Rand Ayn

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Critics don't know what they are talking about - Rated
To the guy who says that "length" is question-begging : there is a difference between perception and conceptualization. A child cannot conceptualize the notion of length, he acquires it implicitly by observation. Then we conceptualize it. Anyone who cannot see that doesn't deserve to rate an Objectivist book.

Why the long critiques? - Rated
Why does this volume require such long critiques? The simple fact is that Rand blows it from the start.

On the very second page of her second chapter, Rand illustrates her theory of concept-formation in what she describes as its simplest case epistemologically: the formation of a child's concept of 'length'. The question-begging nature of this account is obvious on a single reading; she defines length in terms of itself. According to Rand, in order to form the 'concept', we already have to have it.

If that case doesn't work, the rest of her theory can't get off the ground. All this stuff about 'necessity' and so forth is interesting, but it's quite needless as a review of *this* book.

Rand was no philosopher, and her epistemology was no epistemology. Look elsewhere for enlightenment.

Egregiously poor scholarship - Rated
Even someone as generally supportive of Ayn Rand as Tibor Machan had to declare that this book was too polemical to qualify as genuine scholarship.

And no wonder. Throughout this volume we are treated to dismissive remarks on entire alleged schools of philosophical thought (e.g. conceptualism, nominalism) without _ever_ encountering either (a) a reference to a thinker who actually held the views Rand dismisses without argument or (b) a definition of what any of these schools allegedly believe. Even when she mentions a name, she doesn't provide any sound information; her occasional curt references to Russell, Kant and Hegel are vague and "psychologizing" (we are told, e.g., that Russell was able to "get away with" something, though we aren't told what).

The book fares no better on its positive side. Rand's own theories are markedly unoriginal, and her inability to read the works of genuine philosophers led her to repeat quite a few mistakes that she might have avoided with a little more knowledge of the history of philosophy. But other reviewers have already noted some of the more obvious difficulties and errors in her approach to epistemology - though, really, there was no need to do so, since Rand herself presents no arguments whatsoever in favor of her theories.

I will add only that anyone who thinks this book is THE book on epistemology is clearly as unfamiliar with the field as Rand was. And more: if this book is YOUR introduction to epistemology, make sure you have a dictionary or encyclopedia of philosophy handy, or Rand will render you completely unfit to read other works in the field.

Ground-breaking book - Rated
This is THE reference work on epistemology. Rand explains clearly how we derive concepts from reality and the conversation form of the book is very lively and enlightening. This is a must-have book for anyone interested in philosophy, period. A brillant account of human cognition. This book helped me understand the nature of concepts and how to apply this with real-life concepts.

The criticisms about this book are shoddy, to say the least. I usually don't comment on what others say, but this is too silly to pass up. "Scott Ryan" says that Rand's ideas hold the theory of a priori knowledge, but that is patently false. He also says that negation and necessity would be hard to deal with, but that is not obvious at all. Negation, for example, is part of logical operations on concepts, and its differentia is reversing (negating) said concept.

"A reader" says that we cannot use measurement-omission unless we know the concepts of length, colour, etc. But that is akin to saying that a baby needs to know what "identity" means before he acquires such. They are all perceptual characteristics which can be used implicitly.

Ayn Rand is an amazingly lucid thinker. - Rated
Of all Ayn Rand's own expository works that I've yet read, this is the most well-organized. As always, she treats the subject matter with a level of lucidity that I only came to fully appreciate after reading the works of other philosophers. The degree of precision -- and concision -- with which she treats every important topic is simply astounding. Her ability to isolate the essentials of any issue is displayed brilliantly in this book. Her theory of concepts, and her entire philosophy, is groundbreaking.

There are those who would detract from her towering achievement based on the questionable behavior of a few of her "followers"; however, the behavior of individuals has no bearing on the validity of her ideas. I highly recommend this book.