The Man of Principle

The Fountainhead 

by Ayn Rand

“I came here to say that I do not recognize anyone's right to one minute of my life. Nor to any part of my energy. Nor to any achievement of mine. No matter who makes the claim, how large their number or how great their need…. It had to be said. The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrificing....”  — Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead;


Ayn Rand began writing her best seller on June 26, 1938. It was published in 1943 and by the summer of 1945 it was on the bestseller lists and has remained in print ever since. I have always enjoyed reading books about heroes and this was one of my favorite discoveries. When I was in high school I read this story of Howard Roark and in it found a representative of individualism with whom I could identify.

In lucid direct prose Ayn Rand narrates a story of an architect with principles who will defer to no one in the pursuit of his life goals. The basic conflict is between Roark as an exemplar of egoism who uses his reason to judge for himself contrasted with the character of Peter Keating who is a"second-hander", that is one who bases his life on the opinions of others. She creates characters who represent principles of good and evil including one of the most evil characters in literature in the person of Ellsworth Toohey, a man who manipulates others into giving up that which they hold most dear.  While Roark suffers, especially due to the machinations of Toohey, he is ultimately vindicated and stands as a hero to all who choose to think and create and produce.

The novel is written in a clear and lucid style that belies the Romanticism inherent in the story-line.  If you have enjoyed The Count of Monte Cristo or the works of Victor Hugo you will like The Fountainhead.

Novelist and Philosopher

Ayn Rand Explained 

by Ronald E. Merrill

Revised and Updated by Marsha Familaro Enright

"Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture an intransigent mind, and a step that travels limitless roads.
... Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark.  In the hopeless swamp of the bot quite, the not yet, and the not at all, do not let the hero in your soul perish and leave only the frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. . . . The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours." - Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, p 993.

The title tells it all.  Marsha Familaro Enright's revision and update of Ronald E. Merrill's book provides an explanation and an overview to the life and thought of Ayn Rand.  The author demonstrates a substantial breadth of knowledge about Ayn Rand and her work.  In addition to the overview of Ayn Rand and her work the author presents examples of people in many different walks of life that have been influenced by Ayn Rand's thought along with a brief history of the growth of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism.
As someone who has read most of Ayn Rand's fiction and non-fiction I was impressed with the depth of understanding and the insights of the author.  She compares Ayn Rand's fiction with examples of other authors when relevant and explains clearly the development of the philosophical outlook represented by the characters in Rand's major works.   She also presents some of the common criticisms of Ayn Rand's philosophical views in lucid prose that makes clear the nature of the issues and the power of  Rand's ideas to refute them when they are properly understood.  Above all, her presentation and discussion of the ideas and the views of critics of Ayn Rand show a reasonableness that demonstrates the true nature of Objectivist thought and honors her subject.  This approach was refreshing and all too rare in an age when irrationality is held as the norm by many.
Ultimately, any explanation of Ayn Rand must focus on the power of ideas.  These are presented clearly here and the reader is encouraged to read her work and think for himself about the value of those ideas.  The nature of Ayn Rand's ideas is presented in a way that I found engaging and hopeful.  I believe that readers both new to Rand and those who have read much of her work will benefit from the insights provided in Ayn Rand Explained.   

Ayn Rand Explained by Ronald E. Merrill, Revised and Updated by Marsha Familaro Enright.  Open Court Publishing, 2013. 

Two Poems

There is a June when Corn is cut

There is a June when Corn is cut

And Roses in the Seed—

A Summer briefer than the first

But tenderer indeed

As should a Face supposed the Grave's

Emerge a single Noon

In the Vermilion that it wore

Affect us, and return—

Two Seasons, it is said, exist—

The Summer of the Just,

And this of Ours, diversified

With Prospect, and with Frost—

May not our Second with its First

So infinite compare

That We but recollect the one

The other to prefer? 

Emily Dickinson

__________________________________________

Claim the Season

“Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. 

