User:RL0919/Randbox

Note that in some cases the same source appears more than once because it engages in different modes of discussion (for example, providing commentary about the terms used by others, while also engaging in argument about what the appropriate term(s) should be). The listed sources are mostly books from academic presses or journal articles, although a few are books from commercial presses, or magazine articles written by academic authors.

Secondary source discussion
Discussion about how others label Rand.


 * "Evaluations of Rand in the academic community vary widely. On one extreme, the head of a philosophy department at a major university once called Rand 'the worst philosopher in the history of Western Civilization.' On the other extreme, the late Hiram Hadyn, an accomplished scholar who disagreed with Rand, remarked that Rand had constructed the most impressive philosophic edifice since Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century." (pp. 193–194)
 * "Rand called herself a novelist-philosopher. She became immensely popular as the former and recently has been gaining respect as the latter." (p. 4)
 * "One of the many reasons for the near-total disregard among academics for the philosophy of Ayn Rand, known as Objectivism, is the near-total disregard, by Rand and her followers, for every other philosopher but Aristotle." (p. 153)
 * "While much of the intellectual establishment dismissed her as a 'pop philosopher,' Rand's public appeal grew."(p. 189)
 * "Re-reading the Canon provides only a glimpse of the wide range of work done by feminist historians of philosophy seeking to reinscribe into history the names of forgotten women philosophers. At first glance this limitation seems unproblematic since the series has another focus, namely, to provide feminist interpretations of canonical philosophers, and recently 'discovered' women philosophers are certainly not part of the canon. But then Wollstonecraft, Beauvoir, Arendt, Daly, and Rand are not canonical figures in the normal sense of the term. Indeed, until very recently none of them even received mention, let alone extended discussion, in standard reference works in philosophy.


 * "The 1967 Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Edwards 1967), with articles on more than nine hundred philosophers, turns up no entry for Arendt and not even a mention of Beauvoir, Wollstonecraft, or Rand. Important women philosophers from earlier periods are missing as well: Hypatia, Anne Conway, Elizabeth of Bohemia, Damaris, Lady Masham. In sharp contrast, the 1998 Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Craig 1998) has entries for all of them and for many other important women philosophers. The documentation of scores of women philosophers who would otherwise not have found their legitimate places in the history of philosophy is a major achievement of feminist historians of philosophy over the past twenty-five years.


 * "... philosophers often find it difficult to believe that women philosophers were omitted from philosophy's history just because they were women. And the reason they find it difficult to believe, even in the face of considerable evidence, is that philosophy presents itself as a gender-neutral activity and discipline. If a woman was omitted, there must have been good reason—she was not a philosopher at all or not a significant philosopher or not an original philosopher—take your pick. A recent dispute over whether Elizabeth of Bohemia warrants the title philosopher is an example of this phenomenon (Alanen 2004)." (pp. 540–542)


 * "Slowly public perception of Rand began to shift, establishing her as a philosopher, not just a novelist." (p. 192)
 * "Her followers call her a serious philosopher. Some call her the greatest philosopher who ever lived. ... Her detractors call her a charlatan whose teachings are simpleminded, morally repugnant, and derivative. They deny that she was a philosopher at all, or that her ideology is a philosophy. In this book I utilize the term; to deny it, I think, unwisely minimizes her undeniable influence." (p. 3)
 * "Philosophers love to hate Ayn Rand. ... Many propose that she's not a philosopher at all and should not be taken seriously."
 * "In our own times, the recognition of women philosophers is improving: Susanne Langer, L. Susan Stebbing, Simone de Beauvoir, Simone Weil, Ayn Rand, Christina Hoff Sommers, Alison Jaggar, Susan Moller Okin, and Martha Nussbaum, among many others, have achieved renown as philosophers." (p. 7)

Opinions and mentions
Opinions from authors about how they believe Rand should be labeled and/or terms used to refer to her without explanation.


