Ayn Rand was a very intriguing author and philosopher but she was vehemently anti-religion and pro-abortion. And she despised Ronald Reagan for not sharing her views.
Ayn Rand was right about the world...up to a point. But CS Lewis found the ultimate truth. Ayn Rand died in denial.
I’ve read most of their books, and Rand makes a good case for refuting Progressivism but her dream world is a harsh place of misery for most. That’s why her books refute progressives so easily. Because they envision the same world of misery, only with different masters and slaves.
Is anyone surprised?
For my 2 cents Rand can’t hold a candle to Lewis.
Well Ayn Rand was an atheist which kind of explains her hatred of him.
Ayn Rand had some useful insights into politics, government, etc.
She definitely made a contribution.
Faith or theology did not seem to be her strong fields, however...
Ayn Rand thought she was god.
*very* interesting...
There was a time when I was quite enamored with Ayn. Indeed her life story is an amazing one....but I also began to note her philosophical disdain _for_ the metaphysical and for the supernatural.
I also learned how men I respect like William F Buckley were not particularly fond of her “philosophy”. Additionally, I was disappointed to learn of her other moral failings...she seemed in them to be a supremely selfish (and not selfish in a morally good sense) person...her breaking of trust with her spouse, for instance, was not an ideal behavior.
Her interviews, available on youtube (some even near the end of her life, like on the Phil Donahue show) were interesting and showed someone who seemed to be supremely interested in the world empirically and politically but not spiritually...which made me sad. Her loneliness was evident.
My conclusion after internalizing all of this leads me to think Ayn Rand was quite right in her conclusion that capitalism was the best economic system, but her dismissal of the spiritual, religious sphere of life was woefully wrong.
My guess is her hatred for C.S. Lewis might have stemmed from the fact that they both seem to have come from the same fountain—an atheistic one—but Lewis was drawn out of that mindset, and she may have been angry about his conversion.
Atlas Shrugged reads more like prophecy these days than a novel. It’s all coming true.
Rand wouldn’t like Lewis, or Tolkien, or any non-atheist. Greed-fundamentalist, which still covers a lot of ground.
When judging people, you had better be correct. It’s better to just judge actions rather than people. Regardless, I’ve read basically nothing from either of them.
Ping for later
I’m not much of a C.S. Lewis fan either but Rand would have disliked any real Christian.
Ayn Rand, like Christopher Hitchens and Bertrand Russell, etc., are currently having their theology straightened out.
By the way, I did read JRRT’s authorized biography. Tolkein it seems had many conversations with C.S. Lewis within their mutual writer’s club (the Inklings). It seems JRRT convinced Lewis to become a Christian. I have known at least one Christian who disliked Lewis because of his earlier paganistic writings. I hope not to be judged based on my youthful ignorance.
Ayn Rand’s philosophy is one that leads souls to hell, and nations to destruction.
This point is not missed—that the atheist is led by ideology to hate the Christian, while the view of the Christian is to love the atheist.
Then I am done ever even thinking her name, because Lewis was an intellectual giant and creative genius aside as well as one of the most significant Christians of the 20th century.
I wonder whether Ayn Rand would even have known what capitalism is without the insights of the Protestant Reformation that found Scriptural basis not only in the profit motive but the obligation to pursue that profit in the context of thoroughly incorporated ethics. Like don’t cheat your customers, you win in the short run, but you lose in the long run.