Do not count on them. Leave them alone.”  -  Ayn Rand

Slash and burn,

The seasons turn,

And just as one is yearning for the new

The blasted heat of Summer claims its due.

Take the high road

Where they last sowed

Grass, but now the weeds have wrested the hill.

Can we find respite on this hill?  Dare we - will

we find a way to claim the new season?

Or is there no place here for our reason?

James Henderson, Geography Lessons  (2012)

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal 

by Ayn Rand

"A rational mind does not work under compulsion; it does not subordinate its grasp of reality to any one's orders, directives, or controls; it does not sacrifice its knowledge, its view of the truth, to any one's opinions, threats, wishes, plans, or "welfare."  Such a mind may be hampered by others, it may be silenced, proscribed, imprisoned, or destroyed; it cannot be forced; a gun is not an argument. (An example and symbol of this attitude is Galileo.)
 It is from the work and the inviolate integrity of such minds -- from the intransigent innovators -- that all of mankind's knowledge and achievements have come." (Ayn Rand, "What is Capitalism?", p 9)


-  In 1967 I began undergraduate studies in the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin. Within a year I had chosen Economics as my major and embarked on a path to fulfill the requirements of that degree. Shortly before, I had discovered the works of Ayn Rand and this volume, which was first published in 1966, joined with volumes of Hayek, Friedman and Mises as part of my auxiliary reading in the economics of capitalism. I say auxiliary because, except in the history of economics course, none of these authors were on the syllabuses of the Economics Department at UW-Madison.
-  For students of economics, both young and old, the most valuable feature of the book is the Recommended Bibliography. While less than two pages long, it contains the best of the classic works needed for a foundation in understanding economics. The essays included in the book range from philosophy to history and commentary on current (circa 1960s) policies. The good thing about economic principles is that they do not change with the political currents and are not based on the whims of individuals, but are grounded in objective reality. That is what gives Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal its continuing value for all who desire to understand the nature of capitalism.


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What is Reason?

Reflections upon a Socratic Weekend

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

- T. S. Eliot

I spent the past weekend, from Thursday evening through Sunday morning, exploring the question: "What is Reason?" with sixteen other individuals who came together under the auspices of the Reason Individualism Freedom Institute to engage in a Socratic dialogue regarding this and related questions. I came away from this weekend, not with answers to the question, but with a better understanding of how to explore this and related questions of fundamental importance for anyone interested in pursuing wisdom.

We came together on Thursday evening, each from different places, backgrounds and ways of life, but each also with common goals and an beneficent spirit of cooperation centered on an agreement that reason was a concept worth exploring. There were several opportunities to do just that as we attempted with increasing success, led by Marsha Enright, the founder of the RIF Institute and Andrew Humphries, to follow the principles of Socratic dialogue in examining texts from Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Ayn Rand, Jefferson and others. The spirit of friendly cooperation in pursuit of understanding each of these texts drove us forward and we shared our observations on the success of each attempt before moving on. Between the discussions we expanded our minds with consideration of the great architecture of Chicago and the interpretation and observation of important works of art in the Art Institute. We also enjoyed a presentation by Jonathan Hoenig on the heroism of capitalists in their pursuit of financial success based on the practical application of reason, and a talk by one successful and talented neurosurgeon, Joel Franck, M.D., about his experiences and views of the ethical and business aspects of practicing medicine in America today.

The combination of all of these experiences and the camaraderie that developed from our interaction with one another made this a rewarding weekend with benefits that will continue to accrue as each of the participants reflect and act upon the knowledge gained through their participation in the seminar. I for one found that in pursuing the question, "What is Reason?", I found a better way of knowing how to use reason both to pursue further questions and live my life. That is an invaluable lesson.

