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Volume 4, No. 2 - Spring 2003
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROGRAMMING AND OBJECTIVIST EPISTEMOLOGY:
PARALLELS AND IMPLICATIONS, pp. 251-84
ADAM REED finds that the architectures of knowledge representation in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) and in Ayn Randâ€™s Objectivist epistemology are exactly isomorphic, and were first proposed at about the same time. These similarities did not result from mutual influence, but from the need to represent knowledge, in both systems, in accordance with the same facts of reality. Thanks to the isomorphism of knowledge representation in the two systems, logical techniques developed in the context of OOP, such as scope-tracking and inheritance, are directly usable and useful in objective logic based on Objectivist epistemology.
ZAMYATIN AND RAND, pp. 285-304
PETER SAINT-ANDRE explores the possible literary and intellectual influence on Ayn Rand of the Russian writer and theorist Yevgeny Zamyatin, author of the dystopian novel, We.
A CRITIQUE OF OBJECTIVIST METAETHICS, pp. 305-20
STEPHEN E. PARRISH critiques Tara Smithâ€™s defense of Objectivist metaethics. He argues that Smith fails to provide a successful defense of the Objectivist ethics and its standard of life as the ultimate value. Her theories lead to strongly counter-intuitive results and suggest larger problems for the Objectivist metaethics in general. [A condensed version of the essay is published here.]
BUSINESS PRACTICE: APPLIED MORAL PHILOSOPHY, pp. 321-26
STEPHEN R. C. HICKS reviews Ayn Rand and Business. He argues that management professors Donna Greiner and Theodore Kinni have written a fine, short volume integrating Ayn Randâ€™s moral theory with management theory and practice. This book will be useful to professionals seeking an introduction to the relevance of Objectivismâ€™s ethics to successful business practice.
WEALTH-CREATION, AND SELF-ESTEEM:
OBJECTIVIST WRITINGS ON BUSINESS, pp. 327-59
LISA D. McNARY writes: One of the effects of the growth economy throughout much of the 1990s is a resurgence in the popularity of books related to businessâ€”many from fields not often associated with the genre. In this review essay, three books, which highlight the intersection of philosophy, business, and psychology, are assessed: an Ayn Rand Institute anthology, Why Businessmen Need Philosophy, Edwin Lockeâ€™s The Prime Movers: Traits of the Great Wealth Creators, and Nathaniel Brandenâ€™s Self-Esteem at Work: How Confident People Make Powerful Companies.
NYQUIST CONTRA RAND, pp. 361-72
FRED SEDDON provides a chapter by chapter examination of Greg Nyquistâ€™s Ayn Rand Contra Human Nature. Nyquist gives a detailed exploration of all of the major branches of Randâ€™s philosophy as well as Randâ€™s philosophy of history and her philosophical anthropology.
AYN RAND IN THE SCHOLARLY LITERATURE III:
AYN RAND LITERARY CRITICISM, pp. 373-94
MIMI REISEL GLADSTEIN charts the trajectory of the breakthrough in critical attention to Ayn Rand as a literary artist. Gladstein explores the paucity and negative character of early critical reaction in the context of some similarities to other writers, such as Faulkner and Steinbeck, who, like Rand, challenged the thinking and mores of their communities and times. Like some authors who experience popularity with a wide audience, Rand was ignored by the academic establishment. However, the breakthrough in recent attention exhibits a variety and scope that bodes well for positioning Rand in the canon of twentieth-century fiction.
D. BARTON JOHNSON AND
GENE H. BELL-VILLADA:
THE SILENCE OF SYNTHESIS, pp. 395-404
JANE YODER continues the discussion of odd Ayn Rand-Vladimir Nabokov couplings from the "strange bedfellow" designation applied by D. Barton Johnson (The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Fall 2000) and Gene H. Bell-Villadaâ€™s (Fall 2001) response to it. Yoder places additional emphasis upon issues of parricide, gaming, engineered structure, and the "brain drain" in her examination.
HOW NOT TO READ A BOOK, pp. 405-10
TOM PORTER replies to a review of Ayn Randâ€™s Theory of Knowledge by Carolyn Ray ("Porterâ€™s Rand: A Commentary," The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Fall 2001). He argues that Ray misunderstands his book because she assumes it neednâ€™t be read from the beginning.
REJOINDER TO TOM
SECOND THOUGHTS, p. 411
CAROLYN RAY reiterates her view that Tom Porterâ€™s book, Ayn Randâ€™s Theory of Knowledge, is incoherent.
THE AESTHETICS SYMPOSIUM:
WHAT "RAND'S AESTHETICS" IS, AND WHY IT MATTERS, pp. 413-89
MICHELLE MARDER KAMHI offers an in-depth response to The Aesthetics Symposium (Spring 2001). In addition to answering many of the contributorsâ€™ objections to What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand, she offers a critique of their own thesesâ€”in particular, Barry Vackerâ€™s claim that chaos theory is implicit in Randâ€™s aesthetics, Jeff Riggenbachâ€™s argument that much of Randâ€™s theory was anticipated by Susanne Langer and Stephen Pepper, and Roger Bissellâ€™s suggestion that the concept of a microcosm be applied to Randâ€™s view of the function of art.
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