Book Description
Is religion's appeal rooted in irrational ideas? Or does it also offer people positive values? Mr. Bidnotto argues that despite its irrational content, religion addresses valid human needs - needs that Objectivists have too long neglected. Drawing upon Ayn Rand's aesthetic theory and historic examples, this popular, path-breaking talk demonstrates that Objectivists have crucial lessons to learn from their philosophical rivals. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (12)

This book should be called "What Art ISN'T"
I never agreed with the theory of Ayn Rand to begin with-- I thought she was just a mean, selfish, self-centered person to begin with. This book just proves my point even further. The book seems to focus more on what Rand believes is NOT art than what art actually IS. I find the writing style to be quite boring and drawn out, as well. I'm not any established art scholar (as I'm sure Torres and Kamhi are), but this book is just downright boring and offensive to those in the world (including myself) who consider themselves to be artists in fields that Rand doesn't consider to be art.

WOW!
My response to this work is captured in the title of my review. Torres and Khamy have achieved a level of scholarship in What Art Is that no other writer on the aesthetic theory of Rand has accomplished in the twenty years since the author's death. I would rank it along with Sciabarra's monumental Ayn Rand the Russian Radical. It's enormous accomplishment will keep Rand studies alive and bring her fame. Like Oscar Wilde she set out on her literary career either to be a writer or to become notorious. Notorious is mostly what she has become. Despite anyone's personal views on Rand's aesthetic theory whether completely sound or not, these authors have demonstrated that what they are going to be known for is EXCELLENT scholarship. This book has enough reference and bibliographical material to baffle any academic, and their grasp of the areas that are relevent to Rand scholarship is enormous! I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what the work of a genuine scholar is. Jacques Barzun got it right, if these authors are students of his, they deserve the highest marks.

Surprisingly good, despite some flaws
I did not expect to like this book. Rand's esthetics are the part of her philosophy I find most deplorable.And although Torres and Kamhi are not slavish admirers of Rand who follow her every word, I can't say I cared much for their dreary essentialism.Rand was part of the Aristotlean tradition in philosophy.Her philosophy is more telogically centered than the naturalism of the pre-Socratics or modern science.It also embraces a form of "methdological essentialism," as the philosopher Karl Popper dubbed it, which I find hard to take, especially in strong doses.Methodological essentialists stress the importance of "What is" questions and the definitions of words.Torres and Kamhi, like Rand herself, are uncompromising definition mongers and "what is" analyzers. But I don't think esthetic questions can be solved by answering such questions as "What is art?" or "What is literature?" or by claiming that the bad, non-representational art of modernism and post-modernism is not really art at all, but a kind of fraudulent non-art pretending to be art.Torres and Kamhi stress the importance of defining art, but I have little use for this mode of analysis.Emphasis on definitions simply leads to hopeless arguments about words.I would much rather know why some works of art are successful and some not than know how art should be defined.Art is far too complicated to be summed up in essence of some definition.What I want to know is how does this or that piece of art function aesthetically, and if it functions well or poorly, than why?Science and naturalism emphasize "why" and "how" questions.This is what I would have liked to see from Torres and Kamhi.But being from the Socratic/Aristotlean tradition in philosophy, they have a different methodological point of view on this matter, one I find hopelessly inferior to the methodological nominalism of the sciences.

Nevertheless, despite these criticisms, I urge all those who are interested in art to read the book, regardless of what they think of Rand.The book is written on a much higher level than most pro-Rand books that are published nowadays.Torres and Kamhi, unlike Rand's orthodox disciples, at least are sound scholars with an appreciation for empirical evidence and close logical analysis.They are fair to opposing viewpoints (unlike Rand herself, who treated opponents as if they were sub-human), and they provide an excellent overview of the excesses of modern and post-modern art.Merely as a phillipic against bad art (or, as the authors would insist, "non-art"), I would give this book a five star rating.But because of the methodological essentialism, I have to drop it down to four.The emphasis on definitions really can get annoying.

