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What They Won’t Tell You About Objectivism: Thoughts on the Objectivist Philosophy in the Post-Randian Era Kindle Edition

by Russell Hasan (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.1 52 ratings

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Everyone has heard dark whispers about the philosophy of Objectivism. People read Ayn Rand’s novels and fall in love with her ideas, only to collapse into one of two inevitable fates: (1) eventually give up on the ideas as childish and selfish, often complaining that the philosophy is a cult, or (2) develop a religious, zealous fanaticism, obeying the tenets of the philosophy in an obsessive, robotic, mindless manner.
But what is the truth about Objectivism? What is it in Rand’s novels that makes a light turn on in the minds of her readers, and why does that light always flare and then burn out, leaving behind either anger or mindless obedience? This book argues that Objectivism has been turned into a shallow, two-dimensional cartoon caricature of what the philosophy really is, by both Objectivism’s foes and its followers. The philosophy’s enemies fight against, and its followers worship, a misinterpretation, not the ideas that are actually in the novels. Rand’s novels present a vision of reality that is both heroic in its idealism and useful for real people in its practicality, with integrity as its highest moral value, but people forget that vision, and eventually the vision fades into the paper-thin cartoon that people think of when they hear the name Ayn Rand.
This groundbreaking, innovative book looks at Objectivism in a new light, and offers an analysis, rooted in quotes from the texts of Rand’s novels, that presents Objectivism as a deep, serious, thoughtful philosophy, with emotional depth and shades of gray, a philosophy of the mind designed for smart people to heighten their intellectual freedom, not merely a cult of robots or a cartoonish Right-wing extremist defense of rich businessmen.
If you want to know the truth about Objectivism then read this book.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

This book is part of Russell Hasan's series of books describing the philosophy of Objectivism, which also include: The Power of Objectivism: Ayn Rand and John Galt and Atlas Shrugged and The Morality of Life, Intelligence, Greed, Selfishness, Rationality, Individuality, Integrity, Capitalism, Desire, and Freedom and A System of Legal Logic: Using Aristotle, Ayn Rand, and Analytical Philosophy to Understand the Law, Interpret Cases, and Win in Litigation (A Scholarly Monograph). This book contains internal citations to yet another one of Russell Hasan's philosophy books, his treatise on epistemology: The Apple of Knowledge: Introducing the Philosophical Scientific Method and Pure Empirical Essential Reasoning.

From the Back Cover

This book does not assume that you have a detailed knowledge of Objectivism, but it is most relevant for people who have some interest in learning about the philosophy and what it means. This can come from having read "The Fountainhead" and/or "Atlas Shrugged", among other things. "What They Won't Tell You About Objectivism" is a deeply important book for people who consider themselves to be Objectivists, particularly within the "open-system" school of Objectivist thought, although any fan of either of the novels should also read this book to get a fresh point of view on the ideas contained therein.
You are encouraged to take a look at the first chapter, where the main meat of the argument is presented; the rest of the book then applies that point of view to many different details, such as the definition of "Objectivism," whether personal preferences are subjective or objective, atheism vs. the Right, and other interesting areas.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B074TXY258
Publisher ‏ : ‎ (August 15, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 15, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 498 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 122 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1549528432

Best Sellers Rank: #259,517 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #42 in Political Freedom (Kindle Store)
- #132 in Political Philosophy (Kindle Store)
- #151 in Political Freedom (Books)

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4.1 52 ratings

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Russell Hasan

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Russell Hasan was born the son of a white Jewish mother and a dark-skinned Muslim father—and that isn’t the strangest thing about him. His father had ties to the mafia—nope, not the weirdest thing about him. He thought he was a gay man for many years before realizing he is agender asexual—relatively normal compared to what truly makes him strange. Do you want to know what the weirdest, strangest thing about Russell is?

He's a WRITER.

Yes, that’s right. He writes. Why? How? Why would he want to do that to himself? How could he allow this to happen to himself? He is still trying to figure that one out. Therapy can cure lots of things and alcohol and drugs can cure other things, but the only cure for being a writer is to write, so he writes. He’s not into BDSM, yet for some reason he has chosen to punish himself by having a passion for writing and a need to write. Despite having made the huge mistake of choosing to be a writer, his books have sold over 10,000 copies, so perhaps it was not the worst mistake he ever made after all. He does not have one particular bestseller but has instead spread those 10,000 sales across many books he wrote. His magical journey of self-torture begins when he has the idea for a new book, and then continues when he wakes up at 6am to write from 6am to 8am before work every day (he has a day job—he’s not insane! His day job is being a lawyer, the most boring, evil job in the world, by the way), and, after many cups of Starbucks matcha tea and Coca Cola (never Pepsi—yuck!) he somehow puts words onto a page. He has written 30 books, both nonfiction and fiction, but, as something of a twist on the traditional successful indie author model, he is known more for his indie nonfiction, not his fiction. But he does write fiction. Some of his fiction is good too, probably, he hopes.

