James Bond Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 Here's what I've read: -all of Ayn Rand's fiction/non-fiction (excluding only "Red Pawn") -The Ayn Rand Lexicon -OPAR by Peikoff -Den Uyl and Rasmussen's book on AR -James T. Baker's "Ayn Rand" -Best of AR's Q/A -1-40 of Peikoff's podcasts here's what I've heard I should read: "The Ayn Rand Reader"/"Voice of Reason" "The Ominous Parallels" by Peikoff "Normative Values" by Tara Smith "Ayn Rand" by Allan Gothelf "The Evidence of the Senses" by Kelley and I guess there is teh upcoming: "DIM Hypothesis" by Peikoff and Binswanger's work on consciousness But what is some other seminal objectivist scholarship I should read? Suggestions welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eiuol Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 But what is some other seminal objectivist scholarship I should read? Suggestions welcome. Of course, there are plenty of other books to add to your list here, but I would also include "Viable Values" by Tara Smith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 The two that I would most strongly recommend would be David Kelley's Evidence of the Senses and (especially) Tara Smith's Viable Values. Viable Values pretty much single-handedly convinced me of the correctness of an egoistic approach to ethics. I also gained some value from reading David Kelley and William Thomas' Beta version of The Logical Structure of Objectivism, although it diverges very significantly from Rand in both structure and content and therefore could not be termed "Objectivist." If you're interested in self-esteem issues, Branden has written oodles of books since his break with Rand which are, by and large, in the Objectivist tradition and can still be valuable. This goes without saying, but just read everything critically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEgoist Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 Here is a thread that discusses a lot of the upcoming Objectivist work, mostly done by academics. I have read a lot of Objectivist essays/dissertations, mostly acquired by fellow O'ists. There aren't many books out now, but Tara Smith is probably your best chance. She has two books out on Rand's ethics. I actually prefer "Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist" to "Viable Values", but maybe that's the future academic snob speaking in me, as it just seems more professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khaight Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 It really depends on your areas of interest. If you're not interested in economics, you probably shouldn't tackle Reisman's Capitalism even though it was written by an Objectivist. Some of the books you list, like Gotthelf's Ayn Rand and Hull's The Ayn Rand Reader are introductions or samplers, in which you won't find anything new if you're read substantively in the main corpus. Rather than try to present a comprehensive list of books by Objectivist and/or Objectivish intellectuals, it would be better if you gave us some indication of what your purpose is. Are you interested in philosophy? History? Economics? Psychology? Art? The internal history of the Objectivist movement? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softwareNerd Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 Here's what I've read: -all of Ayn Rand's fiction/non-fiction (excluding only "Red Pawn") If this does not include her "Letters", those are well worth reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Bond Posted April 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2010 So here's the additions so far: "Viable Values" by Tara Smith "The Logical Structure of Objectivism" by Kelley Ayn Rand's letters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anintegrate Posted April 10, 2010 Report Share Posted April 10, 2010 (edited) I found the views on causal relations and general propositions from "How Ideas Work: Think with Conviction; Act with Confidence" by Kent Worthington enlightening, even though it does not cover the subjects of metaphysics and epistemology in as great a depth as I would have liked to have seen. It is written on the level appropriate for a layman, and so is not an in-depth technical treatise. It's available at: http://www.howideaswork.com/ The book's 5 chapters are reviewed on Associated Content.com by G Stolyarov II. Here is the review to chapter 1: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2...ons.html?cat=38 Edited April 10, 2010 by Anintegrate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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