[Hank Kerchief]

Professor Edward W. Younkins gives us a brief but richly detailed overview of the philosophy of Aristotle, illustrating the connection between that philosophy and Ayn Rand's Objectivism. Ayn Rand acknowledged Aristotle as the only philosopher to whom she was indebted.

[sharktrager]

They also both had a predilection for young men.

[Hank Kerchief]

PHILOSOPHY PING

(If you want on or off this list please freepmail me.)

Hank

[NotchJohnson]

I never could finsih Fountainhead. I was sad to learn that Ann was an atheist.

[Ronzo]

Excellent article.

Question: Did Aristotle believe in a god/gods or was he an atheist?

[PianoMan]

Have you read Aristotle's metaphysics? Do you really think this is an accurate representation of his stance on essence?

[Oztrich Boy]

Because of Rand, we have had a rebirth of Aristotelian philosophy with its emphasis on reason and on man the thinker and doer.

That's incredible. She did that?

Rand will be acknowledged as a great philosopher when Aristotle is forgotten but not before that time

[tophat9000]

bump for later read

[annyokie]

Ayn Rand was a tyrannical old sot.

[DManA]

What would Rand say about Tillman?

[LeGrande]

ping

[zip]

ping

[laotzu]

Thanks for the ping.

A bit of rambling rant here:
I grow so weary of mindless sheep using ordained excuses to jump on any they are told don't run with the herd.

Republicans don't starve children, or lynch blacks.

Libertarians are not godless, or without any base philosophy, and don't look to Rand as their leader.

I am a conservative, and remain a Republican, despite the influx of sheeple. Libertarians are conservatives, and have my respect.

I expect lies, and propoganda from liberals. It sours my Republican party when so many, so easily attack with those same mindless, liberal tools.

[society-by-contract]

Atlas Shrugged is the book that started me down the path to embracing human liberty, but I've been on a Rothbard kick for a couple of years now and thought you all might like this essay:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard23.html

The Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult

by Murray N. Rothbard

Written in 1972, this was the first piece of Rand revisionism from the libertarian standpoint.

In the America of the 1970s we are all too familiar with the religious cult, which has been proliferating in the last decade. Characteristic of the cult (from Hare Krishna to the "Moonies" to EST to Scientology to the Manson Family) is the dominance of the guru, or Maximum Leader, who is also the creator and ultimate interpreter of a given creed to which the acolyte must be unswervingly loyal. The major if not the only qualification for membership and advancement in the cult is absolute loyalty to and adoration of the guru, and absolute and unquestioning obedience to his commands. The lives of the members are dominated by the guru’s influence and presence. If the cult grows beyond a few members, it naturally becomes hierarchically structured, if only because the guru cannot spend his time indoctrinating and watching over every disciple. Top positions in the hierarchy are generally filled by the original handful of disciples, who come to assume these positions by virtue of their longer stint of loyal and devoted service. Sometimes the top leadership may be related to each other, a useful occurrence which can strengthen intra-cult loyalty through the familial bond.

The goals of the cult leadership are money and power. Power is achieved over the minds of the disciples through inducing them to accept without question the guru and his creed. This devotion is enforced through psychological sanctions. For once the acolyte is imbued with the view that approval of, and communication with, the guru are essential to his life, then the implicit and explicit threat of excommunication – of removal from the direct or indirect presence of the guru – creates a powerful psychological sanction for the "enforcement" of loyalty and obedience. Money flows upward from the members through the hierarchy, either in the form of volunteer labor service contributed by the members, or through cash payments.

[betty boop]

eudaimonia

Interesting word, Hank. It means the human happiness that derives from being "one with the God," of participating in and reflecting the divine nature to the fullest extent that human nature admits. This is the goal of the spoudaious, the wise or "mature" man -- the goal of reason itself. (Note the word spoudaious incorporates the root that references God.)

The fact is (made very clear in Nichomachean Ethics) that Aristotle believed in God, and saw the entire moral universe as having its source in the divine. In this he followed his great teacher, Plato.

I'm afraid Ms. Rand -- atheist and proud of it -- has edited this part of Aristotelian thought out of the portrait of her "greatest philosopher." However, she kept the parts that confirmed her own views. With this maneuver, she tended to falsify this great philosopher every time she spoke of him.

Good post, Hank. Thanks!