More information and an email list you can join is available on his website, although Amazon won't let him share a link to it here.

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Joseph J. Truncale

An interesting evaluation of Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism.

Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2020

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Like so many young idealistic young men in the early 1960s I became fascinated after reading all of Ayn Rand’s books and took courses on her philosophy of Objectivism. Over the years, when I began to really think for myself in a deeper philosophical way I drifted away from the subject but still held a passionate interest in Ayn Rand and Objectivism.

As I was checking Amazon for new books and material I ran across this very interesting and thoughtful volume (What they won’t tell you about Objectivism: Thoughts on the Objectivist Philosophy in the post-Randian era by Russell Hasan) and decided to purchase it.

I just finished reading this excellent book and amazingly I had found myself following the same path as the author when it came to Ayn Rand and Objectivism. I had drifted away from it when I saw the contradictions, dogma and cult like worship of Ayn Rand, even though I did agree with the basic philosophical principles of Objectivism. Now that there are two factions (open and closed Objectivists) I am once again following the philosophy in the open group and feel this is where I can find agreement.

This is a book for anyone who is interested in a philosophy based upon the objective reality of Objectivism.
Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Tactical Principles of the most effective Combative Systems)

2 people found this helpful

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Bruce

Bad Title

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2023

In this book the author defends objectivism while criticizing the objectivist movement and the Ann Rand Institute. Refreshing point of view.

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Pete from across the River

A polemic on Objectivism. Some of it's right on, some of it is way off. But it held my interest.

Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2018

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I stumbled across this book thanks to the associations that Amazon makes based on other titles I've viewed or purchased.

I am an Objectivist ... only I didn't know it until I read Atlas Shrugged. I attended a Lutheran-run parochial school first through 8th grade, and went on to a public high school. My parents were non-religious but our local public school system was horrible. The Lutherans did their best to indoctrinate me with their religious views (and I'm sure this has had some impact on my life). However, around 6th grade, we had a unit on the "myths of ancient Greece" -- and I had trouble discerning the differences between Zeus, Poseidon, and various other Greek gods from the "one true God" that we talked about in religion class. I eventually concluded that I was an atheist. Subsequently, I took various philosophy classes on my way to a business administration degree. One required course was "The Western Ethic" ... where we went through all the principle philosophers from ancient Greece to contemporary times. Since I was not a philosopher (though I had a considerable sense of my feelings about philosophy), I started my own "search" for a philosophy that appealed to me. It was not until I was in my 50s that I happened to read Atlas Shrugged (a book my wife had read years earlier -- but (remarkably) she skipped the "Galt Speech" chapter because she was mostly interested in the story!). When I got to Galt's speech, it was then I realized that I'd been an Objectivist for years and years, only I didn't know it. Later when reading all the related Objectivist books, I realized, that as a high school student, I'd read Ayn Rand's newspaper columns -- perhaps they had planted a seed, but I'd long forgotten about them until reading the collected book of them seemed familiar.

I give this introduction simply to point out that there are multiple ways to become an Objectivist, while the method the author mentions in his book is fairly common. There is some truth to many of the assertions in this book, but also there are misunderstandings and out-dated observations (that is, things about those at the center of “official” Objectivism that may have been true at one time, but is no longer the case).

The author, rightly, focuses on The Fountainhead and on Atlas Shrugged — looking to these novels for the heart of Objectivist philosophy. But the author fails to appreciate that these are novels, and not formal statements of philosophy. There is now a large and growing library of books and papers by Objectivist authors that further expand and explain the philosophy. This extensive number of publications, several written by Ayn Rand (The Virtue of Selfishness, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal) and others by Dr. Leonard Peikoff, Dr. Harry Binswanger, Dr. Edwin A. Locke, Dr. Tara Smith, Dr. Gregory Salmieri, and Dr. Andrew Bernstein all serve to further explain (and expand) the workings and understandings of Objectivism. (Note each of these authors have “author pages” on Amazon listing their books available here.)

