Volume 2, No. 1 – Fall 2000 (Issue #3)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CRITICAL NEGLECT OF AYN RAND’S THEORY OF ART, pp. 1-46
MICHELLE MARDER KAMHI and LOUIS TORRES
The authors analyze the scant critical and scholarly attention that has been devoted to Rand’s aesthetic theory by other writers since its publication more than a quarter-century ago. They argue that, with few exceptions, Objectivists and non-Objectivists alike have tended to misinterpret and undervalue Rand’s philosophy of art which (owing in part to Rand’s own emphasis) has not been sufficiently distinguished from her theory of Romantic literature. They also point to infelicities of style that have impeded serious consideration of her ideas.
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: AYN RAND AND VLADIMIR NABOKOV, pp. 47-67
Johnson traces the parallel lives and literary origins of two Russo-American writers: Ayn Rand and Vladimir Nabokov. Born in Saint Petersburg six years apart, they overlapped on The New York Times bestsellers list in the late fifties. While Nabokov’s Russian cultural roots have been much explored, Rand’s were little realized prior to Chris Matthew Sciabarra’s investigation of her Russian philosophical context. Nabokov and Rand represent polar examples of their cultural heritage: for Nabokov, the aesthetically-oriented tradition of the modernist Russian Symbolists; for Rand, the social-utilitarian tradition of Nikolai Chernyshevsky, and later, Maxim Gorky, founder of Socialist Realism.
AYN RAND AND THE METAPHYSICS OF KANT, pp. 69-103
Walsh examines the differences and similarities between Immanuel Kant and Ayn Rand in the area of metaphysics. He presents Kant’s premises and conclusions on the major issues and provides a detailed discussion of Rand’s criticisms of Kant. Walsh argues that Rand has seriously misread Kant on several points. Her interpretation that Kant saw our sensory grasp of the world as “delusion,” rather than knowledge, resembles that of Arthur Schopenhauer, except that the latter declares Kant’s doctrine worthy of praise instead of condemnation.
REVIEWS
FLOURISHING OBJECTIVISM, pp. 105-15
Hunt reviews Tara Smith’s Viable Values: A Study of the Root and Reward of Morality. He finds it an excellent contribution to the ongoing discussion of Objectivist ethics. Especially noteworthy, he says, are Smith’s treatment of the concept of intrinsic value, her use of the concept of flourishing, and her treatment of the relations between the interests of different people. Though the book provides no sustained discussion of casuistical applications, epistemological assumptions, or potentially interesting side-issues, it raises many provocative questions that will fuel further debate.
THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL, pp. 117-30
The author views Douglas Den Uyl’s The Fountainhead: An American Novelas a further sign of the growing scholarly interest in Ayn Rand’s works. The volume, featured in the Twayne Masterwork Studies series, develops the thesis that the novel is quintessentially American, by virtue of its core individualist values. Gladstein argues that Den Uyl could have profited from engagement with more literary critiques of the novel, especially recent feminist perspectives, but she finds his reading a convincing one.
A PRIMER ON AYN RAND, pp. 131-35
Skoble argues that Allan Gotthelf’s new primer, On Ayn Rand, is a helpful survey of Rand’s thought. Though it explains her theories systematically and offers a thorough treatment of her metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics, however, it provides hardly any discussion of her political philosophy or aesthetics. It is also regrettable that the bibliography lacks references to the secondary literature, which, in a primer such as this, would have been very useful.
DISCUSSION
REPLY TO SECHREST: ON THE ORIGINS OF GOVERNMENT, pp. 137-39
Enright responds to Larry Sechrest’s article “Rand, Anarchy, and Taxes” (Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Fall 1999). She examines the social forces that logically lead to the development of government, and the reasons for geographical demarcations of governments.
REPLY TO SECHREST: PRIVATE CONTRACT, MARKET NEUTRALITY, AND “THE MORALITY OF TAXATION”, pp. 141-59
Franck responds to Larry Sechrest’s article “Rand, Anarchy, and Taxes” (Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Fall 1999). Franck further develops his thesis that because minarchist government is essential to civil life including the market economy and because government requires material support to operate, taxation is moral. Against anarchist objections, Franck notes that taxation for legitimate purposes, though coercive, does not constitute the initiation of force.
