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Title: The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand, C.M. Herbert ISBN: 0-7861-9766-8 Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks Pub. Date: September, 2003 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 6 List Price(USD): $48.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.61 (107 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting, flawed, worth reading.
Comment: I'm not a philosophical expert, but I find Rand's epistemology to be very bad, basically little more than a twisted version of nominalism. However, I stand by my former assertion that there are some compelling and interesting ideas present in the ethical facet of her philosophy that stand alone from the epistemological foundation. Because, quite frankly, Rand's epistemology is not good. (At this point, I direct objectivists to hit "not helpful" and skip the rest of the review, because they probably hate me already.)
Rand's basic claim is that man's life should be used as a moral criterion, and a moral life supplicates a rational means of elucidating information and identifying what is right and what is wrong. With this NEW concept of egoism, Rand and Nathaniel Brandon explain that MY happiness should be my most important goal, but not to satisfy my happiness with whims, cheap thrills, or hedonistic kicks. (Brandon's essay "The Psychology of Pleasure" does a good job illustrating what a rationally selfish man seeks to give him pleasure in the context of art, love, and productive work.)
The prima facie perspective suggests that this should be workable, and Rand's confident, florid prose (which I must confess I like) might sway you. But I became skeptical of her argument when she talks about the immortal being who can have no values because it is not alive, nothing is for or against it. I don't see why an immortal would be incapable of valuing anything, and Rand's argument doesn't flesh that out enough. Could not an immortal being still love and value things because they give her happiness? Or is an immortal being without the desire to be happy? Not that I know any immortals personally, but you know...
Still, I think the basic premise lends itself to some interesting ideas. Of course, I'm one of those hardcore libertarian folks who believe in individualism, responsibility, small government, and all those good things. Since Rand was in many ways the same, I find myself agreeing with her on many issues. And let's face it, we usually like reading stuff that reflect our own ideas. In this volume, there's a pair of great essays called "Collectivized 'Rights'" and "Man's Rights" that tie in pretty well with the libertarian mindset. Also great is the essay "Racism," a brilliant, scathing attack on bigotry, although she takes it farther than you'd expect and writes some intuitive tidbits. Plus, I get a kick out of some of Rand's terms, like calling the USSR a "slave pen" and her use of "goon squad" in the last essay. Good stuff, hehe.
In my previous review of this book, I gave it 5 stars because I thought it was interesting. In this, my second review, I am deducting a star. Not because of my disagreement with the philosophy (although I DO disagree with a big chunk of it), but because I think this collection of essays misses a number of issues that, if they'd been addressed, may have given the ethical part of Rand's philosophy more credence. For instance, she doesn't accommodate much benevolence in this collection, but I think she could have worked it in. (She touches upon it with "The Ethics of Emergencies," but it doesn't answer a number of questions.) There aren't many Howard Roarks and John Galts in the world...most people aren't perfect, and need to cooperate and help each other in order to succeed. However, one of Rand's most important points, I think, is that human relationships should exist without sacrifice. Every man is responsible for his own survival, and it is morally wrong to sacrifice yourself for someone unimportant to you, and equally immoral to expect someone else's sacrifice for your sake. This doesn't eliminate charity, though. You just shouldn't bring harm to yourself in order to help someone. Of course, you could deleteriously affect your own welfare to help someone, but it might not be a sacrifice depending on the circumstances. Say you could pay fifty million dollars to cure your wife of the ULTRA DEATH VIRUS OF DOOM (ominous, eh?). Doing so is not a sacrifice, since your wife should be more important than money, of course. I think a lot of Rand's critics missed points like this. It wasn't ALL about money.
Even though Rand's ideas about love and sex come through, uh, rough in her fiction, here it's very clear what she was trying to show (questionable though it was, at least in The Fountainhead...Atlas Shrugged was just consenting sex that was rough). She avers strongly that love is an entirely selfish thing....you don't just love some random person off the street as favor. You love someone that mirrors personal qualities that are important to you: intelligence, conviction, self-esteem, and morality, for instance. I strongly concur with her on this one, and Brandon writes a good essay about it in the aforementioned "The Psychology of Pleasure."
I also think Rand's argument against bringing harm to others is too shallow. She deals with this in a part of the first essay, but doesn't get into it enough. This complaint isn't necessarily a problem with the philosophy itself, because Rand may have had good answers to this and other issues. But I think the book probably should have added more depth to this topic, as well as some others, but I'm not going to discuss them all.
I suggest that people read this book carefully, note to good bits of her ethics, identify the not-so-good bits, and keep it around for a laugh. She's so venomous about some issues that it gives me a chuckle. (That eyeball analogy is good stuff, hehe.) She also has some great arguments against the ethical basis for socialism.
Rating: 4
Summary: Cut out the Middleman
Comment: I recommend this book over Ayn Rand's novels. You don't have to put up with hundreds of pages of the conversations of Howard Roark, Dominique and John Galt. This reader is always surprised by the perennial claim that the author's Fountainhead novel is rated second on the all time best seller list after the Bible. For the reader who wants some exposure to Ayn Rand's philosophy called Objectivism, this book, "The Virtue of Selfishness" is the way to go. This way the reader can cut out the middleman and get the philosophy straight from the author. You actually get a more well rounded view of her philosophy. As a reader who tackled both the Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, I consider my time was better spent with this book. My problem with this book is that I feel the author could have done a better job explaining how Objectivism would work within a society, not just the individual. Ayn Rand extols pure capitalism and the U.S.A. was her adopted country, and the country closest to her ideal. Why didn't she mention or explain away examples such as J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie or John D. Rockefeller where the big winners can actually change the rules of the game from "free for all capitalism" to monopoly. The book is also
silent on the segment of society requiring charity. What would be the effect on a society based solely on Ayn Rand's philosophy ?
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting read.
Comment: This is probably one of maybe fifty books that everyone should read in high school or college. Although the debate around the title subject is frankly a bit on the semantic side (Is it truly "selfish" to let someone drown even if you WANT them to not?), there are ideas and ideals here that just about everyone can borrow at least parts from in formulating their own world view.
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Title: Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand ISBN: 0451147952 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: July, 1986 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff ISBN: 0451191145 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: September, 1996 List Price(USD): $8.99 |
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Title: For the New Intellectual by Ayn Rand ISBN: 0451163087 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: March, 1984 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Philosophy: Who Needs It by Ayn Rand ISBN: 0451138937 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: April, 1985 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: We the Living by Ayn Rand ISBN: 0451187849 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: January, 1996 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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