The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought

by Ayn Rand

Book Overview

Between 1961, when she gave her first talk at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston, and 1981, when she gave the last talk of her life in New Orleans, Ayn Rand spoke and wrote about topics as varied as education, medicine, Vietnam, and the death of Marilyn Monroe. In The Voice of Reason, these pieces, written in the last decades of Rand's life, are gathered in book form for the first time. With them are five essays by Leonard Peikoff,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452010462
• ISBN13: 9780452010468
• Release Date: June 1990
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A fantastic collection of essays to anyone interested in Ayn Rand and her Objectivist philosophy.

I am sure some of you have noticed a renewed interest in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged lately because our present economy has many of the same irrational policies that she mentioned in that great book. This collection of essays has not only the late Ayn Rand's work but also has additonal essays by Leonard Peikoff. Sadly, it seems collectivism (socialism)has gained some recent popularity. However, there is still a majority of people who believe individualism, freedom and capitalism is always better than socialism. This series of essays covers a wide variety of topics. This book is broken down into three parts. Part one explains the philosophic base of Ayn Rand's Objectivism. The second series of essays explores the cultural factors in a society and the final part deals with the politics involved in collectivism. The epilogue has an intellectual memoir by Leonard Peikoff. Even though I do not consider myself an objectivist, many of the philosophical conclusions Ayn Rand writes about in this series relates directly to the present day problems. If you are interested in the role philosphy plays in not only the individual, but society as a whole, you will love this series of essays. Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Season of the Warrior: a poetic tribute to warriors, Martial Art Myths, Never Trust a Politician, Use of the Monadnock Straight Baton, PR-24 Police Baton Advanced Techniques, Police Yawara Stick Techniques).

Must read for ANYONE

Another wonderful publishing from the brilliant Ayn Rand. Highly recommend buying this one, maybe buying 4 or 5 and giving them so intelligent folks for x-mas.

Ayn Rand on a Range of Topics

Ayn Rand gained great fame in the mid-20th century with her novels, but if you are more of a non-fiction reader than a fiction reader, "The Voice of Reason" is a superb collection of essays that provides a good grounding in Objectivism, Rand's philosophy that held that reason is the highest value and the ultimate guide to ethics and life. The book is divided into sections concerning philosophy, culture, and politics. The essays cover a wide range of topics--some of the ones I found most compelling were the essay contrasting Plato and Aristotle, the essay describing who and what is the final authority in ethics, the essay skewering "psychologizers", and the essays on health care that show why government-run health care is a monumentally bad idea. Some libertarians like to claim Rand as one of their own, but there is an air-clearing essay describing the difference between Objectivism and libertarianism. Unless you are a hard-core Objectivist, you will find areas in which you disagree with Ayn Rand, but the book would be appreciated by any intellectually curious person who would like to explore Objectivism.

No Objectivist's Library Should Be Without This

This is an excellent collection of essays that should be included in the library of every fan of Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. This book contains several great essays by Ayn Rand, which include her thoughts on abortion, the Apollo missions, Vietnam and working for the government. This collection also includes several insightful higher level philosophical essays including the following: * "Who is the Final Authority in Ethics?" where Ayn Rand clarifies that morality ultimately stems from facts of reality, not from a religious, political or legal authority * "The Sanction of the Victims" where Ayn Rand emphasizes the importance of never voluntarily relinquishing any of your rights or accepting unearned guilt. Most importantly, I think the contributions in this volume that are not by Ayn Rand are also incredibly valuable. These include: * "Religion vs. America" where Dr. Leonard Peikoff almost prophetically warns of the increased blending religion and politics (this is published in 1990). * "The American School: Why Johnny Cannot Think" where Dr. Peikoff analyzes how public schools teach children to not think in principles or develop proper concepts but instead teach children to be concrete-bound and develop short-term pragmatic solutions to complex problems. * "Medicine: The Death of a Profession" where Dr. Peikoff articulates how health care is not a right and how the increased government involvement in health care will slow advancements in medicine to a crawl. * "Libertarianism: The Perversion of Liberty" where Peter Schwartz delineates the stark differences between the views of the Libertarian Party and the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Although I think this book is definitely accessible to all, I think that those who are just getting familiar with Ayn Rand's non-fiction works will find many of the essays in both The Virtue of Selfishness and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal to be more interesting places to start.

What a mind........

I found this book an excellent excellent read and it confirmed my belief that Ayn was trapped behind those big dark eyes ... she was 1 of a kind. buy it, Read it, and cherish it ....