Insightful & challenging reading for art criticism students
What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory Of Ayn Rand surveys philosopher/novelist Ayn Rand (1905-1982) commentaries on the nature and meaning of art, contrasting her theory of esthetics with those of other thinkers. The authors conclude that, in its basic principles, Rand's account is compelling, and is corroborated by evidence from anthropology, neurology, cognitive science, and psychology. Rand's theory is applied to a debunking of the work of prominent modernists & postmodernists. Highly recommended, insightful, and challenging reading for students of philosophy and arts criticism, What Art Is concludes with an exploration of the implications of Rand's ideas for the issues of government and corporate support of the arts, art law, and arts education.

A humanistic outlook on art.
Cutting through the confusion of the last century, Torres and Kamhi, present a lucid, extended, and in-depth discussion of the fundamental nature of art. As art is often intensely personal for both artist and audience alike, the authors present their ideas with consideration and tolerance; they show amble appreciation for the breath of human artistic achievement. They also review the contempt of the art establishment towards the views and needs of the vast art audience, as these experts have denigrated the creation of representational painting, tonal music, and traditional art in general. ... Read more

Book Description
Rand celebrated business, especially the heavy industries that dominated America in her lifetime, and the entrepreneurs who founded and built them.Ayn Rand and Business interprets the fiction and philosophy of this self-proclaimed "radical-for-capitalism" for today's business reader.Download Description
"In an astonishing journey, Ayn Rand transformed herself from a shopkeeper's daughter to one of the world's leading advocates of laissez-faire capitalism. She celebrated business, especially the heavy industries that dominated America, and the entrepreneurs who founded and built them. She constructed a philosophy known as Objectivism-strict adherence to reality, reason, and self-interest-to prove that her epic image of business was the right one. Ayn Rand and Business is both relevant and valuable to today's business readers, providing insightful lessons for managers, traders, and entrepreneurs alike. Rand wrote about topics including the free agent marketplace and the necessity of creating one in order to lead it, corporate strategies, individual achievement, and the relationship between employer and employee. Ayn Rand, author of The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged, was one of the most controversial figures of her time and influenced many through her novels and philosophy. " ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Useful but slanted
This book does a decent job of showing how application of Ayn Rand's philosophy can improve your performance at work and your company's performance, but the authors have some incorrect notions of the scope of Ayn Rand's philosophy and it's proponents.The book can best be enjoyed by skipping the first section of the book which doesn't really pertain to the subject of the book.For the essence of her philosophy, I'd recommend Ayn Rand's "For the New Intellectual".

Excellent Intro to Rand
This book is an excellent introduction to Rand's philosophy examined from the point of view of its applications in business. Not a how-to, really, but a good launching point for further study and consideration. Well-written and very readable.

Insightful!
Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism celebrates the underlying principles of capitalism: reason, independence and just plain selfishness. Donna Greiner and Theodore Kinni lay out the fundamentals of Objectivism and attempt to describe how you can integrate its beliefs into your life and your business. The book is written in the spirit of Rand's own outlook: It is anchored in practicality, well organized and goal-oriented. Even so, some executives might lose patience with the philosophic nature of the work. We advise such readers to move on. However, we from getAbstract recommend this book to intellectually curious readers in search of a moral, ethical, or even philosophic foundation for their business life.

APPLIED OBJECTIVISM
When I first scanned "Ayn Rand and Business," I was a little skeptical about where this book was going and where its authors were coming from. But after reading it, I say it is stupendous.

I'd subtitle it "Applied Objectivism," in the same sense that one would speak of applied electronics where principles are applied to create all kinds of devices and equipment run by electricity. "Ayn Rand and Business" applies the principles of Objectivism to the business of marketing, capitalization, management, customer service, etc.

The book presents a brief biography of Ayn Rand covering her years in Russia, her coming to America, her struggles, her triumphs, the Objectivist "movement," that started with NBI (Nathaniel Branden Institute), the 1968 "break" between Branden and Rand and the ensuing excommunications, schisms and rifts that led to the sad decline in the "movement" and the quantity of her writings. 

