From: Max More (max@maxmore.com)
Date: Mon Jun 03 2002 - 09:17:32 MDT
At 01:08 AM 6/3/2002 -0700, Olga Bourlin wrote:
>
> Ayn had the luxury of sitting around smoking and philosophizing with
> her group,
Now this part really does annoy me. You're showing ignorance of her life if
you think this was a "luxury", as if she hadn't earned it. She came from
Russia in the 20s, speaking very little English. She taught herself, worked
extremely hard and finally got work writing for studios (a remarkable
accomplishment) and eventually became a best-selling novelist after her
first major was rejected something like 17 (21?) times. She did *not* have
an easy life. I also understand that some of her more obnoxious personality
traits may have resulted from or been exacerbated by medication that she
was taking for many years.
It really doesn't matter whether Rand meant to provide just a starting
point. The fact is, as Shaun says, she did provide a strong starting point
for many people who went on to develop more subtle and sophisticated views.
As someone with a Ph.D. in philosophy, I will also say that many of her
basic philosophical perspectives are superior to the vast majority of the
drivel taught in universities -- drivel that is utterly useless in life.
For the record, Rand was *not* a starting point for me -- I had already
formed well-developed political views before I read Rand and had a fair bit
of philosophy already. She *did* help put things together, though I never
thought she had everything right. Unfortunately, as is human nature, too
many people never really grow beyond Rand. Still, I'd rather they started
with Rand than with the Bible or the Koran.
Onward!
Max
_______________________________________________________
Max More, Ph.D.
max@maxmore.com or more@extropy.org
http://www.maxmore.com
Strategic Philosopher
President, Extropy Institute. http://www.extropy.org <more@extropy.org>
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