Flaws
There's a pretty good article on Ayn Rand up at the London Review of Books (although really, it's not nearly critical enough of her), but of particular interest to me was a line from the end:
But it’s not just capitalism that Rand makes ridiculous by her worship. It’s also the mystique of Modernism, the idea that ‘good’ taste in aesthetic matters equates, somehow, with ‘good’ morals.
But it’s not just capitalism that Rand makes ridiculous by her worship. It’s also the mystique of Modernism, the idea that ‘good’ taste in aesthetic matters equates, somehow, with ‘good’ morals.
Rand's primary fault, in my mind, was her unwillingness to acknowledge the possibility that she might ever be mistaken. I enjoy reading her novels, and I certainly agree with many aspects of her philosophy, but the rest of it is just crazy (including her assertion that aesthetics has anything to do with morality).
Posted by
Anonymous |
10:19 AM
We're very much agreed on her primary fault, although naturally we probably disagree on most of the rest of her thought. That flaw is probably the central one shared by all fanatics - after all, this was a woman who thought she was safe from lung cancer because she had no "bad premises".
Posted by
Ian |
12:59 PM