But, more importantly, the focus of the book is on the application of Objectivist principles to business life. (And to personal life, which comes before but also runs parallel with business life.) The authors take the Objectivist values and virtues, explain them so very clearly and illustrate them with concrete examples how they apply in the business world. They use characters from Ayn Rand's novels as models, but they also use real-life business people who practice these virtues and values.

Their presentation of Objectivist principles is clear and concise. This is not a treatise, but outside of thebusiness focus, the book could be considered an excellent introduction to Objectivism. They deal with all of the heavy philosophical subjects and issues in what we used to refer to as "layman's terms."
 
You don't have to be a philosopher to understand Ayn Rand. Her writing is crystal clear. Nonetheless, jumping into metaphysics and epistemology cold turkey may not be the best way to get an introduction to Objectivism or any other philosophy. When, as a kid, I startedto read about relativity and physics, many books that put those ideas in "layman's terms" were invaluable. "Ayn Rand and Business" does this superbly. 

Fans of Ayn Rand and long time readers will find nothing new, philosophically, in the book though they should be impressed by its clarity and thoroughness in explaining Objectivism. I would particularly recommend it to people who show an interest in ideas and who might be prime candidates to become Objectivists. And because it is focused on Objectivism in business, I would highly recommend it for such prime candidates in the business world. 

It's not clear where the authors discovered Ayn Rand. The biographical information is silent on this subject. But it is obvious from the sources they cite and the bibliography that they know their subject. They quote from virtually every book, article and newsletter Ayn Rand ever wrote. They appear to have read every book by or about her and Objectivism.

The only flaws I see in the book are in editing. In several instances, needed words are missing or the wrong words are used. Additionally, there are a couple of instances where the wording of a sentence initially gives the opposite impression than that intended. And it is incorrectly stated that "The Objectivist" preceded "The Objectivist Newsletter." But the errors, except for the last one, are obvious to any reader and do nothing to detract from the content.

Overall, the book gets my highest rating. For a book written so clearly and favorably about Objectivism, by two people apparently unknown in the Ayn Rand "movement," to suddenly appear on the scene is remarkable. It's something to be celebrated and is an indication that, more than anything else I've seen, Objectivism is breaking through to and is reaching the common man who Ayn Rand correctly remarked is not so "common."

Freedom Book of the Month review of _Ayn Rand and Business_
Free-Market.Net'sFreedom Book of the Month
--------------------------------------------
Edited by Thomas L. Knapp. (....)

November 2001

Ayn Rand and Business
by Donna Greiner and Theodore Kinni
Texere 2001, hardcover, 209 pp.

One thing that separated Ayn Rand from many other philosophers was her insistence on that morality and practicality are not mutually excusive. Where other schools of thought dismiss commercial enterprise as either a necessary evil to be tolerated, or an unnecessary evil to be dispensed with, Objectivism celebrates trade as one of man's highest virtues.

_Ayn Rand and Business_ turns its sights to this unique aspect of Objectivism, and in so doing functions as an excellent guide for those interested both in the root principles of business ethics and of Objectivism.

Donna Greiner and Theodore Kinni begin with a short discussion of Ayn Rand and her work, including the movement that she began and which has experienced such tumult and schism. They don't pull any punches, but the view is positive overall.

From there, the book moves into its main body with sections on "Randian Work" and "Randian Management."

The section on work is a tour de force in the application of individualist principles to our everyday endeavors. Subdivided into chapters on key virtues and values including rationality, independence, integrity, honesty, justice, productiveness and pride, the book zooms in on how each of these values fits into our work and lives. It draws examples from real individuals and their real experiences and shows the application of Objectivist ideas to real situations.

By contrast, the section on management is more general, concentrating on three topic areas: "Winning Through Innovation," "Managing People to Their Ultimate Potential," and "Leading With Purpose."

"If there is one book that we'd like to see on the packed shelves of bookstores," the authors write, " it is _The Objectivist Manager_ by Ayn Rand. Unfortunately, Rand never wrote that book."