REPLY TO SECHREST: A MINOR FLAW, pp. 161-62
Ust argues that Larry Sechrest’s valuable contribution (“Rand, Anarchy, and Taxes,” Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Fall 1999) to the debate on anarchism uses certain “unobservables” to bolster the case against taxation in an uneven and contradictory manner.
REJOINDER TO ENRIGHT, FRANCK, THOMAS, AND UST: TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT ARE STILL PROBLEMATIC, pp. 163-87
Sechrest replies to critics of his Fall 1999 Journal of Ayn Rand Studiesarticle, “Rand, Anarchy, and Taxes.” Sechrest argues that none of the critics provides an effective counterargument to his claim that all known taxing schemes redistribute income and wealth. Sechrest reviews some recent research, which strongly suggests that complex legal systems can exist and have existed without the benefit of being either established or enforced by government. He concludes that, insofar as the anarchy versus minarchy debate is concerned, the preponderance of evidence is on the side of anarchy.
REPLY TO CAMPBELL: WHERE WERE THE COUNTING CROWS?, pp. 189-95
Shedenhelm responds to Robert Campbell’s essay, “Ayn Rand and the Cognitive Revolution in Psychology” (Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Fall 1999). He identifies the most likely source of the crow-counting experiment cited at the beginning of chapter seven of Ayn Rand’s Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. He finds that the crow study was not at all an experiment, but instead an anecdotal account dating from the eighteenth-century French writer of animal behavior, Charles-Georges Leroy.
REPLY TO BISSELL, CAMPBELL, AND JOHNSON: THE STRANGE ATTRACTOR IN RANDIAN AESTHETICS, pp. 197-209
Vacker views The Fountainhead as unique in utopian literature, since it rejects the traditional vision of total planning for total order, in favor of a utopian vision expressed through the aesthetics of egoism and chaos. In particular, Howard Roark’s buildings embrace the fractal forms being uncovered in the post-Newtonian sciences of chaos and complexity. As such, this suggests that the insights of chaos theory be integrated with Rand’s theory of art and epistemology. Vacker argues that chaotic forms and processes should be placed at the center of a utopian cultural aesthetic that embraces strange attractors.
REJOINDER TO SHEDENHELM, THOMAS, AND VACKER: IMPLIED EPISTEMOLOGY, EPISTEMOLOGY OF THE IMPLICIT, pp. 211-19
Campbell replies to commentary on his article, “Ayn Rand and the Cognitive Revolution in Psychology” (Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Fall 1999). He comments briefly on Richard Shedenhelm’s historical analysis of the “counting crows” experiment. He agrees with Barry Vacker’s view that nonlinear dynamics are required in any analysis of skill and implicit knowledge, but contends that Rand’s explicit epistemological formulations exclude these dynamics and prevent her from offering an adequate treatment of the implicit. Campbell also responds to Will Thomas’s comments made in the journal, Navigator. He finds that Thomas has accepted the critical role that psychology must play in an epistemological theory of concepts.
REJOINDER TO VACKER: ROCKIN’ WITH RAND: SAILING THE TURBULENT SEAS OF THE OBJECTIVIST AESTHETICS, pp. 221-27
Bissell challenges Barry Vacker’s claim that “aesthetics is at the core of Randian theory,” even as he endorses Vacker’s comments on the fractal aesthetics of Rand’s Fountainhead. Bissell observes that “the actual fountainhead” of Rand’s aesthetics is a certain metaphysical value-judgment, which he terms the Turbulent Universe, Pro-Effort Premise. He acknowledges Vacker’s valuable insights about the demanding nature of the dynamic, chaotic processes in the world around us and explains how it is just another aspect of what Rand regards as the (conditional) “benevolence” of the universe.
REJOINDER TO THOMAS AND VACKER: AYN RAND AND THE MASTERY OF NATURE, pp. 229-40
Johnson argues, contra Barry Vacker, that reductionist thinking and nonlinear aesthetics are not mutually exclusive, and that the passages in The Fountainhead cited by Vacker actually support the mastery of nature thesis. Johnson also addresses some miscellaneous criticisms offered by William Thomas, who wrote a review of Johnson’s “Liberty and Nature” (Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Fall 1999) that appeared in Navigator.
CONTRIBUTOR BIOGRAPHIES
Roger E. Bissell is a professional musician and graduate student in psychology at California Coast University. He is also a writer on psychology and philosophy. His work has appeared in a number of publications, including Reason Papers, Objectivity, Journal of Consciousness Studies,Vera Lex, and ART Ideas.
