Nathaniel Branden

Ayn Rand

A New Concept of Egoism

The Virtue of Selfishness

a new concept of Egoism

Virtue of selfishness

The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone

. Men who reject the responsibility of thought and reason can only exist as parasites on the thinking of others. In a free society, one does not have to deal with those who are irrational.

Scordatura

I am reading this for my studies, that's the only reason. My blood started boiling in the first paragraph... this isn't going to be fun.

Finished it finally: I was expecting it to make me angry and in some ways it did. What I didn't expect was to see such poor reasoning, such poor internal consistency, so many random "choices" (decisions to place certain things centrally in her ethics), so many black/white views on matters... that I cannot fathom that intelligent people take it seriously. In one way, this is a silly book, easily dismissed but at the same time it has very dark connotations. It allows people to dismiss matters like white privilege and how random life can be, giving them an excuse to say that hard work fixes everything, and that everyone should focus purely on their own success and pleasure. 

In the end, whenever my blood started boiling while reading it, I donated money to charities Rand would have found objectionable. This helped me actually finish the book without my brain liquefying. 

Edit: typos.

Magdalene Lim

If you're a feeler, as opposed to a thinker who reasons, Rand has no place for you in her book. Logic and reason are what she stands by. Philosophers philosophise but what gives them the authority to be the authorities on whatever subject matters they talk about? What she proposes is just a way of thinking. It's not THE way to live by or a bible, if you will.

I agree with certain things but other portions are just iffy to me. Also, this felt like a theory book version of Atlas Shrugged. May read that some time.

The Virtue of Selfishness A New Concept of Egoism

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