Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46308 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Synopsis
The foundations of capitalism are being battered by a flood of altruism, which is the cause of the modern world's collapse. This is the view of Ayn Rand, a view so radically opposed to prevailing attitudes that it constitutes a major philosophic revolution. In this series of essays, she presents her stand on the persecution of big business, the causes of war, the student rebellion, and the evils of altruism.

Customer Reviews

Bringing human-rights and economics together
Ayn Rand's book is not about religious cultivism - usually the only argument that critics manage to articulate. It is about the missing ideological link between human rights (individual rights) and economics. This book should be regarded as food for thought - claiming that only a free economy can be part of a free society. This is true by definition but Rand is simply one of the few non-technical minds that put it to paper without equations. (That government intervention is restricting our wealth and personal freedom has been proven infinite times before.) Another striking feature is the non-scientific assumption about man's selfish altruism. It was only decades later that her non-scientific assumptions were actually confirmed by the major biologists of our time. It is true that many of her arguments skip scientific explanations - but she is never dangerously far off from our biological and economic understanding of humans. A must read for every open mind. A must read for those who believe in the possibility of doing good for themselves and others at the same time.

As a European - I know that 99% of all academics in Europe have never come even close to thinking about similiar ideas. That is restricitng their understanding of the US altogether...

CAPITALISM EXPLAINED
If like me your slightly bewildered and confused with the sudden rise in the anti-capitalist movement and not quite sure what to make of it all, then look no further than "Capitalism: the unknown ideal". In less than 350 pages Ayn Rand sets out in clear English exactly what capitalism means to the ordinary person and dismantles the entire case for socialism and the anti-capitalism , I highly recommend this book!

Unique defence of freedom
This riveting compilation of 26 essays includes contributions by Alan Greenspan, Nathaniel Branden and Robert Hessen. It is primarily a treatise on the moral aspects of capitalism. The themes revolve around human nature and mankind’s relationship to existence. Capitalism is advocated because it is the only system compatible with the life of a rational being.

Rand claims that the classical defenders and modern apologists of capitalism are by default responsible for undermining it. In her view, they are unwilling or unable to fight the battle on moral-philosophical grounds.

The essays provide a plethora of gripping insights and novel angles. Rand detests the idea of using altruism to defend capitalism. She proposes rationality instead, with a ruling principle of justice.

I do not necessarily agree with her on this but I enjoy Rand’s scathing criticism of conservatism’s perceived fallacies. Her vitriolic dissection of the 3 conservative strains is highly amusing! She identifies and attacks the Religious and the Traditionalists but really unleashes the sharp edge of her scorn on those who defend capitalism from the argument of mankind’s depravity.

In the essay Requiem For Man, she savages the encyclical Populorum Progressio by Pope Paul VI, in which she also rips apart the reactions to it by publications like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Fortune magazine.

The book consists of two parts. The first is Theory And History, which includes essays on inter alia war, the persecution of big business, antitrust, gold and economic freedom, property status of the airwaves, and patents and copyrights.

Part two: Current State, includes essays on the anatomy of compromise, the art of smearing, rule by consensus as a form of fascism, and the student rebellion. The final two essays: Man’s Rights and The Nature Of Government, appear in the appendix.

Whatever the flaws in Rand’s Objectivist philosophy, this book remains a brilliant and unique defence of freedom and capitalism. Moreover, history has proved Rand a prescient thinker who was correct in many of her analyses.

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal ranks among the very best of her non-fiction works. It is highly engaging, thought-provoking and often quite amusing. The book concludes with an index and a bibliography listing titles by Henry Hazlitt, Isabel Paterson and Ludwig von Mises, amongst others.