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revexrevex
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Specifically her Fountainhead, and her ideas of living as a collective/vs an individual? A really eye opener.
R
revexrevex
Guest
SHe is definetely saying that being an individual is something unique that very few people lack.
The main character in the Fountainhead is poor, disrespected, without friends or women, and is basically spit by society.
I don't know if its his ignorance, or his incredible persistence of being an individual, but he ignores all the bad things that happen to him and proceeds forward in life.
Ayn Rand, in my opinion, distinguishes a collectivism from individuality, because very often we are so blinded by society that even though we think we are unique, we are actually just another mindless robot.
The main character in the Fountainhead is poor, disrespected, without friends or women, and is basically spit by society.
I don't know if its his ignorance, or his incredible persistence of being an individual, but he ignores all the bad things that happen to him and proceeds forward in life.
Ayn Rand, in my opinion, distinguishes a collectivism from individuality, because very often we are so blinded by society that even though we think we are unique, we are actually just another mindless robot.
Stryc-9
New member
revexrevex said:
I will definitely have to read this next....because the notion of a blinded collectivism is a concept I struggled over when I was writing my thesis. Actually, I first came across a similar line of thought reading Heidegger - what with his obsession concerning man's "lostness" in what he calls the "they-self". Essentially, he claims that we're so bogged down by our association and interaction with others that we've lost our true (or what he calls our "authentic") selves. We become fallen and trapped by idle talk and gossip - and we take what "they" say as gospel truth even when it's utter bullshit.
Lift Chief
New member
Ayn Rand has some extremely interesting ideas.
remember that she died alone, lonely, rejecting most of her ideas.
R
revexrevex
Guest
Yes she did die lonely. That is why I think her books are so far from reality.
It was the end of my final philsophy class for my Psychology degree. I came up to the Professor, and he gave me Fountainhead and told me to read it. Out of couple of hundred people, I do not know why he chose me... I felt honored.
My professor was a rocket scientist for NASA. He was making enormous amounts of money, and then all of the sudden decided to quit his job and get a PH.d in Philosophy. Which offers basically 0 monetary value. Why did he do it? He would often said that he did not find passion in the technical aspects, and would rather emerge himself into the deep conceptuals of philosophical thinking.
All of us know that although it may be noble as an act, it will not buy you a nice house, and a car for your family to use. However people have different notions of happiness, and very often money and success are not a part of it.
It was the end of my final philsophy class for my Psychology degree. I came up to the Professor, and he gave me Fountainhead and told me to read it. Out of couple of hundred people, I do not know why he chose me... I felt honored.
My professor was a rocket scientist for NASA. He was making enormous amounts of money, and then all of the sudden decided to quit his job and get a PH.d in Philosophy. Which offers basically 0 monetary value. Why did he do it? He would often said that he did not find passion in the technical aspects, and would rather emerge himself into the deep conceptuals of philosophical thinking.
All of us know that although it may be noble as an act, it will not buy you a nice house, and a car for your family to use. However people have different notions of happiness, and very often money and success are not a part of it.
the nature boy
New member
I bet she was a lousy lay.
Testosterone boy
New member
whyThe Nature Boy said:
TheProject
New member
Who is John Galt?
TheProject
New member
Bodhisattva said:
LOL
I know...I gave him hell about it over at sology...that was the one fucker I had on my ignore list. Couldn't stand all the damned pictures.
I am reading Capitalism: The Uknown Ideal- I find her ideas very intriguing which is strange because I have always considered myself a lefty and somewhat altruistic- after reading her (this is the third book) I am seeing things in a different perspective. Ealrier after I read Atlas Shrugged I contacted a former philosophy prof to chat about some of the confusion I was experiencing as a result of the dichotomy between the beliefs I held about capitalism and socialism adn the ones I found myself attracted to in Ayn Rand's writing. Its interesting to note that he studies ethics because Ayn Rand basically eviscerates Kant and most other ethical philosophers- anyway he thinks she is compelling to victimized people who need substantiation to be selfish and therefore in turn- victimize others.... I am still not convinced. I studied Economics in undergrad and always maintained a critical perspective- which I always thinks is good, however, Rand makes some very convinving points about the validity of capitalism ver socialism- I think her arguments are pretty sound- although somewhat biased in that it is obvious that she passionately despises socialism so she sounds a little overly self assured and aggressive sometimes...Its interesting to note that Alan Greenspan contributed quite a few essays to Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. I definitely thik she makes for a provocative read and I think its good to always challenge your ideas about things....the jury is still out on exactly where I stand...
PolishHammer1977
New member
excellent post & yes
gorilla_boy
New member
TheProject said:
Ayn's rants (5 or 10+ pages) are mind-numbing and I found myself just skimming those pages. That said, Atlas Shrugged was a great book. I've tried getting into The Fountainhead a couple of times but it hasn't stuck. Yet. I'll get down to it over the winter...
On a side note, the first sex scene between Dagny and Hank was HAWT!
atlantabiolab
New member
MattTheSkywalker said:
Matt, you have made this assertion before, and while I have not studied her life in depth, I don't believe your account is correct.
She did die alone, because her husband of many years died before her. She did have known affairs, but her and her husband remained married until his death.
She died on a train, after giving a speech to business men in New Orleans. She loved trains, because she felt that they were the expression of man's greatness, a manifestation of what the human mind could accomplish.
She was very dogmatic and uncompromising and did lose many collegues, such as Murray Rothbard, who, if I remember correctly, was married to a devout Christian woman, whom Rand did not care for.
As for her rejecting her beliefs, I don't know where you heard this from. I cannot find anything that shows a rejection of her ideas. Rand was an ideologue. Part of her ideology was that man is not omniscient, and therefore, his ideas can be wrong, but the search for "truths" must continue. She was vehemently opposed to the anti-rationalist philosophies which began to take precedence which argued that man cannot ever know "truth" and that reality is personal.
While her literary works are excellent, her non-fiction works are more important, since they provide the framework from which one can better understand the ideas presented in her works of fiction. Her "Introduction to Objectivist Epistomology" explains her philosophy of "objectivism" and "ethical egoism", which are the foundations of her fictional works.
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