While it might go a bit far to proclaim that _Ayn Rand and Business_ is such an animal, the book will be of immense value to businesspeople interested in the principles of Objectivism, and to Objectivists or those interested in Ayn Rand's philosophy who have long sought to understand the real application of Rand's ideas to the world of enterprise.

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Please forward and copy freely, and include the following:

The Freedom Book of the Month is a feature of Free-Market.Net
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Book Description
Most books of spirituality are far removed from intellectual rigor, and most books of philosophy are as dry as old bones. This volume seeks to bridge the gap. The author invites his readers to view the modern world through philosophical eyes as he relates Plato's words to issues such as friendship, human -rights, education, sexuality, bio-ethicsandpolitics.Plato's words are quoted throughout the text; along with those of other thinkers such as Origen, Aquinas, King Charles I of England, Neitzche, Popper, Benedict XVI, and evenVoldemort -thevillain of theHarryPotter books. ... Read more

Book Description
The Literary Art of Ayn Rand focuses on Rand as a writer: the brilliantly distinctive stylist, the master of aphorism and symbol, the apostle of essentialistic characterization, the rigorous integrator who insisted that all elements in a work serve a single theme, and the igenious plotter who took pride in constructing her magnum opus as a "stunt" novel of mystery and misdirection.

Now in one volume, nine essays by six authors shed new light on the depth and complexity behind Rand's inspiring and entertaining writing. The contributors include:

Kirsti Minsaas:
"Structural Integration in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged"
"The Visual Power of Ayn Rand's Fiction"
"The Stylization of Mind in Ayn Rand's Fiction."

Susan McCloskey:
"Odysseus, Jesus, and Dagny: Ayn Rand's Conception of the Hero"
"Work and Love in The Fountainhead"

Mimi Reisel Gladstein:
"Breakthroughs in Ayn Rand Literary Criticism"

Nathaniel Branden:
"The Literary Method of Ayn Rand"

David Kelley:
"The Code of the Creator"

Stephen Cox:
"The Literary Achievement of The Fountainhead" ... Read more

Book Description
An excellent overview of Ayn Rand's life, novels, and philosophy of Objectivism, author Chris Matthew Sciabarra offers insightful examinations into Rand's early intellectual influences, her fictional themes and characters, her stance as a public philosopher, her political activism, and much more. Also contains a comprehensive bibliography. ... Read more

Book Description
The Film American Beauty was a huge box office and critical success, which engendered fierce cultural debates as to its meaning. In a highly original, philosophical analysis of the movie, Dr. Kelley offers his own explanation -- that it is a case study of the alignment of forces in our culture today, particularly as an index to views about individualism. ... Read more

Book Description
Though Ayn Rand glorified the power of reason to transform the world, many people, including Objectivists, remain deeply pessimistic. What are the sources of such pessimism? How can we acquire the can-do spirit of Rand's heroes? Mr. Bidinotto explains how he transformed his own pessimistic outlook and offers Objectivists and non-Objectivists a message of hope. ... Read more

Book Description
David Ross offers an engaging view of what he considers to be one of Ayn Rand's most important contributions to philosophy: the objective-subjective-intrinsic trichotomy. In creating this trichotomy, Rand not only provided a method of identifying philosophical and psychoepistemological errors and bad ideas, but also illuminated the nature of objectivity and good ideas. Using examples from cinema, biology, ethics, and the culinary arts, Dr. Ross presents the basics of Intrinsicism and Subjectivism, both as philosophical approaches and as thinking styles, and demonstrates how they stand in stark contrast to the objective approach and to one another. ... Read more

Book Description
Byte size (BiO) Spiritualism on Matters of Reason, for pennies a bite:“As [your own] Therapist check your life premises/Every man (woman and child over the age of 12) is an island.”, This bite, for your “chewing” pleasure, contains no fewer than 35 life premises that everyone should check.... If you are more than 12 years old, then there is a secret you can be let in on.That secret is ... ... Read more

