Ayn Rand in her early years

[Asshole]

phi·los·o·phy/fəˈläsəfē/
Noun:
The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, esp. when considered as an academic discipline.
A set of views and theories of a particular philosopher concerning such study or an aspect of it.

definition speaks for itself. ayn rand didn't study or even examine knowledge, reality, existence, etc she simply said sociopathy would make a great system. which btw it does not

[TheMythOfSisyphus]

(10-17-2011 06:50 AM)Lazarus Amaru Zion Wrote:  phi·los·o·phy/fəˈläsəfē/
Noun:
The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, esp. when considered as an academic discipline.
A set of views and theories of a particular philosopher concerning such study or an aspect of it.

definition speaks for itself. ayn rand didn't study or even examine knowledge, reality, existence, etc she simply said sociopathy would make a great system. which btw it does not

Sounds like philosophy to me. She tried to make the case for her philosophy with her books, that is her "evidence". If you refute her evidence then that is fine, but again, that doesn't mean its not philosophy it just means you don't like it.

[Fuzzly Bear]

(10-17-2011 06:45 AM)TheMythOfSisyphus Wrote:  I could say the same thing about Adam Smith and his Wealth of Nations.

Smith and The Wealth Of Nations were actually important. Is there a statue of Rand anywhere? Where else is she commemorated except in the names of the children of business types and libertarian politicians ?

[Djoser]

(10-17-2011 07:20 AM)TheMythOfSisyphus Wrote:  

(10-17-2011 06:50 AM)Lazarus Amaru Zion Wrote:  phi·los·o·phy/fəˈläsəfē/
Noun:
The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, esp. when considered as an academic discipline.
A set of views and theories of a particular philosopher concerning such study or an aspect of it.

definition speaks for itself. ayn rand didn't study or even examine knowledge, reality, existence, etc she simply said sociopathy would make a great system. which btw it does not

Sounds like philosophy to me. She tried to make the case for her philosophy with her books, that is her "evidence". If you refute her evidence then that is fine, but again, that doesn't mean its not philosophy it just means you don't like it.

It was just her own way of promoting capitalism. It's more ideological than philosophical

[The First Rule]

I'm convinced that most that claim to read Ayn Rand are really just lying because they read on the internet that it supports their ideological views. (What kind of person would put faith in a book they've never read? oh wait...) I read Atlas Shrugged (admittedly haven't read the Fountainhead because I can find 15 hours I feel like throwing away) after I graduated High School and that book is literally utter nonsense. We are talking about pages on pages of ideological ranting, flat characters, and a story that could only exist in a fictional universe. Anyone who read it and didn't notice the little plot hole that Ayn worked around by providing "unlimited" natural resources to her protagonists doesn't have the level of comprehension necessary to support a coherent argument.

That is my favorite part to bring up whenever I encounter someone espousing "Randism?" and how that person responds can usually answer whether or not they actually read the book.

[Djoser]

^Funny you mention that, I got into this argument with this kid who became infatuated with Rand after only reading part of the Fountainhead and started blasting her "philosophy" to everyone. He immediately reneged once it was known he didn't read the whole thing.

[TheMythOfSisyphus]

I would like to reiterate that I think Ayn Rand and her philosophy are a load of bullocks. But again, I don't think having a statue or having a majority of people in favor of your philosophy constitutes what is and what isn't philosophy. In fact, we don't have to think about that since we have definitions for words and can just read them to see what is or what isn't something. Karl Marx just wanted to promote socialism, does that mean that his works weren't philosophical but were just ideological?

[Djoser]

We're told the U.S. is a democracy when it's really not.

[TheMythOfSisyphus]

Maybe i'm missing something but what does that have to do with whether Ayn Rand's philosophy is philosophy or not?

[Fuzzly Bear]

we don't really have concrete definitions for words, they're defined by their use. philosophy is the love of wisdom, and i think rand loved herself more than she loved wisdom

LOL

anything can be philosophy can't it

[TheMythOfSisyphus]

(10-17-2011 08:56 AM)HamishFTW Wrote:  we don't really have concrete definitions for words, they're defined by their use. philosophy is the love of wisdom, and i think rand loved herself more than she loved wisdom

LOL

anything can be philosophy can't it

I'm pretty sure you can call most anything philosophy. Its a broad subject, an incredibly broad subject. I mean shit, I can call Orwell a philosopher even though i'm pretty sure he has never printed any explicit philosophical works, nonetheless the views in Animal Farm, 1984, etc could be easily shown as philosophical.

[Asshole]

"Rand was born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum (Russian: Алиса Зиновьевна Розенбаум) on February 2, 1905, to a bourgeois family living in Saint Petersburg. She was the eldest of the three daughters of Zinovy Zakharovich Rosenbaum and Anna Borisovna Rosenbaum, largely non-observant Jews. Rand's father was a successful pharmacist, eventually owning his own pharmacy and the building in which it was located. Rand was twelve at the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917, during which her sympathies were with Alexander Kerensky. Rand's family life was disrupted by the rise of the Bolshevik party under Vladimir Lenin. Her father's pharmacy was confiscated by the Bolsheviks, and the family fled to the Crimea, which was initially under the control of the White Army during the Russian Civil War. She later recalled that while in high school she determined that she was an atheist and that she valued reason above any other human attribute. After graduating from high school in the Crimea, at 16 Rand returned with her family to Petrograd (the new name for Saint Petersburg), where they faced desperate conditions, on occasion nearly starving.

After the Russian Revolution, universities were opened to women, including Jews, allowing Rand to be in the first group of women to enroll at Petrograd State University, where she studied in the department of social pedagogy, majoring in history. At the university she was introduced to the writings of Aristotle and Plato, who would form two of her greatest influences and counter-influences, respectively. A third figure whose philosophical works she studied heavily was Friedrich Nietzsche. Able to read French, German and Russian, Rand also discovered the writers Fyodor Dostoevsky, Victor Hugo, Edmond Rostand, and Friedrich Schiller, who became her perennial favorites.
Along with many other "bourgeois" students, Rand was purged from the university shortly before graduating. However, after complaints from a group of visiting foreign scientists, many of the purged students were allowed to complete their work and graduate, which Rand did in October 1924. She subsequently studied for a year at the State Technicum for Screen Arts in Leningrad. For one of her assignments, she wrote an essay about the actress Pola Negri, which became her first published work."


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