Chuck Braman's Philosophy Web Page; philosophy,Objectivism, Ayn Rand,Leonard Peikoff,The Fountainhead,Atlas Shrugged

<body> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="450"> <tr> <td> <h1>Chuck Braman's Philosophy Web Page</h1> <p class="flush"> </p> <p class="flush">Ayn Rand was a twentieth century novelist and philosopher who wrote two classic novels and created a new philosophy called "Objectivism." As a novelist, her writing is full of implicit and explicit philosophic content, so that her novels are not only terrific fiction, but also illustrate, in the form of concrete characters and events, what are otherwise challenging and difficult ideas. As a contemporary philosopher, she was unique in rejecting the entire modern and "post-modern" (Kantian-Marxist) tradition. Instead, she chose to correct, update, expand, and systematize the ideas of Aristotle and John Locke to the extent of creating an essentially new philosophy filled with her own innovative discoveries. Although she was not an academic and wrote for a popular audience, she nevertheless rigorously addressed all of the major issues in technical philosophy. As a result, in recent years there has been a rapidly increasing presence of Objectivist philosophers in academia.</p> <p>I was first introduced to her ideas about fifteen years ago when a friend gave me a copy of her novel, The Fountainhead. Reading The Fountainhead had three effects on me. First, it clarified in essential terms my understanding of myself, of others, of what's important in life and of how to achieve it. Second, it inspired me to spend three years writing a book of my own original ideas about drumming. And third, it spurred an intense interest in philosophy in general and Objectivism in particular that I've pursued to the extent of subsequently earning a bachelor's degree in the subject. Now, after having studied the history of philosophy in detail, I've found myself even more impressed with Rand's achievements.</p> <p>In my opinion, there is nothing better one can do for oneself than to gain an understanding of philosophy, and no better or more pleasurable way to initially immerse oneself in the subject than to read the fiction of Ayn Rand. Starting with fiction is, surprisingly enough, the best way to begin gaining an understanding of a philosophic system because it demonstrates, rather than explains, the system's ideas.</p> <p>For anyone interested, I highly recommend starting as I did with my favorite novel, <a href="http://www.aynrand.org/fiction/fountainhead.html" target="_blank">The Fountainhead</a>, the opening pages of which are available from the Ayn Rand Institute by clicking on the title. In addition to its philosophic content, it's a great story that's easy and pleasurable to read.</p> <p>If, after reading the Fountainhead, you find yourself intrigued, you'll probably want to read the novel that Rand herself considered to be her masterpiece, and that contains a brief outline of her entire philosophic system, Atlas Shrugged.</p> <p>(To those interested in gaining deeper insights into the characters and ideas of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, The Journals of Ayn Rand provides a fascinating adjunct to these novels.)</p> <p>After reading Atlas Shrugged, you may be motivated to explore Rand's ideas, as well as the general subject of philosophy, systematically and in detail. If so, click <a href="PersonalMain/PersonalMainPhilosophy2.htm" target="main">here</a> for my personal advice on the best way to proceed.</td> </tr> </table> </body>