Ayn Rand

Chris Matthew Sciabarra

Published by Penn State University Press 2013

Ayn Rand

The Russian Radical

Chris Matthew Sciabarra

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271061214

Overview
Contents

About this book

Author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand (1905–1982) is one of the most widely read philosophers of the twentieth century. Yet, despite the sale of over thirty million copies of her works, there have been few serious scholarly examinations of her thought. Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical provides a comprehensive analysis of the intellectual roots and philosophy of this controversial thinker.

It has been nearly twenty years since the original publication of Chris Sciabarra’s Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical. Those years have witnessed an explosive increase in Rand sightings across the social landscape: in books on philosophy, politics, and culture; in film and literature; and in contemporary American politics, from the rise of the Tea Party to recent presidential campaigns. During this time Sciabarra continued to work toward the reclamation of the dialectical method in the service of a radical libertarian politics, culminating in his book Total Freedom: Toward a Dialectical Libertarianism (Penn State, 2000).

In this new edition of Ayn Rand, Chris Sciabarra adds two chapters that present in-depth analysis of the most complete transcripts to date documenting Rand’s education at Petrograd State University. A new preface places the book in the context of Sciabarra’s own research and the recent expansion of interest in Rand’s philosophy. Finally, this edition includes a postscript that answers a recent critic of Sciabarra’s historical work on Rand. Shoshana Milgram, Rand’s biographer, has tried to cast doubt on Rand’s own recollections of having studied with the famous Russian philosopher N. O. Lossky. Sciabarra shows that Milgram’s analysis fails to cast doubt on Rand’s recollections—or on Sciabarra’s historical thesis.

Author information

SciabarraChris Matthew:

Chris Matthew Sciabarra received his Ph.D. in political philosophy, theory, and method in the Department of Politics at New York University. He is the author of Total Freedom: Toward a Dialectical Libertarianism (Penn State, 2000) and co-editor, with Mimi Reisel Gladstein, of Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand (Penn State, 1999). He is also one of the editors of the Journal of Ayn Rand Studies.

Reviews

“Brilliant and pathbreaking. . . . Much more could be written in praise and in critique of Russian Radical because it is one of those rare books from which a reader raises her head every few pages and wonders, “Do I agree?” These are the books in life that make a wonderful intellectual difference because they inspire thought on a fundamental level.”
—Wendy McElroy, The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface to the Second Edition Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part one: The process of becoming
1 Synthesis in Russian Culture Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	22
2 Lossky, the Teacher Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
3 Educating Alissa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	62
4 The Maturation of Ayn Rand Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
Part two: The revolt against dualism
5 Being Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	116
6 Knowing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
7 Reason and Emotion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
8 Art, Philosophy, and Efficacy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
9 Ethics and Human Survival Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
10 A Libertarian Politics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	248
Part three: The radical rand
11 Relations of Power Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	276
12 The Predatory State Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	307
13 History and Resolution Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	333
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	359
Appendix I: The Rand Transcript (1999) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	363
Appendix II: The Rand Transcript, Revisited (2005) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	381
Appendix III: A Challenge to Russian Radical— and Ayn Rand (2013) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	393
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	401
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	469
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	489

Language: English
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 544
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 13
- Other: 17 illustrations

eBook

Published: May 25, 2021
ISBN: 9780271061214