Book Description
Even before Objectivism becomes a cultural force, its practitioners can develop social structures that embody their ideals and nurture them in pursuing values. Mr. Bidinotto offers practical ideas for creating an Objectivist "community of values" now. ... Read more

Book Description
Is it possible to craft effective forms of spiritual expression that are consistent with a rational, non-theistic philosophical ideal? Drawing on his lifelong experience with the application of the philosophy of Objectivism in daily life, Mr. Bidinotto outlines how one can adapt traditional spiritual practices to an Objectivist context, how an Objectivist community can share values, and how individuals can infuse their everyday lives with a sense of meaning, inspiration, and idealism through the development of such practices. ... Read more

Book Description
Machan's book explores all the major themes of Ayn Rand's philosophical thought. He shows the frequent strengths and occasional weaknesses of Rand's mature philosophy of Objectivism, drawing on his own, and many others', discussion of this challenging and iconoclastic thinker's ideas. Machan's treatment of Rand is a welcome addition to the growing literature of serious scholarship on Rand's philosophical work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Sloppily insightful
Machan writes in the preface that his book is intended as an introduction to Rand's ideas for readers who may have heard of her but not examined her philosophy in detail.In my view, Machan's book gets a C on his own professed assignment.At times, Machan demonstrates keen insight and a top notch grasp of Rand's philosophy.But for his book to be a quality introduction to readers unfamiliar with Rand's ideas, he would need to step up his writing and organization skills tremendously.Compared to Rand's own writing and the works with a similar purpose to Machan's of many of her followers, Machan's writing is downright sloppy.You get the impression that Machan sat down one morning on his toilet and kicked out a few chapters on Rand's philosophy and then brought it to the publishing house later that afternoon.He's like the C-Bo (a Sacramento rapper) of philosophy--he loves to produce work in abundance but isn't all that concerned with the quality of the outcome of those products.Also, at times it seems like Machan read Rand's not-meant-to-be-published journals and took them to be her final word on philosophical issues.This manifests itself in his chapter on Rand's ethics, when his emphasis on her idea that a human being must act in accordance with his nature is way too great (not to mention the fact that he quotes her from those journals multiple times in a context which implies her final say).At that point, Rand had considered that an axiom.But she later understood that it was not an axiom--that it is validated by the fact that values are derived from life, and a being's nature determines how it must act to survive.Machan almost seems to agree with the early Rand that it is an axiom.The result of all this is that he does not do justice to Rand's actual moral theory.Someone reading it as an introduction to her ethics would rightfully not be all that convinced.Luckily he quotes some passages from Rand's own The Virtue of Selfishness.

Overall, I would recommend this book to afficionados of Objectivism, for Machan looks at many of Rand's ideas comes from (at times) a unique and illuminating perspective.But expect sloppy writing and mediocre organization, and don't read if you're looking for an intro to Rand's philosophy.

Not very informative
I gave it such a low score not because the book is badly written, or one cannot understand it, but rather because it is not very informative and I'm not sure to whom is it addressed.

If you are already have an interest for Objectivism or Ayn Rand, and might want to learn somewhat deeper into the subject, this book won't help you much. It is an introduction, but since it rarely explains where the claims of Objectivism comes from that it is not a very useful introduction. In this case one might do better going directly to another book.

If you are like me, and you only want to read one book on Objectivism because it was brought up in a conversation or something similar, this book will probably not satisfy you, since again, it makes claims that are not even remotely backed up.

The author spends most of the book saying that Rand gives way to an objective moral and ethical system. To me that sounded like the most interesting part of Objectivism, and yet the author never stops to explain how this is so. I wouldnt have expected the full outline of such a system in an introductory text, but it would have helped if even a little of the path was shown, or even delineated. Instead we are asked to believe (with no reason for it) that this is so, and we are kept this way through the whole book.

All in all, I found the book disapointing, and it was unable to answer my passing curiosity on the subject. If you are more interested on the subject, I would also recomend that you go for another book where a more indepth analysis is shown.

