarked; read more
Edition: 13th Printing
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Signet Book, New York
Date Published: 1964
Description: Good. No Dust Jacket as Issued. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Book shows moderate wear/ spine tight, pages clean/ covers creased; moderate edge wear/ corners, spine hinge and spine creased/ several page tips creased/ page edges have a few chips. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Signet Book
Date Published: 1964
ISBN-13:9780451163936ISBN:0451163931
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. very good! . pages are crisp and clean. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 176 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Signet
Date Published: 1964-11-01
ISBN-13:9780451163936ISBN:0451163931
Description: Good. PAPERBACK. Good + Condition. Binding tight, pages clean. Older cover design. Some smudging and edge-wear to covers. Inner covers and pages tanned. Nice reading copy. read more
Edition: 12th
Binding: Paper
Publisher: Signet Books, N. Y.
Date Published: 1964
Description: Cover Art. Very Good. No Jacket. Vintage Paperback. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" Tall. Cover Price.95 cents------#Q3756-------The cover has light shelf wear with a crease by the spine....Light yellowing to the pages. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Signet Book
Date Published: 1964
ISBN-13:9780451163936ISBN:0451163931
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Cover shows minor shelf wear at edges, spine uncreased; a few pages have underlining/notes; pages slightly tanned. read more
"This was a heavy read, but very thought provoking and I'd almost go so far as to say aweinspiring. The title is controversial as is the content due to the non-politically correctness of it all. When I listened to Rand's explanations, though, a lot of it resonated with my personal views of the local and global society around me. It has also greatly stretched my thought processes in some areas. I think a lot of the principles described in this book are those which the United States was founded and flourished on. On the flip side, there are numerous descriptions of negative societal traits that, IMHO, explain how the US has reached the nearly socialistic state that we're in now.
I got the audiobook of this publication and have listened to it twice, but I know there is still plenty that I haven't fully understood yet. I'm not quite ready to claim Rand's principles as gospel (I think I'll have to go though this in physical form a few times to fully understand it), but a lot of what I've heard makes rational sense to me.
It is definitely a book worth checking out if you're willing to go into it with an open mind."
"After reading Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, I started this and was thinking- Oh boy, another collection of articles from Rand's Objectivist newsletter. Turns out there is a lot of good stuff here. The theme that runs through these essays is much the same as Unknown Ideal, as well as all of Rand's other works: In a truly free society, the individual is all-important. No man should be sacrificed, in whole or in part, for the benefit of another.
There are two articles here that I think many would find thought-provoking, even those who claim to hate Rand's philosophy:
"How Does One Lead a Rational Life in an Irrational Society?"
Answer: "One must never fail to pronounce moral judgment." Sounds pretty self-righteous and arrogant, but what Rand is saying is that if you see something happening that you know is wrong, it is immoral not to speak out against it.
"Racism"
It's hard to imagine that anyone (okay, at least anyone who is not a member of the Aryan Nations) could read this and not think that it is dead on. In brief: Every man, regardless of race, should be judged on his merits."
"This book summarizes Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. I really like many of the values Objectivism champions: reason, ethics, self-love, self-esteem, self-reliance, individualism, joy, and pleasure. But emphasizing these in absolute terms, as polar opposites to other qualities, creates a lot of problems.
Like most Western philosophers, Rand is a dualistic thinker, which I find simplistic. To her, value and morality are objective, inherent in human nature. There is Self and Other, Moral and Immoral, Good and Evil, Right and Wrong, and one should never hesitate to cast judgment on those who are Wrong, or compromise in the slightest bit on these fundamental values. Nations that are Right may invade nations that are Wrong, and impose their morality on that nation, because Wrong nations are outlaws. Of course, Ayn Rand is the authority on Right and Wrong, although this is neatly couched in the claim that her advocated morality is objective.
She seems to be reacting against a world that I'm unfamiliar with--a world divided between creative people who just want to do their thing, and parasites who just want to steal all their hard work. Fleeing as she did from Soviet Russia, I get this. So maybe I'm just a spoiled American, but I've never seen the world divided in this way. Ironically, most of the parasitism I'm aware of are by corporations, for which Rand advocates nearly zero regulation. Much of the property they steal or pollute is inherently communal, impossible to divide and protect in the way Rand advocates. Rand believes the only rights are individual rights, that there is no such thing as a collective.
Objectivism also distinguishes between selfishness and a hive mentality that she calls altruism. Maybe I'm being thrown off by the word "selfishness," which she admits she uses for shock value. She does believe in ethics, and says that selfishness would make the world a better place, though she never explains why in this book. But even with a strong code of ethics, focusing on self-interest misses out on the full possibilities of love and compassion, which can be learned and practiced, and encompasses and requires self-love. That is what altruism is for me. There are few places besides Rand's writing that I've seen altruism equated with self-sacrifice. How can someone be of service unless they have their own needs met and they find joy in it? Maybe that's all Rand is trying to say, but if so, then I admit I've misunderstood her, which is apparently common among her readers."
"I read this book in order to understand Rand's philosophy before reading Atlas Shrugged. I figured that for such a big book, I needed to know what was going on before the fact, so I can follow along. Objectivism was a bit difficult for me at first, I had to really understand the philosophy. But as I got through the articles, I began to understand, also to be able to assume what Rand's thinking would be on other issues, & also--& this is how I knew I had really grasped it--began to disagree with a lot of the ideals of the philosophy. I think that some of the points in the books, such as self-esteem & productive work, are very good self-help topics. I like the fact that she is in love with the Declaration of Independence. But other than that, she equates the things with which she does not agree to the most extreme of that case, such as socialism equals Soviet Union/Nazi Germany, altruism equals exploitation of the haves by the have-nots, etc. But the thing I disliked most were Branden's articles -- all he did was quote Rand word-for-word & then summarise her in the rest of the article. It was quite annoying & repetitive. I thought it was quite bizarre how Rand, instead of saying she was quoting from her book, named the character as a real person. & I think it was a total cop-out for her to say that 'how' the voluntary taxation would work was a question of the philosophy of law & she couldn't give any concrete ideals for it, only illustrations. I do think I will read more of Rand's non-fiction, though, it's all so very interesting, & I learned a lot."
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