Objectivists are divided, with multiple sub-groups and some other groups that owe a debt to Ayn Rand, but do not fully accept/endorse her philosophy. I'm sure the "movement" would be more effective if these internecine squabbles didn't exist -- but reality is otherwise. Objectivism emphasizes independent thought, and thus, it leads to differences of opinion -- that sometimes is less different than it first appears. (e.g. the "closed" vs."open" debate -- in reality, just like the U.S.Constitution (that is closed except for a very difficult means to amend it), we do not need to change what Ayn Rand writes when there are well written (though somewhat academic) works that expand, extend, and clarify Rand's philosophy. (Just like Supreme Court decisions expand, extend, and clarify the U.S. Constitution). We leave it to Objectivists everywhere to make up their own minds. So, I'm not sure that the author's focus on these various "objectivist" groups differ really is that important. The only question, not addressed, is if the "open" folks decide that (say) atheism should not be part of Objectivism, at what point does it no longer be Objectivism? (This self-answers, as modern Libertarians (through the CATO Institute) openly celebrate the foundation of Ayn Rands philosophy to their viewpoint (though CATO does not accept all aspects of Objectivism). I note that John A. Allison, former President and CEO of CATO Institute and current member of the CATO board is also an active Objectivist. Ayn Rand is known to have made strong criticism of "libertarians" during her lifetime -- but the current "brand" of libertarianism as represented by CATO is not what Rand criticized.

There are criticisms of Ayn Rand as having a cult surrounding her (with excommunications, etc.). Ayn Rand was a very dominant personality. She gathered a group of “students” around her, who became somewhat of a cult. Unfortunately, Rand was not tolerant of those who did not agree 100% with her views — and there were several “excommunications.” Her affair with Nathaniel Branden (and his later excommunication) was certainly not a high point of her life. The (objective) reality is that Ayn Rand had a brilliant mind and a sharp wit. She authored some fascinating and very politically relevant books, and through them developed a comprehensive, reason-based philosophy. But, like all humans, she had her personal failings and emotional blind-spots. Rand’s personal life and her own life-decisions (whether later judged good or bad) is not relevant to the Philosophy of Objectivism. All humans make errors of judgment, even when they (should have) known better. (I dare say that Aristotle, Plato, and all other philosophers all made errors in their lives…)

One repeated trope is that Objectivism has been “taken over by the right-wing conservatives.” This is so totally wrong that it is a ridiculous assertion. The National Review, movement Conservative William F. Buckley, Jr’s news and commentary magazine on political, cultural, and cultural affairs, published a review of Atlas Shrugged by Whittaker Chambers in their December 28, 1957 issue (the review was reprinted in their Jan 5, 2005 issue, the 50th anniversary of National Review) that completely pans the book and negates ANY consideration that the conservative right even understand Rand’s work, much less accepts it. In my opinion, this is the biggest error that William F. Buckley, Jr. and the conservative movement made. Rand’s defense of capitalism on moral grounds separates the economic system from religion and collectivist goals. Yet, National Review continues to take cheap shots and make snide remarks about Ayn Rand and Objectivism to this day.

This also renders the author’s argument that “official” Objectivism (i.e. ARI) downplays atheism subject to question. Atheism is not a very interesting topic to most Objectivists, but for the Objectivist view, See Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts That Support It by Craig Biddle (available here on Amazon). The first 30 pages are devoted to an explanation of why atheism is required (that is about 20% of the book).

The criticism of the Objectivist case on art and artistic works is dead on. Art is highly subjective and Rand's approach to artistic criticism lacks the rigorousness of the rest of her philosophy. Some of the artworks (by Objectivist artists) are perfectly acceptable. But so are many of the artworks from non-objectivist artists. Other art is simply "yuck." Well, that's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.

Lastly, I can't help but point out that the book is one of the most poorly designed and formatted books I've seen. (Using "look inside" this problem appears to extend to all of the author's titles.) Since the author is a lawyer, I'm sure he would never appear in court (as a lawyer) dressed in the clothes he would wear for a weekend doing garden work. (Indeed, should he show up in court that way, he'd likely be censured by the Judge.) Making a good presentation helps create a sense of credibility for the material. At the very least, the book could have used a good proofreader (and an editor). There were numerous typos, including missing or mistyped words in a direct quote from Ayn Rand's writing. Also, there is no index -- something that would have been of considerably use in a book of this nature.

If the content had not been interesting, I'd give it one star for the formatting alone.

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fantastic

Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2023

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This book has revived my latent objectivism. It makes not just objectivism strong but thinking, by using empirical essentialism, as he calls it, we can have knowledge of objective reality( the external physical world) by linking knowledge and ideas back to the objects, physical objects, which they refer. How this is changing my thinking, an example. Two examples. I was watching a video of a guy critiquing a speed reading program, he cited studies which showed they didn’t work, after reading Mr. Hassan’s book I had to ask, what was this guy’s personal experience with speed reading? Did he fully immerse himself in it, since many people swear by it. Example two, I was watching a video of a guy giving a review of a language learning program. Once again, after reading Mr. Hassan, I could tell this reviewer didn’t have direct application of said language program. Using reason or we can see some objectivist tropes such as Capitalism is in precise since knowledge of the physical world shows capitalism has been government assisted from it’s inception. The book allows you to be an independent thinker by seeing the physical world clearer.

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