Robert L. Campbell is a Professor, Department of Psychology, Brackett Hall 410A, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634-1355, and a theoretical psychologist. He edited and translated Jean Piaget’s Studies in Reflecting Abstraction (Psychology Press, due December 2000) and co-authored The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra (Cadence Jazz Books, 2000).
Marsha F. Enright earned an M.A. psychology from The New School for Social Research, is a writer, psychotherapist and educator. Among her many educational and social projects and organizations: The New Intellectual Forum (founded by her in 1987), Council Oak Montessori Elementary School (founded by her in 1990), Camp Indecon, and her newly formed Fountainhead Institute. She has written about many psychological topics and lectured frequently at The Objectivist Center’s Summer Seminar and elsewhere. Her interests are wide-ranging but always take a psychological bent.
Murray I. Franck is an Assistant Professor of Law, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York (C.U.N.Y.), 17 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York 10010. He teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Queens College, C.U.N.Y., and holds both J.D. and LL.M. degrees from the New York University School of Law. In addition to other publications in law, economics, and ethics, he is writing a book, provisionally entitled “Moral Elegance: The Ethics of Non-Contradiction.”
Mimi Reisel Gladstein, a Professor of English and Theatre Arts, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79968-0526, currently serves as Associate Dean of Liberal Arts at her college. She is the author of The New Ayn Rand Companion (Greenwood Press, 1999), Atlas Shrugged: Manifesto of the Mind (Twayne, 2000), and co-editor of Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand. Author of The Indestructible Woman in Faulkner, Hemingway, and Steinbeck, Gladstein has won international recognition for her work on John Steinbeck, including the Burkhardt Award for Outstanding Contributions to Steinbeck Studies in 1996.
Lester H. Hunt is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, 600 North Park Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706. He is the author of Nietzsche and the Origin of Virtue (Routledge) and Character and Culture (Rowman and Littlefield).
D. Barton Johnson is a Professor Emeritus, Department of Germanic and Russian Studies, Phelps Hall, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106. He specializes in contemporary Russian and American literature and has published extensively on Russian emigre writers such as Vladimir Nabokov, Sasha Sokolov, and Vasily Aksyonov. A two-time president of the International Vladimir Nabokov Society, he is founding editor of the journal Nabokov Studies and of the electronic discussion forum Nabokv-L.
Gregory R. Johnson is a philosopher in private practice in Atlanta. In addition to consulting with individuals and institutions, he runs The Invisible College, a private educational organization offering classes on topics in philosophy, psychology, and literature.
Michelle Marder Kamhi is an independent scholar and critic. She co-edits Aristos (an arts journal informed by Ayn Rand’s philosophy of art), and is co-author of What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand, published by Open Court earlier this year. A graduate of Barnard College, she earned an M.A. in Art History at Hunter College, State University of New York (S.U.N.Y.). Prior to her association with Aristos, she worked as an editor and freelance writer, and conceived, produced, and directed Books Our Children Read, a documentary educational film on literature in the school curriculum.
Larry J. Sechrest is an Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Free Enterprise Institute, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas 79832. He is the author of Free Banking: Theory, History, and a Laissez-Faire Model(Quorum Books). His research interests include free banking, business cycles, the history of economic thought, economic history, and the philosophical foundations of economics.
Richaard Shedenhelm is Head of the Serials Technical Processing Section, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia 30602-1642. He is a graduate student in philosophy at the University of Georgia. He is the author of Critics of Environmentalism: A Comprehensive Bibliography Covering Philosophy, Economics, and Science and “Are We Burying Ourselves in Garbage?” (The Freeman, April 1995). He is the publisher of Summa Philosophiae, a monthly philosophical newsletter. He is currently completing his Master’s thesis on certain aspects of C. S. Peirce’s graphical logic.
Aeon J. Skoble is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Department of English and Philosophy, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York 10996. He is editor of the annual journal Reason Papers, and co-editor of the anthology, Political Philosophy: Essential Selections (Prentice-Hall, 1999). He has also published in The Review of Metaphysics, Modern Schoolman and Ideas on Liberty. His main areas of scholarship are ethics, political philosophy, and logic. The ideas expressed here are his own.
