Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #300775 in Books
• Published on: 1993-12-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Customer Reviews

Develop a Winning mind
Detractors from this awesome work will resort to name calling and slick truisms...emotional manipulation is the tool of the value destructive individual. Use your own mind... and explore the rational and beautiful world of objectivism. Unfortunately, few grasp what real objectivism is about and even so called objectivists have turned the philosophy into a do-nothing cult of ivory-tower preachers and finger-pointing time wasters endlessly arguing the finer points to appear scholarly...achieving an illusion of power over others by bullying the less integrated person. Objectivism isn't about discussing the finer points of its philosophy on elitist newsgroups..its about living in the trenches everyday as a fully integrated and honest individual weilding the power of rational thought and judgement...This book provides the key for just that. Unfortunately, due to her mysticisms, Rand never lived to systematically lay her work down. Peikoff, her intellectual heir, has acheived this systematization in clear and lucid fashion. Read and grow.

A masterpiece of a rational, life/man-loving philosophy
Mr. Peikoff has cogently assembled all the principles of Objectivism into a hierarchical, systematic, lucid, comprehensive system of ideas-that system being the philosophy of Ayn Rand: Objectivism. After reading this book you will know how to think clearly in terms of principles, axioms, logic, etc., and you will understand Ayn Rand's philosophy completely, and more so when and if you read her works. The reason why I love this book and Objectivism as a philosophy is because it is true, and that it is the only philosophy in existence which basically says, in a nutshell: that man's life is the standard, or standard of moral value and that happiness is each man's moral obligation and goal, that life is precious, and that it is yours to live it. Have you ever heard or read any other philosophy or religion, such as Christianity or Judaism tell you this? Think about it. The entire philosophy of Objectivism, every 5 branches of it, from metaphysics to esthetics, is devoted to the elaboration and explication of these principles. In other words, the purpose of all philosophy--properly--is to further, sustain, and preserve your life. What else is it or should it be for? Informally, Ayn Rand called her philosophy, "A philosophy for living on earth," but formally called it Objectivism. Anyone who doubts the truth and honesty of this philosophy must either be dishonest, irrational or a collectivist. After all, how can someone deny the truth of 1+1=2 and expect to not have conflict in their lives? Every principle of Objectivism can be proven by logic and reference to the facts and concrete existents in reality. So never mind the smears, misrepresentations and outright lies perpetrated by some against Ayn Rand and Objectivism. The ones that do this have no arguments and in fact present no arguments against Objectivism, which is why they resort to smears. This is indicative and telling only of the person(s) perpetrating the attack (known as ad hominem) rather than the person being attacked in the attack. If you want to seriously know what Objectivism is then read, and more importantly, STUDY AND LEARN it for yourselves, rather than from fourth-hand accounts from people who know little or nothing about it, or from those who are hell-bent on outright lying. And please, don't take my word for it either, since I would be guilty of the same crime as those I have mentioned. This book changed my life because it taught me how to apply abstract principles to innumerable, everyday concrete situations in all areas of life. This is what philosophy is and should be for, and this is why I am giving this book five well-deserved, morally-earned stars. Bravo and cheers to you Mr. Peikoff for giving the world a systematic presentation of a rational, life-giving philosophy!

Peikoff clarifies Rands' philosophy as no one else could!
From the opening page, you know you are in good hands with Dr. Peikoff. His explanation of the Objectivist philosophy is as clear as anyone could possibly write it. Not all of us have two years of philosophy at the college level, so Peikoff's book is much appreciated! Having previously read almost all of Ayn Rand's essay collections, this book helps to focus objectivism and is a perfect refresher course. Some have critiqued here about Dr. Peikoff's lack of "originality". Nonsense, I say! The obvious goal of this book is to be a primer for Ayn Rand's ideas, not to go off on some tangent of his own. This book is a must read for anyone with an open mind.