I know that there are more than a few libertarians on this board, and while Rand is not, strictly speaking, a libertarian there is a strong intersection of objectivists and libertarians at sites like this.
Anyway, Rand's all encompassing philosophy of objectivism is clearly just a reactionary rejection of all things described as good in the late Leninist-early Stalinist soviet regime. The fact that this regime was xenophobic, paranoid, and largely unable to impliment a society anything like engles/marx collectivism was irrelevant to her. Her readings of both hard and soft science were seriously flawed, especially in economics. This becomes most appearent in her novels where many of her characters are buisness owners or creators. While these characters are described as titans of industry, they always make choices that veer towards personal wish fullfillment. (The fountainhead being the worst: The "hero" decides its more important that his work be artistically full filling than that the end product be what potential buyers are looking for...)
However, all that aside the real issue is that Objectivist ethics is little more than a variation of Neitzche's "master moralities" and attacks against kantian and christian ethics are a sad rehash of Neitzche's arguments against slave moralities. Further, Rand's rational egotism manages to capture all the easily understood parts of the will to power without managing to impart any of the higher order requirements for personal growth.
Can anybody offer a defense of why Rand is not just a poor man's Neitzche?
Anyway, Rand's all encompassing philosophy of objectivism is clearly just a reactionary rejection of all things described as good in the late Leninist-early Stalinist soviet regime. The fact that this regime was xenophobic, paranoid, and largely unable to impliment a society anything like engles/marx collectivism was irrelevant to her. Her readings of both hard and soft science were seriously flawed, especially in economics. This becomes most appearent in her novels where many of her characters are buisness owners or creators. While these characters are described as titans of industry, they always make choices that veer towards personal wish fullfillment. (The fountainhead being the worst: The "hero" decides its more important that his work be artistically full filling than that the end product be what potential buyers are looking for...)
However, all that aside the real issue is that Objectivist ethics is little more than a variation of Neitzche's "master moralities" and attacks against kantian and christian ethics are a sad rehash of Neitzche's arguments against slave moralities. Further, Rand's rational egotism manages to capture all the easily understood parts of the will to power without managing to impart any of the higher order requirements for personal growth.
Can anybody offer a defense of why Rand is not just a poor man's Neitzche?
Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds and believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks -- those who write new values on new tablets. Companions the creator seeks, and fellow harvesters; for everything about him is ripe for the harvest. - F. Nietzche
