The essays in this book are meant to serve as an introduction to those ideas of Ayn Rand, which are of particular relevance to business people. Rand was known as a spirited defender of the laissez-faire free enterprise system. It is less commonly known that Rand was also deeply committed to the centrality of the enterprise of philosophy for both public and private life. The essays in this book ...

This paper summarizes Rand’s theory of concepts as presented in the first five chapters of Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. Rand’s approach to universals, essentials, and definitions is discussed, and key Randian usages such as “unit,” “measurement,” “distinguishing characteristic” and “Conceptual Common Denominator” are explained. An appendix summarizes Rand’s treatment of several con...

DURING THE LAST several decades something of a renewal in natural law and rights theorizing has emerged in political philosophy. Until around 1970 the dominant theme in contemporary moral and political philosophy was noncognitivism, notably variations of evotivism, the view that when we judge some act or institution morally right or wrong, what we are doing is giving expression to our feelings ...

In her «Introduction to Objectivist epistemology» (1990) Ayn Rand shows us how concepts are formed. She identifies three stages: the sensorial, perceptual and conceptual stage. Sensations stimuli impinging on senses that cannot be retained by man’s memory, nor can experienced in pure isolation. They always together with other sensations automatically integrated whole she calls percepts. This au...

On 24 August 2020, the writer Jess McHugh posted on Twitter a list of her “Top 7 Warning Signs in Man’s Bookshelf”. At very top red flags was “A Dogeared copy Infinite Jest.” This followed by “Too much Hemingway”, “Any amount Bukowski”, “AYN. RAND”, and Goethe. Lolita Ivan Turgenev’s Fathers Sons also made cut. McHugh’s tweet quickly went viral across platform, gaining 3200 replies, 6000 retwee...