Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand

In 1961, in her book For the New Intellectual, which in part compiled the major philosophic speeches from her novels, Ayn Rand wrote, “The full system [of my philosophy] is implicit in these excerpts (particularly in Galt’s Speech), but its fundamentals are indicated only in the widest terms and require a detailed, systematic presentation in a philosophical treatise.” Although Ayn Rand wrote prolifically on her philosophy and its application until her death in 1982, she never did write such a systematic presentation of her philosophy.

Fortunately for her students and admirers, her best student, philosopher Leonard Peikoff, completed that task in Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. Based on lectures given by Dr. Peikoff in 1976 that Ayn Rand described as “the only authorized presentation of the entire theoretical structure of Objectivism, i.e., the only one that I know of my own knowledge to be fully accurate,” the book covers her entire philosophy in essentialized and systematic form: from metaphysics to ethics to politics, from free will to money to sex.

In describing the book’s approach, Dr. Peikoff writes in the Preface, “I have presented the ideas of Objectivism, their validation, and their in­ter­re­la­tion­ships. I have arranged the ideas hierarchically; each chapter, and within the chapters each section, builds on earlier material. I have covered every branch of philosophy recognized by Miss Rand and every philosophic topic . . . which she regarded as important. . . . In every contest between the forest and the trees, I have chosen the forest: I have omitted every nonessential that might cause the reader to lose sight of Ayn Rand’s system of thought as a whole.”

Although the book is ruthlessly essentialized, it includes ample concretization of the abstract principles of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, so that the reader can further grasp their validity and life-and-death significance. One of its many values is that it contains extensive discussions of subjects that Ayn Rand wrote little or nothing about in her published work, such as: the science and art of objective thinking, the validity of the senses, and the nature of certainty. As Dr. Peikoff explains in the Preface, he acquired this knowledge of Ayn Rand’s ideas from extensive private philosophic discussions with her. “Our discussions were not a collaboration: I asked questions; she answered them.”

For anyone who seeks to understand Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand is a truly indispensable resource.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Reality
  • Existence, Consciousness, and Identity as the Basic Axioms
  • Causality as a Corollary of Identity
  • Existence as Possessing Primacy Over Consciousness
  • The Metaphysically Given as Absolute
  • Idealism and Materialism as the Rejection of Basic Axioms
• Chapter 2: Sense Perception and Volition
  • The Senses as Necessarily Valid
  • Sensory Qualities as Real
  • Consciousness as Possessing Identity
  • The Perceptual Level as the Given
  • The Primary Choice as the Choice to Focus Or Not
  • Human Actions, Mental and Physical, as Both Caused and Free
  • Volition as Axiomatic
• Chapter 3: Concept-Formation
  • Differentiation and Integration as the Means to a Unit-Perspective
  • Concept-Formation as a Mathematical Process
  • Concepts of Consciousness as Involving Measurement-Omission
  • Definition as the Final Step in Concept-Formation
  • Concepts as Devices to Achieve Unit-Economy
• Chapter 4: Objectivity
  • Concepts as Objective
  • Objectivity as Volitional Adherence to Reality by the Method of Logic
  • Knowledge as Contextual
  • Knowledge as Hierarchical
  • Intrinsicism and Subjectivism as the Two Forms of Rejecting Objectivity
• Chapter 5: Reason
  • Emotions as a Product of Ideas
  • Reason as Man’s Only Means of Knowledge
  • The Arbitrary as Neither True Nor False
  • Certainty as Contextual
  • Mysticism and Skepticism as Denials of Reason
• Chapter 6: Man
  • Living Organisms as Goal-Directed and Conditional
  • Reason as Man’s Basic Means of Survival
  • Reason as an Attribute of the Individual
• Chapter 7: the Good
  • “Life” as the Essential Root of “Value”
  • Man’s Life as the Standard of Moral Value
  • Rationality as the Primary Virtue
  • The individual as the Proper Beneficiary of His Own Moral Action
  • Values as Objective
• Chapter 8: Virtue
  • Independence as a Primary Orientation to Reality, Not to Other Men
  • Integrity as Loyalty to Rational Principles
  • Honesty as the Rejection of Unreality
  • Justice as Rationality in the Evaluation of Men
  • Productiveness as the Adjustment of Nature to Man
  • Pride as Moral Ambitiousness
  • The Initiation of Physical Force as Evil
• Chapter 9: Happiness
  • Virtue as Practical
  • Happiness as the Normal Condition of Man
  • Sex as Metaphysical
• Chapter 10: Government
  • Individual Rights as Absolutes
  • Government as an Agency to Protect Rights
  • Statism as the Politics of Unreason
• Chapter 11: Capitalism
  • Capitalism as the Only Moral Social System
  • Capitalism as the System of Objectivity
  • Opposition to Capitalism as Dependent on Bad Epistemology
• Chapter 12: Art
  • Art as a Concretization of Metaphysics
  • Romantic Literature as Illustrating the Role of Philosophy in Art
  • Esthetic Value as Objective
• Epilogue: The Duel Between Plato and Aristotle

(Softcover; 493 pages)

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