Man’s basic vice, the source of all his evils, is the act of unfocusing his
mind, the suspension of his consciousness, which is not blindness, but the
refusal to see, not ignorance, but the refusal to know. Irrationality is the
rejection of man’s means of survival and, therefore, a commitment to a course
of blind destruction; that which is anti-mind, is anti-life.
Copyright © 1986 by Harry Binswanger.
Introduction copyright © 1986 by Leonard Peikoff.
All rights reserved. For information address New American Library.
Acknowledgments
Excerpts from The Ominous Parallels , by Leonard Peikoff.
Copyright © 1982 by Leonard Peikoff. Reprinted with permission of
Stein and Day Publishers. Excerpts from The Romantic Manifesto ,
by Ayn Rand. Copyright © 1971, by The Objectivist .
Reprinted with permission of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Excerpts from
Atlas Shrugged , copyright © 1957 by Ayn Rand, The
Fountainhead , copyright © 1943 by Ayn Rand, and For the
New Intellectual , copyright © 1961 by Ayn Rand. Reprinted by
permission of the Estate of Ayn Rand. Excerpts from Philosophy: Who
Needs It , by Ayn Rand. Copyright © 1982 by
Leonard Peikoff, Executor, Estate of Ayn Rand. Reprinted by
permission of the Estate of Ayn Rand. Excerpts from “The Philosophy
of Objectivism” lecture series. Copyright © 1976 by
Leonard Peikoff. Reprinted by permission. Excerpts from Alvin
Toffler’s interview with Ayn Rand, which first appeared in
Playboy magazine. Copyright © 1964. Reprinted by permission
of Alvin Toffler. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Plume, a member of
Penguin Group (USA), Inc.