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Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (Signet Shakespeare) [Mass Market Paperback]

Ayn Rand (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; New Ed edition (29 May 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0451147952
  • ISBN-13: 978-0451147950
  • Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 2.3 x 17.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 24,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Ayn Rand
Alan Greenspan

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Synopsis

The foundations of capitalism are being battered by a flood of altruism, which is the cause of the modern world's collapse. This is the view of Ayn Rand, a view so radically opposed to prevailing attitudes that it constitutes a major philosophic revolution. In this series of essays, she presents her stand on the persecution of big business, the causes of war, the student rebellion, and the evils of altruism.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
The disintegration of philosophy in the nineteenth century and its collapse in the twentieth have led to a similar, though much slower and less obvious, process in the course of modern science. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Unique defence of freedom 5 Nov 2005
By Pieter Uys HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This riveting compilation of 26 essays includes contributions by Alan Greenspan, Nathaniel Branden and Robert Hessen. It is primarily a treatise on the moral aspects of capitalism. The themes revolve around human nature and mankind’s relationship to existence. Capitalism is advocated because it is the only system compatible with the life of a rational being.

Rand claims that the classical defenders and modern apologists of capitalism are by default responsible for undermining it. In her view, they are unwilling or unable to fight the battle on moral-philosophical grounds.

The essays provide a plethora of gripping insights and novel angles. Rand detests the idea of using altruism to defend capitalism. She proposes rationality instead, with a ruling principle of justice.

I do not necessarily agree with her on this but I enjoy Rand’s scathing criticism of conservatism’s perceived fallacies. Her vitriolic dissection of the 3 conservative strains is highly amusing! She identifies and attacks the Religious and the Traditionalists but really unleashes the sharp edge of her scorn on those who defend capitalism from the argument of mankind’s depravity.

In the essay Requiem For Man, she savages the encyclical Populorum Progressio by Pope Paul VI, in which she also rips apart the reactions to it by publications like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Fortune magazine.

The book consists of two parts. The first is Theory And History, which includes essays on inter alia war, the persecution of big business, antitrust, gold and economic freedom, property status of the airwaves, and patents and copyrights.

Part two: Current State, includes essays on the anatomy of compromise, the art of smearing, rule by consensus as a form of fascism, and the student rebellion....

Whatever the flaws in Rand’s Objectivist philosophy, this book remains a brilliant and unique defence of freedom and capitalism. Moreover, history has proved Rand a prescient thinker who was correct in many of her analyses.

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal ranks among the very best of her non-fiction works. It is highly engaging, thought-provoking and often quite amusing. The book concludes with an index and a bibliography listing titles by Henry Hazlitt, Isabel Paterson and Ludwig von Mises, amongst others. Read more ›

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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Bringing human-rights and economics together 30 Mar 1999
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Ayn Rand's book is not about religious cultivism - usually the only argument that critics manage to articulate. It is about the missing ideological link between human rights (individual rights) and economics. This book should be regarded as food for thought - claiming that only a free economy can be part of a free society. This is true by definition but Rand is simply one of the few non-technical minds that put it to paper without equations. (That government intervention is restricting our wealth and personal freedom has been proven infinite times before.) Another striking feature is the non-scientific assumption about man's selfish altruism. It was only decades later that her non-scientific assumptions were actually confirmed by the major biologists of our time. It is true that many of her arguments skip scientific explanations - but she is never dangerously far off from our biological and economic understanding of humans. A must read for every open mind. A must read for those who believe in the possibility of doing good for themselves and others at the same time.

As a European - I know that 99% of all academics in Europe have never come even close to thinking about similiar ideas. That is restricitng their understanding of the US altogether...

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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Great promise, moderate execution. 25 April 2010
By Wordy
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Ayn Rand's book on Capitalism presents itself as a philosophical alternative to "Das Kapital", it explains that Capitalism needs this "psycho-epistemological" viewpoint in order to provide would-be defenders of Capitalism with a basis to defend it. The book presents a fundamental "moral" basis of Capitalism in a self-assertive, powerful collection of essays which does brilliantly in some respects, yet fails to make a clear case for Capitalism.

I will quickly analyse why.

While you will find a well fought defence of Capitalism, especially in the first few chapters, which provide a brilliant beginning on "What is Capitalism" with a very concise and precise essay by Nathaniel Branden on "Common Fallacies of Capitalism", there exist a few critical flaws which prevent this book from being the one stop book for Capitalism as a theory.

