More Ayn Rand
Didn't mean to set off an Objectionist v Believers war last time. I was simply curious whether Ricocheters thought the effort to tarnish Republicans with the godless brush by pointing to their appetite for Ayn Rand would work politically.
In any case, I recently stumbled across another perspective, by Fr. Robert Sirico -- who surely has a hard task in running a free market institute (the Acton Institute) with a special emphasis on religion. Here's his essay on Miss Rand and the current political controvesy:
Let us leave aside, for the moment, that a politically left operative group in search of the election 'game changer' has sets its sights on Rep. Paul Ryan and other conservatives who have said positive things about the philosopher/novelist Ayn Rand. Let us also concede that Rand was a nasty personality who seemed to relish making outrageous claims about her own originality and blunt—make that brutal—criticisms of anyone who would disagree with her, either on the left or the right.
Leaving all this to one side, it remains a fair question: What are we to make of Rand as a thinker and as one who has had undeniable influence within sectors of the conservative and liberty movement in the last half century?
Given the interest in the writings of Ayn Rand in the years since her death, and the intensification of that interest in the present American political climate brought to a head with the release of the first part of the Atlas Shrugged film trilogy, it is sorely disappointing to read and hear such hyperbolic and personal critiques of the woman and her thought.
That there are problems with Rand's anthropology, aesthetics, epistemology, and egoism, no Christian would deny. What is needed, even more than a point-by-point analysis of each of Rand's contradictions, is a hermeneutical key to her whole approach.
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May '10
Re: More Ayn Rand
Rand is to the GOP as Margaret Sanger to the pro-abortion left.
May '11
Re: More Ayn Rand
It seems like Rand's philosophy was a knee jerk rejection of her experience in Russia. I suppose the solution is to complement the good and reject the bad which, it seems, is what the vast majority of conservatives have done. I'm pretty entrenched in the conservative movement and I haven't met many objectivists, just conservatives who like her stark free-market message.
Re: More Ayn Rand
Sirico is a voice of sanity in a world gone mad.
Oct '10
Re: More Ayn Rand
I'm not a Randian. However it interesting that many critiques of Rand miss some critical points in "Atlas Shrugged". There is a cartoon-like quality to much of the dialogue.. perhaps this masks some of the subtlety.
Nothing she says precludes charity. Dagny is charitable and forgiving to her sister-in- law Cheryl. Rearden goes out of his way to supply steel to a small manufacturer. Even under provocation Rearden is prepared to extend charity to his family. What Rand insist is that an act of charity incurs a reciprocal obligation of gratitude.
At times, Ayn Rand loses sight of one piece of the big picture.. that humans may exist at a higher level than animals but they are still animals, and social animals at that. When they become desperate from fear, hunger, whatever, appeals to reason have diminishing returns. When people fears starvation, they will steal what they need.
Rand really does seem to get it in the chapter where the tramp Jeff is caught stealing a ride on her train and is about to be thrown off by the enraged conductor. Dagny intervenes and invites him to dine.. as her guest. And Jeff properly responds with gratitude.
May '10
Re: More Ayn Rand
No, what is needed is to reject outright this sick woman and her twisted ways of thinking.
And why should we need to waste effort on a "hermeneutical key" to her whole nasty approach? Just because some sycophants protest that we rightly point out her many negative points? Just to be "fair"?
May '10
Re: More Ayn Rand
Limestone Cowboy: ...
Nothing she says precludes charity. Dagny is charitable and forgiving to her sister-in- law Cheryl. Rearden goes out of his way to supply steel to a small manufacturer. Even under provocation Rearden is prepared to extend charity to his family. What Rand insist is that an act of charity incurs a reciprocal obligation of gratitude.
...
Where she goes wrong is when she says that she directly fights against the idea that there is any moral obligation to altruistic behavior.
I'd agree there should not necessarily be a legally enforced moral obligation, but I reject the notion that one has absolutely no obligation toward one's fellow man other than one's own internal desire to do charity. This ignores the fact that everyone has benefited from others' sacrifices, and from a society that was put together through the hard work of generations before us. We should in return feel an internal moral obligation to pass it on, and it is not wrong for society to expect it of us.
Dec '10
Re: More Ayn Rand
Chris Deleon
No, what is needed is to reject outright this sick woman and her twisted ways of thinking.
And why should we need to waste effort on a "hermeneutical key" to her whole nasty approach? Just because some sycophants protest that we rightly point out her many negative points? Just to be "fair"? · Jun 14 at 3:33pm
If her approach is "nasty", what do you call that bilge you just posted?
Seriously, do you even read the stuff you post before you hit the GO button?