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A review by bootman
The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism by Ayn Rand
5.0
I’ve never read anything by Ayn Rand, but I’ve found that I disagree with all of the people who are fans of Rand, so I wanted to read some of her stuff to see what it’s all about. I think it’s important to read books by people we disagree with to see what we’re missing or not understanding as well as to have a better idea of where they’re coming from. I’m a non-fiction reader, so I have very little interest in reading her insanely long works of fiction. I grabbed this book because the title obviously stands out, and it’s a collection of essays about her philosophy of objectivism and self-interest. I felt that this would give me a pretty good idea of what she was all about and the core aspects of the ideas fans of hers promote. But, I will definitely read some more of her non-fiction work to get a more rounded-view of her opinions and thoughts.
After finishing this book, I guess I’ll start off by saying that there are actually a few things I agree with. I’m a recovering drug addict, so I know the imporotance of personal effort and hard work. What I found was that there were many, but not all, sections on labor and economic ideas that I agreed with. For example, there’s an essay on our personal responsibility to not want to stifle technological advances just because we don’t want to learn new skills, and I definitely agree with that. But, as a whole, I’d say I maybe agreed with 20% of this book. As for the other 80%, I could write a 5,000 word essay about the various issues wiith the arguments in this book. The main issue is that when it comes to the arguments of morals and ethics, it starts from an incorrect premise that neglects evolutionary and moral psychology. From that bad premise, the book then goes on to say what’s rational and logical. When you have a bad premise that isn’t backed by science, you cannot then say what makes a person rational because it’s not based in reality. What I will do is give this book the benefit of the doubt because it was originally written in 1964 before a lot of the latest research was conducted. But for anyone who still holds these bad premises in 2021 that deny scientific evidence, there’s not really an excuse.
Do I recommend this book? Absolutely. There are a LOT of fans of Ayn Rand’s work, so it’s good to know what it’s all about. I do think some people can benefit from this in the same way they can benefit from some, not all, of Jordan Peterson’s work. Like they taught me in AA, take the best and leave the rest.
After finishing this book, I guess I’ll start off by saying that there are actually a few things I agree with. I’m a recovering drug addict, so I know the imporotance of personal effort and hard work. What I found was that there were many, but not all, sections on labor and economic ideas that I agreed with. For example, there’s an essay on our personal responsibility to not want to stifle technological advances just because we don’t want to learn new skills, and I definitely agree with that. But, as a whole, I’d say I maybe agreed with 20% of this book. As for the other 80%, I could write a 5,000 word essay about the various issues wiith the arguments in this book. The main issue is that when it comes to the arguments of morals and ethics, it starts from an incorrect premise that neglects evolutionary and moral psychology. From that bad premise, the book then goes on to say what’s rational and logical. When you have a bad premise that isn’t backed by science, you cannot then say what makes a person rational because it’s not based in reality. What I will do is give this book the benefit of the doubt because it was originally written in 1964 before a lot of the latest research was conducted. But for anyone who still holds these bad premises in 2021 that deny scientific evidence, there’s not really an excuse.
Do I recommend this book? Absolutely. There are a LOT of fans of Ayn Rand’s work, so it’s good to know what it’s all about. I do think some people can benefit from this in the same way they can benefit from some, not all, of Jordan Peterson’s work. Like they taught me in AA, take the best and leave the rest.