Louis Torres is an independent scholar and critic. He co-edits Aristos (an arts journal informed by Ayn Rand’s philosophy of art), which he founded in 1982, and is co-author of What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand, published by Open Court this year. A graduate of Rutgers University, where he majored in Psychology, he earned an M.A. at Teachers College, Columbia University. Prior to founding Aristos, he taught English and arts appreciation in public and private high schools. He is a specialist in the fiction of Jack Schaefer, author of Shane.
Daniel Ust writes on various topics. His essays have appeared in The Free Radical, Full Context, Objectivity, Summa Philosophiae, and elsewhere.
Barry Vacker is an Assistant Professor, Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275. He earned a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin, where his studies and dissertation covered philosophy, aesthetics, law, and media. He has authored articles and book chapters on aesthetics, culture, and technology. His forthcoming book, entitled Chaos at The Edge of Utopia, offers a radical new interpretation of utopia based on aesthetics and chaos.
George V. Walsh is a Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, Salisbury State University, Salisbury, Maryland 21801. He has taught philosophy and the history of religion at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Eisenhower College. Having earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University, he is the co-translator (with Frederick Lehnert) of Alfred Schutz’s Phenomenology of the Social World (Northwestern, 1967). A co-founder of the Ayn Rand Society (Eastern Division, American Philosophical Association) and a charter member of the Institute for Objectivist Studies (now The Objectivist Center), he is the author of such serialized essays as “Herbert Marcuse: Philosopher of the New Left,” (published in 1970 in Rand’s Objectivist journal) and the book, The Role of Religion in History (Transaction, 1998). [Ed: Professor Walsh passed away in January 2002; the Spring 2002 issue of The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies was dedicated to his memory, and to the memory of Don Lavoie, Robert Nozick, and Jack Schwartzman.]
Volume 2, No. 2 – Spring 2001 (Issue #4)
The Aesthetics Symposium
A discussion of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of art inspired by Louis Torres and Michelle Marder Kamhi’s book, What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand. This is the first comprehensive scholarly forum on Rand’s aesthetics ever published.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION, pp. 251-52
WHAT ART DOES, pp. 253-63
Hunt argues that, despite its being too narrow in the topics it treats, Louis Torres and Michelle Marder Kamhi’s What Art Is offers a fascinating account of Ayn Rand’s views on art and, in addition, constitutes a major contribution to Objectivist aesthetics.
WHAT ART IS: WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE?, pp. 265-90
Riggenbach maintains that Torres and Kamhi’s What Art Is adds to our understanding of Rand’s key aesthetic concepts and is particularly valuable for the writings by other thinkers that it brings to bear on Rand’s ideas. It is, however, remiss in failing to include any discussion of Stephen C. Pepper and in failing to discern the true importance of Susanne K. Langer’s works for a fuller understanding of Rand’s aesthetics. It errs also in its discussion of music, photography, and cinema. Though unnecessarily marred by flawed copyediting, it is an important work.
NORDAU’S DEGENERATION AND TOLSTOY’S WHAT IS ART? STILL LIVE, pp. 291-97
Bell-Villada argues that What Art Is, by Torres and Kamhi, opens with a useful exposition of Rand’s aesthetic theories. Unfortunately, once that task is completed, the book becomes mostly a rant against the twentieth century avant-garde, with little in the way of suggested alternatives. Though they offer a causal explanation for Modernism as the product of its practitioners’ schizophrenia, they make no attempt at a socio-historical accounting for the emergence and triumph of vanguard art. Their dislike of the bleakness of much Modernist literature shows a lack of understanding of the dark times in which its authors lived.
CRITICAL MISINTERPRETATIONS AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES: ERRORS AND OMISSIONS BY KAMHI AND TORRES, pp. 299-310
Bissell points out scholarly and ahistorical lapses in Kamhi and Torres’s Journal of Ayn Rand Studies essay, “Critical Neglect of Ayn Rand’s Theory of Art” (Fall 2000). He argues that they have misrepresented and neglected the views of others, and have inaccurately depicted the extent to which his own essays liken and contrast music with the other arts. Bissell criticizes their failure to acknowledge Rand’s “microcosm” view of art as “re-creation of reality,” which is fundamentally at odds with the Kamhi-Torres perspective.
