- Paperback: 682 pages
- Publisher: New American Library; Reprint edition (5 Jun 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0452274044
- ISBN-13: 978-0452274044
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.4 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,347,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As Rand cultist Harry Binswanger notes below, this collection of Ayn Rand's correspondence includes Rand's *own* side of what Binswanger calls "her long and brilliant philosophic correspondence with Prof. John Hospers." But far from showing Rand's "ruthless logic," this series of exchanges simply shows how much at sea Rand was when confronted with an actual philosopher (and one immune to her Grand Inquisitor approach).
As Prof. Hospers himself notes in this very volume, his own side of this exchange is *not* included -- but as he charitably refrains from noting, a good deal of it can be inferred from Rand's own letters. And Rand comes off much less well than Binswanger thinks; what the exchanges reveal are nothing more than the slipshod habits of mind that led her to write nasty notes in the margins of Hospers' brilliant _Introduction to Philosophical Analysis_ (see _Ayn Rand's Marginalia_) and to curse Hospers himself ("You *bastard!*") when he pointed out a flaw in her reasoning in "The Objectivist Ethics."
Overall, this collection of letters is a wonderful treat for anyone who wants to watch Rand trying (and failing) to remake herself as a "philosopher" after running out of steam as a novelist. (Of course her efforts in "philosophy" consisted largely of references to and citations from those very novels.) Her earlier letters shed a good deal of light on her motivations; watch her denouncing "pinks" and, in her early days, pimping for (surprise!) Max Stirner's _The Ego And Its Own_. Her later ones shed even more light on her failures.
She was clearly at her best communicating with people who had no background in philosophy; it was these unwitting victims who adopted her as a guru, accepting at face value her self-serving claim to be the only philosopher in history other than Aristotle to have said or done anything important. In this volume one can watch her work her magic on these poor souls on whom her insatiable and vampiric ego fed itself. But in exchanges with nonsycophants, she merely reveals herself as the posturer she was.
Of course, her "admirers" (i.e. cultists) won't see it that way; to them, this collection just demonstrates Rand's lifelong brilliance and (Binswanger's phrase) "passionate valuing" (as though Rand ever passionately held *any* value other than her own gargantuan ego). But this volume will be much more revealing to the clear-sighted than it is to the blind.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ayn Rand's personal life has been a mystery to her fans, excepting
some hatchet-job memoirs. Finally, we get the REAL Ayn Rand, as she
was to her friends, family, colleagues and fans. This book shows how
Rand was passionate in all the areas of her life from her husband,
to her publishers, to philosophical discussions with the like of John
Hospers.
**This book really gives one the feeling that one knows Ayn Rand privately,
which is the best aim a book of private correspondence can serve.
some hatchet-job memoirs. Finally, we get the REAL Ayn Rand, as she
was to her friends, family, colleagues and fans. This book shows how
Rand was passionate in all the areas of her life from her husband,
to her publishers, to philosophical discussions with the like of John
Hospers.
**This book really gives one the feeling that one knows Ayn Rand privately,
which is the best aim a book of private correspondence can serve.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I believe Ayn Rand's writings are very destructive. And this isn't because of her highly un-original philosophy. No, the reason for this is the powerful grip the books has on her followers. In her books they find justification for behaving in a anti-social manner that is slowly destroying the fabric of the societies of the Western World. This egoism is supposedly derived from "reason". In the real world however there is no reason for people not to find fulfillment and meaning from helping others and caring for their family and friends. The accusation that "altruism", i.e. decency and goodness, leads to tyranny is nothing but products of a very paranoid mind. The craziest thing about this though is the fact that Ayn Rand has been raised to a saint-like status by her followers. No disagreement with her writings is ever accepted and if you disagree you are an evil communist/collectivist. To be a true individualist you must agree with everything she has ever written. Isn't this collectivism in a true sense? No, says her followers, those views are derived by reason and must therefore be share by all intelligent human beings. Pretty scary!! Note that Objectivism, like Marxism, Freudianism and Jungianism, is a closed system of thought in the sense that any critisism of the system is automatically seen as a symptom of unreason. This is what makes Objectivism a religion rather than a philosophy or scientific method. And this is also the reason for the fanatical behavior of her disciples.
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