First, the book divides itself into two parts, one relevant for the books purpose, the other not. While the first half on the "Theory and History" of Capitalism has the majority of its essays both well written and suited towards the purpose of defending Capitalism, the second half concerns itself with "Current events", which are set in the 1960's and fail to be convincing in the timeless manner a work like this should aspire to.
The latter essays drone on too long about New York times articles, speeches made by students and a document made by the Pope.... Read more ›
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Unique defence of freedom 5 Nov 2005
By Pieter Uys HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
This riveting compilation of 26 essays includes contributions by Alan Greenspan, Nathaniel Branden and Robert Hessen. It is primarily a treatise on the moral aspects of capitalism. The themes revolve around human nature and mankind’s relationship to existence. Capitalism is advocated because it is the only system compatible with the life of a rational being.

Rand claims that the classical defenders and modern apologists of capitalism are by default responsible for undermining it. In her view, they are unwilling or unable to fight the battle on moral-philosophical grounds.

The essays provide a plethora of gripping insights and novel angles. Rand detests the idea of using altruism to defend capitalism. She proposes rationality instead, with a ruling principle of justice.

I do not necessarily agree with her on this but I enjoy Rand’s scathing criticism of conservatism’s perceived fallacies. Her vitriolic dissection of the 3 conservative strains is highly amusing! She identifies and attacks the Religious and the Traditionalists but really unleashes the sharp edge of her scorn on those who defend capitalism from the argument of mankind’s depravity.

In the essay Requiem For Man, she savages the encyclical Populorum Progressio by Pope Paul VI, in which she also rips apart the reactions to it by publications like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Fortune magazine.

The book consists of two parts. The first is Theory And History, which includes essays on inter alia war, the persecution of big business, antitrust, gold and economic freedom, property status of the airwaves, and patents and copyrights.

Part two: Current State, includes essays on the anatomy of compromise, the art of smearing, rule by consensus as a form of fascism, and the student rebellion....

Whatever the flaws in Rand’s Objectivist philosophy, this book remains a brilliant and unique defence of freedom and capitalism. Moreover, history has proved Rand a prescient thinker who was correct in many of her analyses.

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal ranks among the very best of her non-fiction works. It is highly engaging, thought-provoking and often quite amusing. The book concludes with an index and a bibliography listing titles by Henry Hazlitt, Isabel Paterson and Ludwig von Mises, amongst others. Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Some useful points explained better,elsewhere...
Ayn Rand is one of those writers who seems to inspire great devotion amongst those see value in her work. Read more
Published 3 months ago by os
4.0 out of 5 stars A good book
The book is a good collection of essays on various points which relate to the main theme of Capitalism. Read more
Published on 28 May 2011 by Damis
5.0 out of 5 stars Rational Analysis
This book provides an excellent foundation for the connection between capitalistic economic implementations and their philisophical roots. Read more
Published on 9 Mar 2005 by Nicholas A Rioux
5.0 out of 5 stars CAPITALISM EXPLAINED
If like me your slightly bewildered and confused with the sudden rise in the anti-capitalist movement and not quite sure what to make of it all, then look no further than... Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2002 by peterbiddle6256@hotmail.com
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing.
True philosophy demolishing all the commie/socialist ranting propaganda we get shoved down our face by virtually everyone here in Great Britain (not least the lefty bureaucracy... Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2000
5.0 out of 5 stars Facts are adjusted to fit the theory
'Rights of Man' philosophy is repeatedly described as an 'American philosophy', factually it is part of the European Enlightenment which found just one particular application in... Read more
Published on 16 May 2000 by Mr. G. M. Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best introductions to capitalism ever.
There are a million books defended the morality of socialismbut Rand is virtually alone in defending capitalism as a moral system (rather than just as an economic system). Read more
Published on 7 Aug 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars Capitalism Justified
If you want an economic analysis of Capitalism in the concrete, and why it is the best means of nuturing production and prosperity this book isn't for you. Read more
Published on 4 Aug 1999
1.0 out of 5 stars What a load of nonsense.
To hear some 'Objectivists' tell it, anyone who thinks this book is not the world's finest defence of 'capatilism' (and who thinks bad spelling indicates a failure to attend to... Read more
Published on 30 July 1999
1.0 out of 5 stars speling is'nt impotent
thaks to that other reveiwer who said speling is'nt impotent, capatilism is the gratest sistem ever weather or not we spel it write. Read more
Published on 29 July 1999
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