Hastily put together but rather friendly and interesting
"Rand's Objectivism, of all the schools of contemporary philosophy, may well be the one that holds out the best, most ..........." Tibor R. Machan

Unlike most independent Ayn Rand scholars, who tend to consider themselves as superiorprofessionals correcting the childish blunders of an incompetent amateur,Tibor Machan, as the above quote suggests, is a respectful commentator whocorrectly recognizes that Ayn Rand was a major philosopher and that most ofwhat Randian scholars today can hope to accomplish is to polish up someaspects of her philosophical system, develop new applications of it andconfront the latest batch of criticisms from academia. As far as hispersonal philosophy is concerned, he seems to have accepted most of thefundamentals of Objectivism, and in most contemporary philosophicalbattles, he is generally on the right side, defending free-will againstdeterminism, ethical cognitivism vs. non-cognitivism, the free society vs.welfare statism and marxism, and the morality of business against leftistand conservative smears. I would therefore consider him an estranged friendof Objectivism, to be distinguished from the self-styled "sympatheticobservers" of the philosophy who in the next breath call Rand apseudo-philosopher.

Unfortunately, Machan tends to suffer from a lack ofsystem and hierarchy in his writings, and nowhere is this clearer than inthe present book. Compared to Peikoff's *Objectivism: The Philosophy of AynRand* or even Gotthelf's *On Ayn Rand*, which are beautifully structuredand clearly distinguish fundamentals from derivatives, Machan's *Ayn Rand*is much less integrated and systematic.

This lack of system of courseneed not be a reflection of Machan's own mental functioning, even though hedoes have a penchant for pluralism and eclecticism, but is probably due tothe way the book was put together: *Ayn Rand* is essentially a disjointedcollection of articles previously published in various reviews, newslettersand books. Chapter 4, "Rand's Rational Individualism", forinstance, is a slightly edited copy of chapter 10 of *The PhilosophicalThought of Ayn Rand*.

Machan's lack of enthusiasm for philosophicalhierarchy does sometimes affect his conclusions, though. For instance, whenhe states that "in some parts of his moral philosophy and in politics,Kant was closer to [Rand's] own ideas than are most otherphilosophers" (p117), he clearly shows his rejection of theObjectivist tenet that one cannot understand a statement out of the wholehierarchy of a man's philosophical ideas. This may also explain why hefeels sympathetic to the libertarians and leans to the "moraltolerationist" wing of Objectivism.

Anyway, I do recommend this bookas a good overview of Objectivism, and perhaps as a better *introduction*to this philosophy than Gotthelf's very compact volume (though the latteris a more reliable statement of the content of the philosophy). Machan makes interesting comments on the distinction between derivation anddeduction and he identifies a few contemporary philosophers whose views arevery similar to Objectivism. His more haphazard reflections on"Problems Left for Objectivism" however suffer from a lack offamiliarity with the more recent taped material and simplemisinterpretations of Objectivist tenets. (For instance, though he has read*We The Living*, he asks: "Cannot a work of art be quite excellent,yet... sad? Tragic?", perpetuating a common caricature of theObjectivist esthetics.) Finally, I must say I found some of the statementsin the book cryptic or highly dubious: "Rand's foundationalism can becharacterized as post-epistemological" or "Rand's approach isalso consistent with... an (almost) anything-goes, (almost) Feyerabendianlaissez-faire attitude towards the methods of factual investigation".

Best Book on Rand
This is the best introduction to Ayn Rand available.Because Prof. Machan was never a member of Rand's inner circle, he can write freely on her philosophy and discuss its strengths as well as weaknesses.Nonetheless, Prof. Machan clearly admires Rand and considers her an importantphilosopher.

There are a number of merits to this book: (1) Prof.Machan provides a clear overview of Rand's position on most philosophicalquestions, placing prominence on Rand's axiomatic concepts; (2) the bookcontains a solid discussion of Rand's works; and (3) chapter 7 - on variousquestions that Rand failed to consider - is excellent.

