''On Ayn Rand'' is a book about the life and thought of 20th-century philosopher

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...

by scholar Allan Gotthelf. It was published in early 2000 by

Wadsworth Publishing Cengage Group is an American educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education, K-12, professional, and library markets. It operates in more than 20 countries around the world.(Jun 27, 2014Global Publishing Leaders ...

(now part of

Cengage Learning Cengage Group is an American educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education, K-12, professional, and library markets. It operates in more than 20 countries around the world.(Jun 27, 2014Global Publishing Leaders ...

) in its Wadsworth Philosophers series.

Reception

Objectivist Objectivism is a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement ...

scholar Tara Smith reviewed the work for the ''

Review of Metaphysics ''The Review of Metaphysics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of philosophy. It was established by Paul Weiss and the first issue was published in September 1947. The journal's primary sponsor is and has been The Catholic University of Ameri ...

'' and described it as "an admirably essentialized review" that "joins scholarly rigor with firsthand knowledge of Rand’s thought to provide a systematic introduction to Rand’s philosophy." Smith does find some of Gotthelf's explanations to be "slightly too abbreviated for the targeted audience" and finds his brief treatment of some topics to be "somewhat frustrating." In a review in ''

Teaching Philosophy ''Teaching Philosophy'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to the practical and theoretical discussion of teaching and learning philosophy, that is philosophy education. Established by Arnold Wilson in 1975, it has published more than 2,5 ...

'', Irfan Khawaja says, "Gotthelf’s illuminating account of Rand’s epistemology offers an intriguing point of entry... as well as an object lesson on the relationship between epistemology and ethics... ''On Ayn Rand'' is a remarkable success... I can’t think of a piece of writing that better conveys both the systematicity and the grandeur of Rand’s thought than the last four pages of Gotthelf’s book." Rand enthusiast and accountancy scholar Edward W. Younkins also praised the work, calling it a "fine" but shorter version of Objectivist philosopher

Leonard Peikoff Leonard Sylvan Peikoff (; born October 15, 1933) is a Canadian-American philosopher. He is an Objectivist and was a close associate of Ayn Rand, who designated him heir to her estate. He is a former professor of philosophy and host of a natio ...

's book about Rand's philosophy. In a review, Rand scholar

Chris Matthew Sciabarra Chris Matthew Sciabarra (born February 17, 1960) is an American political theorist based in Brooklyn, New York. He is the author of three scholarly books—''Marx, Hayek, and Utopia''; '' Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical''; and ''Total Freedom: To ...

welcomes the addition of another book to the literature about Rand, but criticizes Gotthelf for not addressing most other secondary works about Rand, in particular accusing him of "refusal to mention any non-orthodox works." Sciabarra says the book suffers from an "orthodox interpretation" of Rand's life and ideas, and also gives insufficient attention to her politics and aesthetics. In a paper on the critical neglect of Rand's

aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...

philosophy,

Michelle Marder Kamhi Michelle Marder Kamhi (born 1937) is an independent scholar and critic of the arts. She co-edits ''Aristos'' (an online review of the arts) with her husband, Louis Torres, and is the author of ''Who Says That’s Art? A Commonsense View of the V ...

and Louis Torres criticized Gotthelf for spending a mere half a page of the book discussing the topic. Kamhi and Torres also criticised Gotthelf's statement that one's sense of life is directly dependent on philosophy (in contrast to Rand), and his uncritical acceptance of Rand's definition of

romantic art Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

in terms of the acceptance of man's

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actio ...

References

External links

"Allan Gotthelf talks about his book, ''On Ayn Rand''"
internet radio interview from Prodos.com {{Ayn Rand 2000 non-fiction books Books about Ayn Rand Cengage books English-language books Works about Objectivism (Ayn Rand)

Reception

See also

References

External links