Table Of ContentBlackwell
Companions to
Philosophy
A C
OMPANION TO
A R
YN AND
Edited by
ALLAN GOTTHELF AND
GREGORY SALMIERI
A Companion to Ayn Rand
Blackwell Companions to Philosophy
This outstanding student reference series offers a comprehensive and authoritative survey of philos ophy as a
whole. Written by today’s leading philosophers, each volume provides lucid and engaging coverage of the key
figures, terms, topics, and problems of the field. Taken together, the volumes provide the ideal basis for course use,
representing an unparalleled work of reference for students and specialists alike.
Already published in the series:
1. The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy, Second Edition 31. A Companion to Pragmatism
Edited by Nicholas Bunnin and Eric Tsui-James Edited by John R. Shook and Joseph Margolis
2. A Companion to Ethics 32. A Companion to Ancient Philosophy
Edited by Peter Singer Edited by Mary Louise Gill and Pierre Pellegrin
3. A Companion to Aesthetics, Second Edition 33. A Companion to Nietzsche
Edited by Stephen Davies, Kathleen Marie Higgins, Robert Edited by Keith Ansell Pearson
Hopkins, Robert Stecker, and David E. Cooper 34. A Companion to Socrates
4. A Companion to Epistemology, Second Edition Edited by Sara Ahbel-Rappe and Rachana Kamtekar
Edited by Jonathan Dancy, Ernest Sosa, and Matthias Steup 35. A Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism
5. A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy (two- Edited by Hubert L. Dreyfus and Mark A. Wrathall
volume set), Second Edition 36. A Companion to Kant
Edited by Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit Edited by Graham Bird
6. A Companion to Philosophy of Mind 37. A Companion to Plato
Edited by Samuel Guttenplan Edited by Hugh H. Benson
7. A Companion to Metaphysics, Second Edition 38. A Companion to Descartes
Edited by Jaegwon Kim, Ernest Sosa, and Gary S. Rosenkrantz Edited by Janet Broughton and John Carriero
8. A Companion to Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory, 39. A Companion to the Philosophy of Biology
Second Edition Edited by Sahotra Sarkar and Anya Plutynski
Edited by Dennis Patterson 40. A Companion to Hume
9. A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, Second Edition Edited by Elizabeth S. Radcliffe
Edited by Charles Taliaferro, Paul Draper, and Philip L. Quinn 41. A Companion to the Philosophy of History and
10. A Companion to the Philosophy of Language Historiography
Edited by Bob Hale and Crispin Wright Edited by Aviezer Tucker
11. A Companion to World Philosophies 42. A Companion to Aristotle
Edited by Eliot Deutsch and Ron Bontekoe Edited by Georgios Anagnostopoulos
43. A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology
12. A Companion to Continental Philosophy
Edited by Jan-Kyrre Berg Olsen, Stig Andur Pedersen, and
Edited by Simon Critchley and William Schroeder
Vincent F. Hendricks
13. A Companion to Feminist Philosophy
44. A Companion to Latin American Philosophy
Edited by Alison M. Jaggar and Iris Marion Young
Edited by Susana Nuccetelli, Ofelia Schutte, and Otávio Bueno
14. A Companion to Cognitive Science
45. A Companion to the Philosophy of Literature
Edited by William Bechtel and George Graham
Edited by Garry L. Hagberg and Walter Jost
15. A Companion to Bioethics, Second Edition
46. A Companion to the Philosophy of Action
Edited by Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer
Edited by Timothy O’Connor and Constantine Sandis
16. A Companion to the Philosophers
47. A Companion to Relativism
Edited by Robert L. Arrington
Edited by Steven D. Hales
17. A Companion to Business Ethics
48. A Companion to Hegel
Edited by Robert E. Frederick
Edited by Stephen Houlgate and Michael Baur
18. A Companion to the Philosophy of Science 49. A Companion to Schopenhauer
Edited by W. H. Newton-Smith Edited by Bart Vandenabeele
19. A Companion to Environmental Philosophy 50. A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy
Edited by Dale Jamieson Edited by Steven M. Emmanuel
20. A Companion to Analytic Philosophy 51. A Companion to Foucault
Edited by A.P. Martinich and David Sosa Edited by Christopher Falzon, Timothy O’Leary, and Jana Sawicki
21. A Companion to Genethics 52. A Companion to the Philosophy of Time