There are someweaknesses to the work as well. First, Prof. Machan doesn't spend enoughtime on Rand's theory of concept formation, which her followers consider hegreatest contribution to philosophy.Second, he is too kind to Rand whenit comes to her often unfair and inaccurate attacks on other philosophers. While he says that Rand caricatures other thinkers, the fact is that Randhad little knowledge of the history of philosophy and her discussion ofother philosophers is simply pathetic.Anyone who doubts this should readher essay, "For the New Intellectual." Third, like many of Rand'sadmirers, Prof. Machan overestimates Rand's originality.The fact is thatmost of Rand's ideas can be found in other writers.

In spite of itsflaws, this is generally an outstanding book.I recommend it highly. ... Read more

Book Description
Is Virtue Only a Means to Happiness? assesses the nature of virtue and happiness in Ayn Rand's writings and those of her Objectivist followers.

In the title essay, Neera Badhwar argues virtues are constitutive components of happiness. Supporting this position, she cites recent psychological findings and calls into question Rand's dictum "emotions are not tools of cognition." Badhwar holds that a separation of emotion and cognition undermines a proper understanding of virtuous dispositions. She pits Rand against Rand to buttress her claims, arguing that Rand's novels contradict her non-fiction writings on these points.

This volume also includes three commentary essays by Jay Friendenberg, Lester H. Hunt, and David Kelley. And in a reply to these comments, Badhwar defends her meta-ethics and conception of virtue. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Disappointing
This book presents an essay that attempts to demonstrate the failing of Objectivist ethics on two major points. After the essay, various assessments are provided by different commentators, followed by the author's answer. The latter is mostly an answer to David Kelley's comments.

The author first objects to Miss Rand's recognition of life as man's standard of value. Life, asserts the author, is too narrow. To value life means to value survival, but we really want more than just survival. We really value happiness; therefore happiness is our proper standard.

If you are familiar with Miss Rand's writings on ethics, perhaps you will feel slightly uneasy at this point. She said that the fundamental choice of existence or nonexistence is the metaphysical basis of human values, which does seem to imply mere survival. But she also said that a man's own happiness is his highest moral purpose. Which was Miss Rand really advocating as the standard?

To grasp the answer, you must first understand that Miss Rand's reasoning process was an objective one. She habitually integrated her views and ruthlessly maintained context. When academic philosophers try to understand her work, many are hampered by her thinking process (i.e. her epistemology). Generally, academic philosophers are accustomed to compartmentalizing. Consequently, they believe that one can mix and match elements from the works of different philosophers to arrive at one's own personal "system." Miss Rand, by contrast, saw that any set of essential and true philosophical principles must be interdependent (such that we cannot deny one without denying the others); therefore the essential premises of a philosophical system are inseparable. To understand Miss Rand's ethics, we too must observe her practices of integration and context keeping.

In the relevant sense, happiness is the state achieved by living according to true principles, a state of "non-contradictory joy," the state of a life well lived along with its concomitant emotions. So the concept of happiness rests on the concept of man's life.

There is, in fact, a range of possibility with respect to the quality of a man's life, with bare survival at one end of the range and true happiness at the other. Bare survival proceeds from a minimal success at life, while happiness (in the relevant sense) proceeds from a more or less complete success at life. Survival and happiness refer to different degrees of the same thing. Each is the state resulting from some degree of successful action toward supporting one's life.

May not we then assert that happiness is the real goal, the state we really want to attain, and therefore the proper basis for human values? No. Miss Rand designated happiness as man's moral purpose, but emphatically not as his standard of value. Happiness simply cannot be a standard of value. It is the state associated with having obtained one's values, but it cannot direct us to what those values ought to be.

If we try to choose our values based on happiness, we cannot use the term in the sense in which it is taken as man's moral purpose. Happiness as the result of successful living has nothing to say about what constitutes successful living. In order to make happiness a standard of value, we would have to switch to happiness in the sense of emotional enjoyment. That would obviously lead to hedonism. It would eliminate the objectivity of values and leave us to pursue whatever "feels good" at any moment. If we want true happiness, we must instead choose to value whatever leads to true happiness, which means to seek the values of life itself. That is why man's life is his standard of value. We achieve happiness by obtaining, in abundance, the values necessary for life. Each of those values is validated by its objective relationship to the value of man's life.

