Why Businessmen Need Philosophy
Many businessmen view
philosophy as irrelevant to their lives. They hold the view that philosophy
deals with meaningless abstractions that have nothing to do with practical
life.
Why Businessmen Need Philosophy—a collection of essays by Ayn Rand and other Objectivist writers first published in 1999 and updated and expanded in 2011—demonstrates the opposite view: that philosophy has crucial significance to businessmen’s lives.
In the title essay, philosopher Leonard Peikoff explains how the very existence of business depends on a philosophy of egoism, reason, and reality—all of which are under attack in today’s culture. These attacks—most prominently, the attacks on business and businessmen as selfish—are fundamentally responsible for America’s ever-growing welfare and regulatory state, which deprives businessmen of the freedom that they need to survive and flourish.
Why Businessmen Need Philosophy includes two previously un-anthologized, hard-to-find essays by Ayn Rand. One, “The Money-Making Personality,” is a philosophical and psychological analysis of two fundamentally opposite types of businessmen: the “money-maker” and the “money-appropriator.” The other, “An Answer for Businessmen,” is a brief piece telling businessmen how to respond effectively to their intellectual attackers.
Another essay of note is “The Dollar and the Gun”, by Harry Binswanger—on the crucial and often-ignored difference between the economic power possessed by businesses and the political power possessed by the government.
Why Businessmen Need Philosophy is important reading for any businessman who wants to defend his freedom—and anyone else who wants to understand and defend business.
Table of Contents (2011 edition)
- Preface by Debi Ghate and Richard E. Ralston (eds.)
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction by John Allison
- Part 1: Do Businessmen Really Need Philosophy?
- Why Businessmen Need Philosophy by Leonard Peikoff
- Philosophy: The Ultimate CEO by Harry Binswanger
- “Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think” by Ayn Rand
- The Businessmen’s Crucial Role: Material Men of the Mind by Debi Ghate
- The Money-Making Personality by Ayn Rand
- Part 2: Why Is Business “Public Enemy” #1?
- America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business by Ayn Rand
- The Philosophical Origins of Antitrust by John B. Ridpath
- The Morality of Moneylending: A Short History by Yaron Brook
- Why Conservatives Can’t Stop the Growth of the State by Alex Epstein and Yaron Brook
- The Philosophy of Privation: Environmentalism Unveiled by Peter Schwartz
- Energy Privation: The Environmentalist Campaign Against Energy by Keith Lockitch
- Part 3 Doesn’t Business Require Compromise?
- The Anatomy of Compromise by Ayn Rand
- Why Should One Act on Principle by Leonard Peikoff
- Part 4: A Defense for Businessmen
- Atlas Shrugged: America’s Second Declaration of Independence by Onkar Ghate
- The Dollar and the Gun by Harry Binswanger
- An Answer for Businessmen by Ayn Rand
- “You’re guilty of a great sin, Mr. Rearden.” by Ayn Rand
- The Sanction of the Victims by Ayn Rand
- “I work for nothing but my own profit” by Ayn Rand
- Afterword
- Modern Management by Ayn Rand
- Part 5: Additional Resources
- About Ayn Rand
- About Atlas Shrugged
- Ayn Rand’s Philosophy: Objectivism
- The Morality of Capitalism
- Ayn Rand’s Fiction
- Ayn Rand’s Nonfiction
- Part 6: About the Contributors
- About the Contributors
- About the Ayn Rand Institute
(Softcover; 288 pages)