Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 09:09:58 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: tv personalities...


On Mon, 10 Nov 1997, Justin Schwartz wrote:
> You're joking, right? Ayd Rand was a white Russian emigre, fled the
> Bolshevik revolution in the '20s, came to the US. Authored several fat
> bestfelling potboiler novels, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, full of
> heavt breathing and a sort of heavy handed libertarian political
> philosophy. She also wrote a number of philosophical books, creating a
> theoryshe called Objectivism, advocating capitalism and selfishness as the
> highest ideals. She has a huge following in the US and Objectivism is
> rather a cult among engineers and suchlike types. Few professionbal
> philosophers think there is anything there. One of the few is our own
> Chris, who has written a big treatise on Rand. He swear's she's not as
> thick as all of us elitist types think. My own suspicion is that anything
> good he found in Rand, he put there. I have immense respect for Chris. His
> book on Marx and Hayek is a gem.
> You don't have the Rand phenomenon in Finland, I gather.. Lucky you.
> --Justin

Interestingly, Rand actually took her first name ("Ayn") from a Finnish
writer.  Rand's original name was Alissa Rosenbaum; she was born in Silver
Age Russia, and was taught by some pretty important neo-Hegelian
dialecticians, among them, N. O. Lossky.  My own book, AYN RAND:  THE
RUSSIAN RADICAL  has caused a bit of controversy among Rand's critics, but
it has caused REAL controversy among Rand's sycophantic followers, because
it links her to a Russian dialectical tradition that they would prefer to
ignore.  I'm co-editing FEMINIST INTERPRETATIONS OF AYN RAND now, for Penn
State Press, and it should create even more controversy.  While I
recognize the problems of recognition that Rand has in academia, I think
she should be given a more critical reading, for better or for worse.

					Chris

==========================================Chris Matthew Sciabarra, Visiting Scholar
Faculty of Arts and Science
New York University Department of Politics
715 Broadway
New York, New York  10003-6806
Email:      sciabrrc-AT-is2.nyu.edu
Website:    http://pages.nyu.edu/~sciabrrc
==========================================