RAND’S AESTHETICS: A PERSONAL VIEW, pp. 311-34
Hospers endeavors to relate his thoughts on philosophy of art to those of Ayn Rand, both in her published work and in discussions he had with her. In such areas as artistic creativity, artistic expression, representation, the role of feelings in art, truth and knowledge in the arts, sense of life, beauty, and aesthetic value, Hospers describes his agreements and disagreements with Rand.
REASONING ABOUT ART, pp. 335-40
Kelley discusses the relationship between philosophy and sense of life and explains why he and William Thomas do not consider sense of life essential to the explanation of why art is a major human value, though it is essential to explaining how people create and experience art. Kelley also challenges the claim by Kamhi and Torres (in their article, “Critical Neglect of Ayn Rand’s Theory of Art,” Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Fall 2000) that aesthetics, as a branch of philosophy, is logically prior to ethics and on a par with epistemology in fundamentality.
ART: WHAT A CONCEPT, pp. 341-59
Enright examines difficulties in Rand’s concept of art, particularly in light of fundamental issues raised about architecture by Torres and Kamhi in their book, What Art Is. Neither architecture nor music presents a “re-creation” in the narrow sense of the term. Rand insists at times that art cannot involve utilitarian function, but elsewhere sees such functions as compatible with aesthetic effect. Enright argues for the aesthetic power of architecture. In evaluating an alternative definition of art, he views the concept as invaluable to our understanding of a profound human need.
GUGGENHEIMS AND GRAND CANYONS, pp. 361-82
Vacker argues that Torres and Kamhi’s What Art Is seems destined to become the seminal explication of Randian aesthetics. But the authors conflate a psychology of art with a philosophy of aesthetics, and, in so doing, embrace several aesthetic divides that have plagued modern arts and culture: art versus beauty, art versus material function, and order versus chaos. What Art Is presents a theory of aesthetics that is inherently anti-aesthetic, ultimately seeking to preserve a past order against the chaotic future.
ON METAPHYSICAL VALUE-JUDGMENTS, pp. 383-86
Newberry argues that, contrary to Rand, Torres and Kamhi (authors of What Art Is) do not recognize the connections between major art forms and the metaphysical questions they seek to answer. Many of the authors’ conclusions, including their re-definition of Rand’s concept of art, are based on a negation of these connections. But such links are crucial to Rand’s concept of metaphysical value-judgments; Newberry provides examples in support of Rand’s view.
THE PUZZLE OF MUSIC AND EMOTION IN RAND’S AESTHETICS, pp. 387-89
Dipert argues that, at first glance, Rand’s view of representational arts, such as literature and the visual arts, might seem to have little applicability to pure music. Nevertheless, Rand took music without words as a serious art form, and struggled to develop a plausible theory of music. As Torres and Kamhi note in What Art Is, Rand’s approach probably contradicted certain elements of her full aesthetic theory. But her theory of music and its relationship to emotions offers some fascinating suggestions that accord with — and in some respects go beyond — the best recent thinking in musical aesthetics.
REVIEWS
THE BENEFITS AND HAZARDS OF DIALECTICAL LIBERTARIANISM, pp. 395-448
Long reviews Total Freedom: Toward a Dialectical Libertarianism, the long-awaited final volume of Chris Matthew Sciabarra’s “Dialectics and Liberty” trilogy. Long finds Total Freedom to be an impressive scholarly achievement that makes a compelling case for the existence of, and the need to further promote, affinities between the seemingly disparate intellectual traditions of libertarianism and dialectics. However, Long argues that Sciabarra’s neglect of certain crucial distinctions vitiates to some extent his case for dialectics, his critique of Murray Rothbard’s anarchism, and his application of the Objectivist theory of abstraction to the problem of internal relations.
DISCUSSION
REPLY TO JOHNSON AND RASMUSSEN: ANOTHER LOOK AT ABORTION, pp. 449-56
Machan argues that Gregory R. Johnson and David Rasmussen (in “Rand on Abortion: A Critique,” Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Spring 2000) are mistaken to claim that Rand should have embraced the pro-life position on the issue of a woman’s right to seek an abortion. Rand believed that a fetus is only a potential, not an actual, human being. So killing a fetus is not homicide, any more than killing a seed would be the killing of a flower. Machan’s alternative view of abortion is within the spirit of Rand’s position, while escaping Johnson and Rasmussen’s criticisms.
