On Ayn Rand and Aristotle

The founder of Objectivism claimed her philosophy was inspired by the sage from Stagira. But she was very selective about such inspiration.

Ayn Rand (left, from medium.com/the-radical-center) and Aristotle (right, huffpost.com).

Generally speaking, I have the utmost respect for books. Even pretty bad books. But over three decades ago I utterly shocked when reading one. It was a collection of essays by Ayn Rand, which a fellow graduate student at the University of Connecticut had loaned me. We used to have a lot of discussions about politics and philosophy, and she finally got so frustrated with my obtuseness, as she saw it, that she handed me the book and said, “Here, read this, and you will understand.”

I did not understand. Or at least, what I understood of Rand’s so-called Objectivist philosophy was off-putting to me. I was truly astounded that my friend, whom I considered a smart and kind person, could buy into that sort of garbage. Nevertheless, I kept reading and attempting to constructively reflect on what I was reading.

Many years later I moved to New York City and became close friend with yet another Objectivist. Well, at least I cannot be accused of close-mindedness! This second friend is also smart and kind, and yet claims to live in accordance with the uncompromisingly selfish worldview articulated by Rand in her novels, The…