Philosophical Novel

Reading Atlas Shrugged

To achieve, you need thought. You have to know what you are doing and that's real power.  - Ayn Rand


Atlas Shrugged is included in at least one list of the top ten philosophical novels (Alternative Reel). I know I would include it on my own list, and while rereading it recently for a class on the "Moral Defense of Capitalism" (University of Chicago Basic Program of Liberal Education) I was reminded that, while Rand's prose style has worn a bit thin for me, the philosophical questions that are addressed both implicitly in the archetypal characters, representing both good and evil, and explicitly in the philosophical essays incorporated as pronouncements by some of the leading characters (these essays are available separately in a book entitled For The New Intellectual) are those that remain fundamental for anyone who is interested in identifying a moral basis for living a flourishing human life. The most impressive, longest and some might say massive pronouncement in the novel is "Galt's Speech". It is here that John Galt provides a summary of his philosophy and that of his compatriots in "Galt's Gulch"; it is a philosophy for man based on reason and would become known as Objectivism in Rand's non-fiction writings. Rereading this philosophical tome has also reminded me of the important questions that need to be asked and the answers that need to be searched for. Ayn Rand would later sum up the need for this sort of thoughtfulness in her essay "Philosophy: Who Needs It?". The answer to that question is that we all do, and I find reading philosophical novels like Atlas Shrugged to be helpful in the process of defining my personal philosophy.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Random House, New York. 1957.
For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. Random House, New York. 1961.

Quote for Today

Atlas Shrugged

The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it's yours. But to win it requires total dedication and a total break with the world of your past, with the doctrine that man is sacrificial animal who exists for the pleasure of others. Fight for the value of your person. Fight for the virtue of your pride. Fight for the essence, which is man, for his sovereign rational mind. Fight with the radiant certainty and the absolute rectitude of knowing that yours is the morality of life and yours is the battle for any achievement, any value, any grandeur, any goodness, any joy that has ever existed on this earth.

—from John Galt’s speech in Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, who died on this day in 1982

Meaning and Absurdity
Comments contra Camus

What is a meaningful life? How do we create meaning in our lives? Some suggest that having a goal, identifying values, and pursuing them is a way to create and live a meaningful life. I see this as part of living a human life - for its own sake. Having goals is part of being a better human being. Aristotle famously called this living a flourishing life.
This approach, however, is different for every individual human being. In spite of this we all share with each other our humanness - our humanity - that which makes our lives humane and worthwhile. There are those who deny or disagree with this approach to living a meaningful life. A prominent exponent of this denial is Albert Camus who, in The Myth of Sisyphus, and other writings, posits an absurd universe devoid of meaning. Julian Baggini comments on this:

Here we confront a fundamental difficulty. Almost all deniers of meaning in life seem to be rejecting only the idea that life has a specific kind of meaning: one determined by agents, purposes or principles somehow external to this world. This does not justify the conclusion that life has no meaning at all. Their pronouncement that 'life is meaningless' thus just appears to be a kind of hyperbole. (p. 161, What's It All About)

We all can live a meaningful life if we choose to do so. The choice is also part of our humanity and it entails having a philosophy of life. This is eloquently discussed by Ayn Rand in her essay: Philosophy: Who Needs It? (Address to the graduating class of West Point on March 6, 1974). She points out the importance of facing and answering the questions "Where am I? How do I know it? What should I do?"(p. 2, PWNI). The process of answering those questions, developing one's own philosophy of life, is inherent in living a meaningful life.



The Myth of Sisyphus and other essays by Albert Camus. Vintage Books, New York. 1991 (1955)
Philosophy: Who Needs It by Ayn Rand. Bobbs-Merrill, New York. 1982
What's It All About? by Julian Baggini. Oxford University Press, New York. 2006 (2004)

Atlas Shrugged

The importance of the ideas in this novel, published fifty years ago, cannot be overstated. When I first read the works of Ayn Rand (this was my second, having read The Fountainhead first) I found a thinker who had a vision of the individual and the world that inspired me. Through that inspiration I was encouraged to continue to think and read and form a philosophy for my own life. I owe much of that philosophy to this book and the ideas within it. It contains the core of Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism. While I do not consider myself an 'objectivist', I share many of the tenets that philosophy espouses in my personal approach to life. More importantly I still consider Ayn Rand one of the great thinkers and Atlas Shrugged one of the great works of literature and one of my personal favorites.