 * "... this book is devoted to an assessment of Ayn Rand the philosopher. All the contributors to this volume agree that she is a philosopher and not a mere popularizer. Moreover, all agree that many of her insights on philosophy and her own philosophic ideas deserve critical attention by professional philosophers, whatever the final merit of those inquiries and theories. It is appropriate, therefore, that all our contributors are themselves professional philosophers." (p. x)
 * xxxxxxxx
 * "[Atlas Shrugged] was her last novel, her last work of fiction; for by 1958 she had become a philosopher." (p. 17)
 * "public philosopher'" (p. 65)
 * "Ayn Rand is one of the most widely read philosophers of the twentieth century." (pp. 1–2)
 * "Like most of Russia's great literary figures, she was an artist, social critic, and nonacademic philosopher who constructed a broad synthesis in her battle against the traditional antinomies in Western thought ..." (p. 10)
 * "Rand slowly moved from best-selling novelist to public philosopher." (p. 97)
 * "'The Only Path to Tomorrow' provides a first peek at Rand as a public philosopher." (p. 112)
 * "Ayn Rand was in fact greatly hindered by being a woman. ... she was writing not just as a novelist but as a philosopher ... Can one doubt that, had Ayn Rand been a man, she would at least have been taken seriously as a philosopher, however much her reviewers might have disagreed with her ideas?" (pp. 26–27)
 * "...Rand, a woman philosopher, grasps the inextricable link between the personal and the political..." (p. 86)
 * "Although Ayn Rand became known as a philosopher whose ideas influenced people as diverse as politicians and tennis superstars, she was initially a writer of fiction." (p. 25)
 * "[Atlas Shrugged] ended her career as a novelist and launched Rand as a popular philosopher" (p. 28)
 * "[For the New Intellectual] marked her introduction as a public philosopher." (p. 86)
 * "It was the beginning of her time as the leader of an intellectual movement and as a public philosopher." (p. 114)
 * "...Rand stands out as a uniquely systematic contemporary philosopher. Her work is not, however, as detailed as the works of traditional philosophers..." (p. 18)
 * "As a novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand was a unique figure in our culture." (p. 27)
 * "Rand aspired primarily to be a novelist, not a professional philosopher" (p. 82)
 * "Ayn Rand was no academic philosopher and her scholarship, involving the customary dialogues in which professional academics take part, was minimal." (p. 121)
 * Hilary Putnam, The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy and Other Essays (2002): "This is, indeed, the way of life that was recommended by the influential if amateurish philosophizer – I cannot call her a philosopher – Ayn Rand." (p. 114)
 * "eventually became well known as a novelist and philosopher." (p. 469)
 * "I disagree with the foundations of her philosophy and indeed do not regard her as a competent philosopher at all." (p. 489)
 * "the Russian-American-pop-philosophaster" (p. 237)
 * "Rand’s influence as a novelist and popular philosopher can hardly be overstated. She is without doubt, America's most popular, popular philosopher."
 * "Rand was very much a public philosopher, appearing before large crowds at [various colleges listed]." (p. 189)
 * "popular philosopher" (p. 1)
 * Cynthia Burack (2008), "Just Deserts: Ayn Rand and the Christian Right" in the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture: "Rand is renowned as a best-selling author, a popular philosopher, and a guru who created her own system of thought and her own cult of personality."
 * Titles a chapter "The Public Philosopher". (p. 291)
 * Referring to the Nathaniel Branden Lectures, she says, "This was the launching of Ayn Rand as a public philosopher; it was the catalyst for a movement." (p. 97)
 * "Arguably the modern thinker who best represents the egoistic stance in ethics has been the popular writer Ayn Rand (1905-1982), Russian immigrant turned novelist and nonacademic philosopher." (p. 86)
 * "novelist-philosopher" (p. 58)
 * "capitalist philosopher" (p. 59)
 * "the Russian-American novelist and philosopher" (p. 25)
 * Headlines the chapter on Rand, "Writer and Philosopher" (p. 161)
 * "Nozick is by no means the most extreme proponent of libertarian views. Among well-known libertarians, that designation almost certainly goes to the pop philosopher Ayn Rand." (p. 1008 n48)
 * "novelist and putative philosopher Ayn Rand" (p. 115)
 * "Hoping that Rand's ideas will, in time, just go away is not a good solution to the problem. ... perhaps it's time to admit that Rand is a philosopher – just not a very good one."
 * "novelist-philosopher" (p. 58)
 * "capitalist philosopher" (p. 59)
 * "the Russian-American novelist and philosopher" (p. 25)
 * Headlines the chapter on Rand, "Writer and Philosopher" (p. 161)
 * "Nozick is by no means the most extreme proponent of libertarian views. Among well-known libertarians, that designation almost certainly goes to the pop philosopher Ayn Rand." (p. 1008 n48)
 * "novelist and putative philosopher Ayn Rand" (p. 115)
 * "Hoping that Rand's ideas will, in time, just go away is not a good solution to the problem. ... perhaps it's time to admit that Rand is a philosopher – just not a very good one."


