Can you help me explain people's reaction to Ayn Rand's philosophy?

Question

It is rare to see philosophy questions with the name Ayn Rand in the title on yahoo. But when you do there are a flock of people to come and let people know that she is not a "real" philosopher. What about her highly original and basically full system of philosophy makes her not a philosopher?

I would be fine with people coming in and disagreeing on her philosophy, but not on the fact that it is a system of philosophy. This question was in part meant to be a chance for those who say she is not a "real" philosopher to explain, since Ayn Rand's name will certainly red flag many answerers.

Answer 1

Funny, I'm actually reading Atlas Shrugged now. I think she is a real philosopher, maybe there's some sexist issues at hand. Her philosophy is sort of "my way or the highway," but it shouldn't be dismissed as merely that. She presents why capitalism is the most valid choice which is based off of self-interest or "my way." She only makes it more clear what it is in the most extreme manner, which might make people feel it's off-putting, but it's really a presentation of the reality of American society.

Answer 2

I think one could argue that she wasn't a "real" philosopher, because she wasn't an academic philosopher.  I certainly don't think this is fair, but I can see how some people might rationalize it that way.

In the majority of cases, though, I think it's because a lot people don't approve of her whole "my way or the highway" attitude.  I don't either, to be honest, but it doesn't keep her ideas from constituting a philosophy.  After all, Socrates was also famously argumentative.

Answer 3

The reason that Ayn Rand is not considered a traditional philosopher (and instead a "pop" philosopher) is because she did not go through traditional channels that philosophers are "supposed" to follow. She didn't publish works in peer-reviewed journals, she didn't have an academic job, she wrote in a populist style instead of a literary style.

Furthermore, she was often quite explicit in her attacks on the mainstream academic philosophical tradition, calling them all sycophants of Kant and too out of touch with reality to actually produce anything useful. Academic philosophers naturally took offense with this.

Not to mention that she was very insular with regards to her philosophy. She had her core of people who were proficient in her works, and they would work to spread her philosophy through education to others. This led to accusations of Objectivism being a cult, but that i not founded on anything but ad hominem. There is no "induction ceremony", nor is there anything cultish about their behavior besides the fact that Objectivists tend to use a very peticular and recognizable type of rhetoric.

In the end, Academics were not apt to give Rand's philosophy a try simply because of her belligerence against them. That does seem to slowly be fading, but only time will tell if that will vindicate Rand. The rest of her detractors are usually politically motivated, due mostly in part to her defense of Atheism and Capitalism.

Answer 4

Published in 1957, Atlas Shrugged was her greatest achievement and last work of fiction. In this novel she dramatized her unique philosophy in an intellectual mystery story that integrated ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, politics, economics and s*x. Although she considered herself primarily a fiction writer, she realized that in order to create heroic fictional characters, she had to identify the philosophic principles which make such individuals possible.

Thereafter, Ayn Rand wrote and lectured on her philosophy—Objectivism, which she characterized as “a philosophy for living on earth." She published and edited her own periodicals from 1962 to 1976, her essays providing much of the material for six books on Objectivism and its application to the culture. Ayn Rand died on March 6, 1982, in her New York City apartment.

Every book by Ayn Rand published in her lifetime is still in print, and hundreds of thousands of copies are sold each year, so far totaling more than 25 million. Several new volumes have been published posthumously. Her vision of man and her philosophy for living on earth have changed the lives of thousands of readers and launched a philosophic movement with a growing impact on American culture.

A Brief Biography Link:  http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?p...

Answer 5

I wouldn't take that particular reaction seriously.