Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99436 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 138 pages

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Introduction to Objectivism
This short book is written for those who have read and enjoyed Ayn Rand's novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and who want to take the next step in learning about her philosophy. Bernstein gives many concrete and down-to-earth examples that make clear the connection between philosophy and everyday life, and show how Ayn Rand's ideas are incredibly valuable for those wanting to get the most our of their lives. In 12 short chapters, the book gives an overview of the main ideas of Objectivism, omitting only the Objectivist esthetics (theory of art) and the more technical issues. For these, readers should get Leonard Peikoff's Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, and of course the nonfiction writings of Rand herself.

A Common Sense Philosophy
I very much enjoyed reading this book which explains a common-sense philosophy based on the laws of nature.

Mr. Bernstein made this philosophy very understandable by his explanations of the Philosophy of Objectivism in simple, understandable terms.

I would recommend this book as required reading for anyone who would like to understand the morals one obtains from using one's own mind based on the laws of nature.

Hannelore

Orthodox Objectivism in One Lesson
If you are interested in Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism and wish to study it from the Orthodox perspective, there are two introductions. The first is Leonard Peikoff's OBJECTIVISM: THE PHILOSOPHY OF AYN RAND and the second is Allan Gotthelf's ON AYN RAND. Peikoff's work is detailed and quite long. Gotthelf's work is shorter, but is technical and somewhat off-putting (and Peikoff didn't like it, for some reason).

Andrew Bernstein's new introduction fills a gap. Unlike Gotthelf, he is successful at showing why hundreds of thousands of people have been excited by Rand's ideas. Organizing his book around the claim that human rationality is the center of Objectivist thought, he purports to show that reason is man's exclusive means of knowledge and his only way to happiness. He illustrates his point using examples from life and also Rand's works of fiction.

Unfortunately, Bernstein skates over some of the more technical areas of Rand's philosophy. For example, there is no discussion of Rand's theory of concepts, which her followers consider her greatest achievement. Of course, like most Orthodox Objectivists, he constantly refers to Rand as "Ayn Rand." He also mistakenly calls Peikoff Rand's "intellectual heir."

I'd recommend that people interested in Objectivism also read Chris Sciabarra's AYN RAND: THE RUSSIAN RADICAL and Ron Merrill's THE IDEAS OF AYN RAND.

For those who wish to see how the various parts of Objectivism "fit together" on a more advanced level, I'd recommend the David Kelley and Will Thomas book THE LOGICAL STRUCTURE OF OBJECTIVISM, which is available on the web. (This book is still in "beta" version and it doesn't look like it will get done soon, which is too bad.)