Miss Rand did not stop at bare survival. She spoke of man's survival qua man, which is to say his survival by the means and in the fashion appropriate to his nature. The happy man is not one who must always worry about his precarious existence, but one who has control of his life, who takes care of himself, who knows where he is going, who is skilled and feels up to any challenge. In short, the happy man has attained his basic values in abundance. He has maximized his reason, purpose, and self-esteem.

The author next objects to Miss Rand's recognition of virtue as a means to values (which, in turn, lead to happiness, hence the title of this work). She claims that virtue is really part of happiness, so it is actually its own reward.

The author argues that man finds some kind of pure pleasure in virtuous acts, therefore they are part of happiness, not merely a means to happiness. More precisely, she holds that we don't act virtuously because it leads to something else that makes us happy, to some other value; rather, we act virtuously purely for the sake of virtue. (The title of this work seems to connote the vulgarity of taking virtue as a means to some other end, and the author seems motivated by a desire to demonstrate that this view is incorrect.)

Here again, she is dropping the context and integration of the concepts involved. Remember that, in the relevant sense, happiness is not enjoyment. Enjoyment of one's life is an emotion that accompanies true happiness, but acts of virtue are not necessarily enjoyable for their own sakes. Virtuous acts qua virtuous acts are only enjoyable to a person who believes that they contribute to his own well-being. Their emotional enjoyment proceeds from his subconscious evaluations based on the value premises that he has accepted. One can enjoy a task that would otherwise be tedious when one is working for something that one values, but a task is not intrinsically enjoyable just because it is objectively virtuous. Those who accept an erroneous moral standard will not enjoy it. (E.g. A man who accepts altruism is likely to view productivity as a necessary evil, but may enjoy self-immolation, which is objectively vicious.)

And finally, if virtue is not what one does to obtain values, what is it?

Objectivists should easily identify the fundamental philosophical problem behind the author's errors: Her arguments are based on an intrinsicist view of metaphysics, epistemology, and value. She mistakes happiness for a potential standard of value by assuming that certain things will, for no reason, just intrinsically make us happy. Then she takes virtuous acts as some such values, pronouncing them intrinsically rewarding independent of any purpose they might serve for the individual performing them. Like many intrinsicists, she resorts to the pseudo-argumentative technique of contriving example scenarios that appeal to the reader's emotions and then asserting that the resulting emotional response will be felt by everybody and is therefore intrinsically correct. But emotions are not tools of cognition.

The commentary by David Kelley does a good job of exposing the specific logical flaws in this work, but it does not point to their common intrinsicist cause. Moreover, Mr. Kelley gives the author far too much credit for constructing a serious criticism of objectivist ethics.

I must admit that I am disappointed in this work. After reading a couple of emotional polemics disguised as intellectual books, I had expected this work to offer something more serious. In some senses it does: It is well written; it is less emotional; it attempts to criticize Objectivist ideas rather than drowning the reader in a sea of irrelevant verbiage and ad hominem attacks. But even though this work is better than the average criticism of Objectivist ideas, it still falls woefully short of being interesting because it starts right off from an intrinsicist point of view, and so it can really go nowhere from there. If the author wants to hold her intrinsicist premises against Objectivists, she needs to begin her critique with metaphysics and epistemology, not ethics.
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Book Description
Inherent in the Objectivist ethics is a vision of human beings who are deeply passionate about their lives. This is the dominant characteristic of the heroes and heroines of Ayn Rand's novels, who exemplify the Objectivist ethics and sense of life, in action. Citing Rand and examples from his own life and work, Dr. Branden shows how the Objectivist vision abounds with affirmations to loving one's life, which are grounded in a dedication to values—to the value of life itself, and to the values that make up life and make it worth living. ... Read more