 * Eric Mack, "Non-absolute Rights and Libertarian Taxation" in Taxation, Economic Prosperity, and Distributive Justice, edited by Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller, Jr., and Jeffrey Paul, pp. 112-113: "nonacademic rights-oriented theorist"
 * Cynthia Burack (co-authored): an introduction to a special issue of New Political Science which calls her "novelist and popular philosopher". Online and ungated here.
 * Tibor Machan, Classical Individualism: The Supreme Importance of Each Human Being: "novelist-philosopher" (p. xi)
 * Taylor, Reclaiming the Mainstream: Individualist Feminism Rediscovered: "novelist-philosopher" (p. 23)
 * Interview with James V. McConnell (1961) in Podritske, Objectively Speaking: Ayn Rand Interviewed, p. 187: "novelist-philosopher"
 * Sterba, "Social Justice" in Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy, edited by Charles K. Wilber, p. 189: "novelist-philosopher"
 * Sterba, From Rationality to Equality, p. 94: "novelist-philosopher"
 * Robert Mayhew, "Preface" in Essays on Ayn Rand's We the Living, edited by Robert Mayhew, p. x: "novelist-philosopher"
 * Michael Shermer, The Believing Brain: From Spiritual Faiths to Political Convictions, p. 31: "novelist-philosopher"
 * Palmer, "The Literature of Liberty" in The Libertarian Reader, edited by David Boaz, p. 418: "novelist-philosopher"
 * Seddon, Ayn Rand, Objectivists, and the History of Philosophy, p. 80: "novelist-philosopher"
 * Greiner and Kinni, Ayn Rand and Business, p. 73: "novelist-philosopher"
 * Jeff Britting, Ayn Rand, p. 107: "novelist-philosopher"
 * Boldeman, The Cult of the Market: Economic Fundamentalism and Its Discontents, p. 19: "libertarian philosopher"
 * Carrier, The Making of the Slave Class, p. 227: "libertarian philosopher"
 * Murphey, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World" (review) in The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies, Winter 2010: "libertarian philosopher"
 * McGrath, A Scientific Theology: Theory: "neglected philosopher" (p. 241)
 * Graham, Eight Theories of Ethics, p. 21: "woman philosopher"

Tertiary source usage
Terms used in encyclopedias or textbooks.


 * "A self-styled philosopher who attempted, through her fiction, to theorize ..." (p. 559)
 * "Ayn Rand (1905-92), Russian-born American novelist, screenwriter, and philosopher." (p.245)
 * "Ayn Rand was a Russian-born US novelist and philosopher who exerted considerable influence in the conservative and libertarian intellectual movements in the post-war USA." (p. 55)
 * "trained philosopher" (p. 261)
 * Neera K. Badhwar & Roderick Long, "Ayn Rand" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2010): "Ayn Rand (1905–1982) was a philosopher and a novelist who outlined a comprehensive philosophy, including an epistemology and a theory of art, in her novels and essays." [Note: same source as 2020 below, but the earlier 2010 edition of the article.]
 * "non-academic philosopher Ayn Rand" (p. 682)
 * Neera K. Badhwar & Roderick Long, "Ayn Rand" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2020): "a novelist-philosopher who outlined a comprehensive philosophy, including an epistemology and a theory of art, in her novels and essays.


 * Farber and Bailey, The Columbia Guide to America in the 1960s, p. 148. "Philosopher Ayn Rand, for example, ..." (passage goes on to discuss her view of 1960s counterculture)
 * The Encyclopedia of Ethics (published by Taylor & Francis and edited by Lawrence C. Becker) calls her a "novelist and philosopher" in the first sentence of its entry for her, then later says "many intellectuals continued to dismiss her as a reactionary popular philosopher".
 * The entry for her in the American Writers reference series says, "No longer merely a best-selling novelist, Rand quickly became a popular philosopher."
 * Robert C. Solomon and Clancy Martin, Above the Bottom Line: An Introduction to Business Ethics, Wadsworth Publishing Company: "The popular philosopher of 'the virtue of selfishness'".
 * Solomon again: Entertaining ideas: Popular Philosophical Essays, 1970-1990: "popular philosopher of selfishness" (p. 157)
 * Draper, World Literature Criticism (1500 to the Present) Volume 5: (Pope-Stevenson), p. 2876: "public philosopher"