Either this guy is lying or just ignorant about Any Rand. She was a champion of reason. She despised people who did things by whim ( or "will" ) . She would have also pointed out that she is being called an " irrational vitalist" without anyone defining the term. She complained plenty about Catholic dogma so she is fair game but I find it odd that they should pick her out of so many others thereby giving her prominence.
I thought that Rand was an unexpected inclusion in this list!! But I donno much about her at all.
I doubt that he's lying or ignorant though - the authors are coming at this from a very Christian/Catholic perspective and her reasoning that all our actions are selfish goes against Christianity!
I don't know. Any book that treats Helen Gurley Brown as a philosopher is probably not to be taken seriously.
Plenty of "Kill Terri" Nazis also think of themselves as "champions of reason."
Well there goes any possibility that he may know about Ayn Rand than you do, or that he may be smarter than you.
As a highly successful author of 20 books and hundreds of articles written for scholarly journals, and as professor of philosophy and professor emeritus, DeMarco would hardly be 'ignorant'. The fact that he is a devout, practicing Catholic and is on the Advisory Board of The Catholic Educator's Resource Center means that he has a love for the truth and a great fear of lying. In fact, he believes his Judgement and eternity would be at stake if he lied to calumniate another person.
On the other hand Ayn Rand believed that selfishness is a virtue, and altruism is evil. As a militant atheist and firm believer that depravity was inherent in human nature, Ayn Rand had absolutely nothing but her self professed 'genius' to hold herself back from contradictions and lying. As we all learned from Bill Clinton and his lovely wife, 'genius' is no insurance against fraud.
I choose to believe Donald DeMarco.
I am rather surprised at the inclusion of Rand on the list. But before criticizing the author for this choice, it might be a good idea to read the book.
Bill Buckley had many arguments with Rand (and Kokak, for that matter). He'd never have published anything in NR that reflected her darker side--which was considerably darker than "Atlas Shrugged" or "The Fountainhead." But even there, it's obvious that she championed ends-justifying means and a capitalism that rivaled communism in its militancy and cruelty.