Edited by Justine Burley and John Harris Edited by Heather Dyke and Adrian Bardon
22. A Companion to Philosophical Logic 53. A Companion to Donald Davidson
Edited by Dale Jacquette Edited by Ernie Lepore and Kirk Ludwig
23. A Companion to Early Modern Philosophy 54. A Companion to Rawls
Edited by Steven Nadler Edited by Jon Mandle and David Reidy
24. A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages 55. A Companion to W.V.O. Quine
Edited by Jorge J.E. Gracia and Timothy B. Noone Edited by Gilbert Harman and Ernie Lepore
25. A Companion to African-American Philosophy 56. A Companion to Derrida
Edited by Tommy L. Lott and John P. Pittman Edited by Zeynep Direk and Leonard Lawlor
26. A Companion to Applied Ethics 57. A Companion to David Lewis
Edited by R.G. Frey and Christopher Heath Wellman Edited by Barry Loewer and Jonathan Schaffer
27. A Companion to the Philosophy of Education 58. A Companion to Kierkegaard
Edited by Randall Curren Edited by Jon Stewart
28. A Companion to African Philosophy 59. A Companion to Locke
Edited by Kwasi Wiredu Edited by Matthew Stuart
29. A Companion to Heidegger 60. A Companion to Hermeneutics
Edited by Hubert L. Dreyfus and Mark A. Wrathall Edited by Niall Keane and Chris Lawn
30. A Companion to Rationalism 61. A Companion to Ayn Rand
Edited by Alan Nelson Edited by Allan Gotthelf and Gregory Salmieri
A Companion to Ayn Rand
Edited by
Allan Gotthelf and Gregory Salmieri
This edition first published 2016
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
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Cover image: Photo of Ayn Rand, 1957. © Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo
Set in 9.5/12pt PhotinaMTStd by Aptara Inc., New Delhi, India
1 2016
In the pages that follow, you will read a great deal about a heroism that consists in loving
one’s life and living it fully. This book is dedicated to the memory of two of its authors who were
such heroes – men who, throughout their lives, projected a profound benevolence and love of
this world; and who, during their battles with cancer, often served as a comfort and an inspira-
tion to the friends who sought to comfort them.
To John David Lewis (1955–2012), a consummate fighter for his values.
And to Allan Gotthelf (1942–2013), whose spirit and wisdom have informed every page of this
Companion, both through his own editorial work and through his influence on those of us who live
on – his coeditor, especially.
Contents
Notes on Contributors ix
Acknowledgments xii
A Note on Abbreviations and References xiv
Part I Context 1
1 An Introduction to the Study of Ayn Rand 3
Gregory Salmieri
2 The Life of Ayn Rand: Writing, Reading, and Related Life Events 22
Shoshana Milgram
Part II Ethics and Human Nature 47
3 The Act of Valuing (and the Objectivity of Values) 49
Gregory Salmieri
4 The Morality of Life 73
Allan Gotthelf
(completed by Gregory Salmieri)
5 A Being of Self-Made Soul 105
Onkar Ghate
6 Egoism and Altruism: Selfi shness and Sacrifi ce 130
Gregory Salmieri
Part III Society 157
7 “A Human Society”: Rand’s Social Philosophy 159
Darryl Wright
8 Political Theory: A Radical for Capitalism 187
Fred D. Miller, Jr. and Adam Mossoff
9 Objective Law 209
Tara Smith
CONTENTS
10 “A Free Mind and a Free Market are Corollaries”: Rand’s Philosophical
Perspective on Capitalism 222
Onkar Ghate
Part IV The Foundations of Objectivism 243
11 Objectivist Metaphysics: The Primacy of Existence 245
Jason G. Rheins
12 The Objectivist Epistemology 272
Gregory Salmieri
Part V Philosophers and Their Effects 319
13 “Who Sets the Tone for a Culture?”: Ayn Rand’s Approach to the
History of Philosophy 321
James G. Lennox
14 Ayn Rand’s Evolving View of Friedrich Nietzsche 343
Lester H. Hunt
15 A Philosopher on Her Times: Ayn Rand’s Political and Cultural Commentary 351
John David Lewis and Gregory Salmieri
Part VI Art 403
16 The Objectivist Esthetics: Art and the Needs of a Conceptual Consciousness 405
Harry Binswanger
17 Rand’s Literary Romanticism 426
Tore Boeckmann
Coda 451
18 Hallmarks of Objectivism: The Benevolent Universe Premise and the Heroic
View of Man 453
Allan Gotthelf and Gregory Salmieri
Annotated Bibliography of Primary and Quasi-Primary Sources 463
Index 471
viii
