Ayn Rand on CSPAN2 -- tonight -- 9PM Pacific, 1AM Eastern

[thinktwice]

I bounced into this Ayn Rand interview on CSPAN2 about an hour ago, and it will be shown again at 9PM Pacific time, 8/26.

It's a taped 1961 interview concerning her publication of "The New Intellectual" at the University of MIchigan.

[Lurker]

And exactly how many best selling books have you written?

L

[Eastbound]

"One supplies the ideas, the other supplies the legislation.."

Just wanted to make it clear:

Legislation = force, as in 'enforcement, regardless of the reason.

[Aquinasfan]

The best thing I can say about Ayn Rand is that she introduced me to Aristotle and Aquinas. She was also a stalwart if seriously misguided champion of free enterprise.

But Objectivism can be added to the dustbin of reductionist modern philosophical systems.

[r9etb]

But Objectivism can be added to the dustbin of reductionist modern philosophical systems.

Its primary flaw being, of course, that it is fundamentally an irrational philosophy.

[Lurker]

Yea, kind of like "conservatism".

L

[Eastbound]

Sitting here in a wind-blown tavern with an empty glass,
contemplating the ugliness of the barmaid, who
no doubt has lost count of the ship's that visited
this god-forsaken outpost in the middle of nowhere -- though each wrinkle, bruise and scar on her body
marks the true tally, I'm sure

Slowly the effects of the ambrosia begin to
transform the wench into a raving beauty right
before my eyes -- and before the night was over,
I, too, have left my signature on her flesh as a token of my visit.

[TroutStalker]

Mediocrity triumphs. Look at our president. And the pathetic poltroons in our Congress. This is what passes for "leaders" these days? Tragic.

Confirmed in the post immediately following your's.

[thinktwice]

Objectivism can be added to the dustbin of reductionist modern philosophical systems.

When modern readers are asked to identify the most influential book in their lives, Atlas Shrugged comes in second to the Bible.

That means Objectivism is now the most vibrant, and second most highly accepted, philosophy known to man.

Rating all philosophers, I'd say that Aristotle will someday be number two behind Ayn Rand.

[NEWwoman]

Thanks for including me in the ping list. I just looked at my posts today (8/27) and I'm sorry I missed it. I really liked "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead".

[headsonpikes]

Ellsworth Toohey! You haven't changed a bit, you old scoundrel!!!

Still Faking a living? And a life?

[IronJack]

Touche.

[IronJack]

In the interview, Rand cited Aristotle as the first "intellectual," a title she did not bestow lightly.

[speedy]

"Anyone who's ever tried to debate with a liberal knows that their arguments tend to collapse quickly, to be replaced with hysteria. That hysteria sells, though, since it appeals to people with a limited capacity for rational thinking."

You've got that right, IJ. If you saw Studs Terkel's evaluation of Ayn Rand on the show, your point was made completely by him. He was not capable of offering a reasoned critique of her work. He just kept calling her "a clown-like figure" and saying "all you have to know is that Alan Greenspan is her disciple." I'm guessing Rand must have handed that half-wit his head in a debate at some point and this is his way of getting back at her posthumously. I had been unaware of how irrational this Terkel slug is.

[IronJack]

Studs Terkel debating Ayn Rand!?!? Gary Coleman meets Sonny Liston.

[speedy]

I think Sonny Liston could have made a more reasoned argument than Studs Terkel.

[thinktwice]

Rand's rational and comprehensive approach to philosophy allowed her to build upon and improve Aristotle's work.

Aristotle's Ethics -- great stuff. But Rand's volume on ethics goes far beyond Aristotle's work in greatness.

Same thing in esthetics. Aristotle's Poetics (about 21 pages long) is STILL the guiding document in the writing world (paraphrasing Richard Walters of UCLA's screenwriting department). But Rand's volume "The Romantic Manifesto" goes well beyond the Poetics while developing an incredibly good "Sense of Life" approach applicable to all art forms, but especially literature.

In Politics, Rand's volume titled "Capitalism, the unknown ideal" is superb and influential reading. And it cuts to the core in intelligently damning collectivist political systems, church and state included.

Epistemlogy? The "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology" is another Rand volume that brilliantly presents her rational approach to all elements of epistemology -- cognition, measurement, concept formation, abstractions, etc.

And still, there's more!

Critics point to the absence of children in Rand's novels, but they've never read her brilliant essays about childhood learning processes One specific essay, for instance -- "The Comprachicos" found in the volume "The New Left" -- reveals how today's children are insidiously being mind-warped into monsters inside public schools. Has anyone not noticed it? Rand explains it well in that essay.

An incredilbe woman, a brilliant philosopher, she is totally damned by all in the liberal left and most within the conservative and religious right. But she's with us today, for the betterment of mankind.

Wasn't it Shakespeare that wrote ... "Oh what fools these mortals be."?

[tpaine]

I was going to be really grossed out from the title. Looking at a long dead corpse just doesn't appeal.
Especially the corpse of a no-talent hack.

16 posted on 8/27/02 4:42 AM Pacific by one_particular_harbour
__________________________________
Classic sour grapes, or negative transference.
-- a no talent hack lawyer attacks a world renowned writer. How droll.

[IronJack]

My exposure to Rand is limited to Atlas and an expurgated perusal of The Fountainhead. Your familiarity vastly exceeds my own. But while I find her very human in her shortcomings, her spiritual integrity earns her not only my admiration, but my concurrence with your exalted opinion.

[VA Advogado]

Looking at a long dead corpse just doesn't appeal. Especially the corpse of a no-talent hack.

Makes you question the sanity of those that worship at her feet. Can I use worship in a secular way?