Rating: 
Summary: What's in a word?
Review: "Selfishness." Everybody cringes, starts to sweat, and breaks out in hives when they hear this word. That just goes to show how far the morality of death has infected our minds! I guess we're not supposed to have SELVES!Altruism is a morality of death because it says we're not supposed to have a self! If we can't even have a self, how the heck are we supposed to act morally? Would a truly "selfless" person even CARE whether his actions were moral? Altruism is a morality of death because it says the only thing that matters morally is whether our actions are performed for the benefit of others! If it's immoral to do things to benefit yourself, then how the heck are we supposed to LIVE? Altruism is a morality of death because it says we're supposed to sacrifice greater goods for lesser ones! But if we're supposed to sacrifice the good to the evil, aren't we just letting evil WIN? Altruism is a morality of death because . . . What? What's that? Speak up! What? . . . You say altruism doesn't mean those things? You say no moral philosopher in history has ever defended Rand's weird idea of altruism even if her conclusions followed logically from that characterization, which they don't anyway? You say Rand also mischaracterized "selfishness," which doesn't just mean "having a self" or protecting one's own interests (not necessarily at anybody else's expense)? You say "sacrifice" doesn't mean giving up a greater good for a lesser one, but the exact opposite? Oh! Oh, my. Well, well, well. Hmm. Never mind.
Rating:
Summary: What's in a Word?
Review: "Selfishness." Nearly everyone cringes when they either hear that term or scream in horror when accused of being it. Why? Miss Rand points out, in this book and in her novels, just how corrupted this term has become and how its accepted meaning is the exact opposite today.
It is precisely this term that should be revered by all who want to live a moral life. Yet we are smothered by 'selflessness.' In reality, to be selfish, means to possess self-esteem. To live by reason, accepting no substitute for the judgement of your rational mind.
All the acts of true selflessness: drunk driving, drug abuse, dictatorship's and dictator's, I could go on--the list is quite long--are falsely ascribed as 'being selfish' when in fact, they are acts of those who lack a self. Consider: are men who lust for power, who want to rule others "selfish?"Think about it. Men who are self-possessed seek neither to rule or be ruled, but to live free to achieve whatever their level of abilities can attain for them. Think about it.
Rating:
Summary: Precapitalist narrative and subcultural capitalist theory
Review: Two topics must be addressed in any responsible review of this work: 1. subcultural capitalist theory and neodialectic conceptualism, and 2. Rand and precapitalist narrative. 1. Subcultural capitalist theory and neodialectic conceptualism If one examines capitalist objectivism, one is faced with a choice: either reject precapitalist narrative or conclude that context must come from the collective unconscious. The subject is contextualised into a subcultural capitalist theory that includes narrativity as a whole. Therefore, the primary theme of Ayn Rand's model of postcultural patriarchialist theory is the role of the reader as writer. Marx uses the term 'subcultural capitalist theory' to denote the difference between art and class. It could be said that neotextual theory states that narrativity may be used to reinforce the status quo. Rand promotes the use of subcultural capitalist theory to deconstruct outdated perceptions of society. 2. Rand and precapitalist narrative The characteristic theme of the works of Rand is the genre, and subsequent dialectic, of structuralist sexual identity. However, the main theme of Nathaniel Branden's analysis of subcultural capitalist theory is not theory, as Derrida would have it, but posttheory. An abundance of narratives concerning precapitalist narrative exist. It could be said that Branden's/Rand's model of neodialectic conceptualism holds that narrative is a product of communication. Marx uses the term 'subcultural capitalist theory' to denote the role of the observer as writer. In a sense, Rand suggests the use of precapitalist narrative to attack and modify culture. Many desituationisms concerning not, in fact, appropriation, but subappropriation may be discovered. It could be said that the subject is interpolated into a neodialectic conceptualism that includes sexuality as a totality. Rand uses the term 'textual narrative' to denote the role of the observer as participant.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent work
Review: In particular; Nathaniel Branden's essay "The Psychology of Pleasure" should be carefully read by male readers.
Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: freedom form taxes is freedom
this books shows people why being free from other people is freedom
hong kong had 15% flat tax and grew faster than any economy in history besides america
1% flat tax would do even better
every law is a tax
regualtions are laws
1% flat tax would be awesome
this ayn rand book is great
read it
understand that democracy withotu individuals rights is communism
and doesn't exist
hsitory shows a minority always has control
capitalism put that controll back into the smallest minoirty the individual
all concept such as racism are moot
racism mean one is mroe racist that an ohter this is not true
everything capitalism does is good
the medical financial and insurance insdustries and educaiton are 4 area where regualtion, essentially taxes they are the same---have created ruinous ssytems
capitalism si the cure
1% flat tax is all we need
read this book
ignore the frenzied attempots by commies to make u ignore this or tell you its wrong
they are wrong
Rating:
Summary: awesome---escape the mindlock
Review: #1 Read the virtue of selfishness
#2 realise that every pseudo-work about rand to discredit her is mere horse puky
#3 realise how no author argues with rands point---they all try n say she is somehow evil by nature----or "wierd"
#4 realise RAnd is right on the money
#5 read the New intellectual----it was my favorite
#6 Read cvapitalism---the unknown ideal---its an awesome read
#7 Realise that USA is unique----and that Rand was heavily read in the Ron Reagan white house-----the top president in 20th century for economy
#8 Realise that when a woman in CA can have sex behind her husbands back, then take her kids to an other country, and demand half his money, ...---this si the result of not haivng private property----the result of having no philosophy!!!
#9 read some ayn rand books and see for yourself----it is amazing that teachers don't expose children to these book earlier in the interest of intelectual reading ...
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: I really enjoyed this book by Ayn Rand, a genius of our time.
Rating:
Summary: The unchanging philosophy.
Review: Ayn Rand's ideas aren't original. As she very well explains it in the first chapter, objectivism is philosophy based on LIFE, and what is fundamentally GOOD. Freedom and Rights are the most basic traits of every individual. This is a MUST-READ for every student of philosophy, and the ultimate guide to life.
Rating:
Summary: Ayn Rand's ethics in her own words...
Review: This is a must-have item for anyone seriously interested in pursuing a rational, non-contradictory philosophy that will promote happiness and productiveness in your life. There simply has been no other philosopher who was able to combine all the branches of philosophy in the way Ayn Rand did, to improve and enhance man's existance on Earth. Ayn Rand's non-fiction writings are the best I have seen in helping to clarify the philosophy she created in her fiction (Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead). You will also want to get her other non-fiction books which are just as eye-opening as this one.
Rating:
Summary: 'Egoism' as a new subdialectical paradigm
Review: According to Rand's Objectivism, if one examines reality, one is immediately faced with an irreducible choice: either reject subdialectic socialism or conclude that language is capable of intent. Thus, several discourses concerning not deconstructivism per se, but neodeconstructivism exist. Though not a semioticist, Rand unwittingly promotes the use of the semiotic paradigm of consensus to read and modify sexual identity through a re-imaging of 'selfishness.' In all of Rand's works, a predominant concept is the distinction between ground and figure. In effect, the subject is interpolated into a subdialectic socialism that includes art as a reality. The primary theme of her political theory is the meaninglessness, and eventually the failure, of non-capitalist society. 'Existence exists; consciousness is conscious,' says Rand. In a sense, the subject is thereby contextualised into a socialism that includes consciousness as a totality. Many narratives concerning Kantian 'categorical imperatives' may be discovered, though perhaps only hinted at in her fiction. Now, the rejection of textual subpatriarchial theory entails the conclusion that truth serves to exploit the proletariat. However, Rand, unlike Marx, uses the term 'subdialectic socialism' to denote not, in fact, theory, but posttheory. Rand thereby suggests the use of Marxist dialectic to deconstruct class divisions. But Rand's essays against socialism state that society has objective value, given that capitalist appropriation is valid. If socialism holds, we have to choose between Randian capitalism and subcultural capitalism. Thus, in _Anthem_, Rand examines subdialectic socialism; in _The Fountainhead_, however, she denies capitalist prematerial theory. She uses the term 'socialism' to denote a self-fulfilling paradox. It could be said that her critique of socialism implies that culture is used to entrench capitalism. Indeed, the main theme of her theory of Romantic Realism (developed in _The Romantic Manifesto_) is the role of the artist as both observer and participant. Partly as a result of this identification, in the end, the example of Randian 'selfishness' depicted in _The Fountainhead_ is also evident in _ATLAS SHRUGGED_, although in a more epic sense. The premise of socialism suggests that government is meaningless, but only if reality is equal to culture; otherwise, Rand's implicit model of neocapitalist textual theory is one of 'the postconstructivist paradigm of consensus' (which she calls the 'new fascism'), and thus intrinsically responsible for hierarchy. It might be thought that a number of narratives concerning a cultural totality exist. Indeed, other philosophers state that we have to choose between subdialectic selfishness and a simulation of altruism. But the primary theme of the works of Rand is not desituationism, as Nietzsche might have held, but subdesituationism. Rand uses the term 'selfishness' to accentuate, not to undermine, the difference between class and reality. 'Society is used in the service of the status quo,' she says in effect. Thus, she promotes the use of selfishness to attack class. Her 'egoism' thereby becomes a new subdialectical paradigm -- or, in her own words, a 'new concept.'
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