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Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff

Whether you love him or hate him, Leonard Peikoff has written a definitive, bottom to top, tour de force treatment of Objectivism in this publication. Newcomers to the ideas of Ayn Rand will appreciate this systematic, integrated, "big picture" overview of her philosophy for living on Earth. Detractors will complain that this book merely uncritic... (See the whole review)

(Added by Luke Setzer on 6/06, 12:49pm)

Discuss this Book (8 messages)

Post 0

Tuesday, June 7 - 8:05am

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An action can only be performed by an entity, i.e. there can be no such thing as an action that does not involve an entity

Except for the Big Bang.

Post 1

Tuesday, June 7 - 9:23am

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Reading OPAR did me no good when I had no prior background in philosophy. Only after reading Ayn Rand's original work was I able to go back to OPAR and actually understand it.

Rand does a much better job of breaking down philosophical principles than Peikoff. I think it's definitely worth reading but would caution against it for those new to philosophy.

Jason

Post 2

Tuesday, June 7 - 10:20am

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Yes - Philosophy, Who Needs It is a much better book, as a whole, to begin with, even as it is a collection of assorted essays.....

Post 3

Tuesday, June 7 - 1:25pm

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This is the last non-fiction book I attempted to read following all of Ayn Rands own books. I didn't actually finish this one because I found it quite boring in style and I pretty much knew the content already.

Post 4

Wednesday, June 8 - 4:16pm

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If it's anything like Peikoff's other work might be somewhat interesting but it seems like in everything he does he has absolutely no intention of doing anything but preaching to the choir. Helpful for existing Objectivists but probably not the best thing to hand to someone who never heard of the philosophy before.

---Landon

Post 5

Wednesday, June 8 - 4:34pm

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Landon,

The only non-Objectivist to whom I've ever recommended OPAR is someone who already had a bit of philosophy under his belt and had gotten an understanding of the philosophy from me. After he read Philosophy: Who Needs It he was very curious and wanted the whole thing laid out for him in a hierarchial format. He was the perfect target for the approach Piekoff uses. For someone who's never read Ayn Rand, though, I prefer to recommend her original work first. It's much more exciting and incisive.

(I kinda' feel like I'm repeating my post above but wanted to reply to Landon's post.)

Jason

Post 6

Wednesday, June 8 - 4:38pm

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Landon,
Just to be clear, Philosophy: Who Needs It is not a work by Peikoff. It is a collection of Ayn Rand essays, mostly from The Ayn Rand Letter.

Post 7

Wednesday, June 8 - 5:23pm

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I know I've read philosophy who needs it. Mainly if anything I was referring more to the "Ominous Parallels" , and his introductions to all Randian Fiction (he gives away ALL the major plot twists which kind of kills it for someone who's never read it).

I agree that Philosophy who needs it is an overall superior book. The critique was more directed at Peikoff's overall approach as opposed to any particular work of his.

---Landon

p.s. Sorry I made you repeat yourself Jason.