REPLY TO JOHNSON AND RASMUSSEN: RAND THE MODERATE, pp. 457-67
Tabarrok argues that Gregory Johnson and David Rasmussen (in their essay, “Rand on Abortion: A Critique,” Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Spring 2000) misconstrue Rand’s theory of individual rights and her position on abortion. Rand’s views fit neatly within her Aristotelian philosophic framework. Moreover, Tabarrok defends Rand’s views on the family as reasonable and well within the feminist mainstream.
REJOINDER TO MACHAN AND TABARROK: RAND ON ABORTION, REVISITED, pp. 469-85
GREGORY R. JOHNSON and DAVID RASMUSSEN
The authors defend their critique of Ayn Rand’s views on abortion, arguing that their critics miss its main points. Tibor Machan and Alexander Tabarrok actually depart from Rand’s own position under the guise of defending it; they introduce a non-Randian distinction between being a human organism and being a moral person.
CONTRIBUTOR BIOGRAPHIES
Gene H. Bell-Villada is a Professor (and former Chair), Department of Romance Languages, Weston Hall, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts 01267. He has published essays, reviews, fiction, and satires in numerous journals, including The New York Times Book Review, The New Republic, In These Times, Monthly Review, Commonweal, Salmagundi, Triquarterly, and The Nation. His books on Borges and on García Marquez are now standard classroom items, and his Art for Art’s Sake and Literary Life was a finalist for the 1997 National Book Critics Circle Award. He has also published two books of fiction, The Carlos Chadwick Mystery and The Pianist Who Liked Ayn Rand: A Novella & 13 Stories.
Roger E. Bissell is a professional musician and graduate student in psychology at California Coast University. He is also a writer on psychology and philosophy. His work has appeared in a number of publications, including Reason Papers,Objectivity, Journal of Consciousness Studies, Vera Lex, and ART Ideas.
Randall R. Dipert is C. S. Peirce Professor of American Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260. He has published on aesthetics, the philosophy of mind, and logic, including Artifacts, Art Works, and Agency (1993).
John Enright is a poet and computer consultant. He has written and lectured on many aspects of the aesthetics of poetry. His essays have appeared in Objectivity, Full Context, Objectively Speaking and Nomos. He is the author of Starbound And Other Poems (Axton).
John Hospers is a Professor Emeritus (Department of Philosophy, University of Southern California), 8229 Lookout Mt. Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90046. He was a professor of philosophy at Brooklyn College in the early 1960s when he met Ayn Rand on the occasion of Rand’s speech at the college in the spring of 1960. She invited him to her home, and they had regular discussions for several years prior to his moving to California. He was Chair of the Philosophy Department at the University of Southern California for some years, and is now retired and living in Los Angeles. He has written more than a hundred articles, and his best-known books include Introduction to Philosophical Analysis and Human Conduct. He was the first candidate for U. S. President for the Libertarian Party (1972) and still gives talks to various groups, such as the International Society for Individual Liberty.
Lester H. Hunt is a Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 600 North Park Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706. He is the author of Nietzsche and the Origin of Virtue (Routledge) and Character and Culture (Rowman and Littlefield).
Gregory R. Johnson is a philosopher in private practice in Atlanta.
David Kelley is the Executive Director, The Objectivist Center, 11 Raymond Avenue, Suite 31, Poughkeepsie, New York 12603. He is the author of The Evidence of the Senses, The Art of Reasoning, A Life of One’s Own, and numerous other articles, monographs, and reviews. A new edition of hisTruth and Toleration, re-titled The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand: Truth and Toleration in the Objectivist Movement, has just been published by The Objectivist Center and Transaction Publishers.
Roderick T. Long is an Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, 6080 Haley Center, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849, A.B. Harvard 1985, Ph.D. Cornell 1992. He is the author of Reason and Value: Aristotle versus Rand (The Objectivist Center, 2000), and various articles on ethics, libertarianism, and Greek philosophy.
Tibor R. Machan is the Distinguished Fellow and Professor at the Leatherby Center of Chapman University, Argyros School of Business and Economics, Orange, California 92866. He is also Professor Emeritus at Auburn University’s Department of Philosophy and Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution (Stanford, California). He has written, among other works, Ayn Rand (Peter Lang, 1999), Generosity: Virtue in the Civil Society (Cato Institute, 1998), and Classical Individualism: The Supreme Importance of Each Human Being (Routledge, 1998). He is editor of the series “Philosophic Reflections on a Free Society” at the Hoover Institution Press.
Michael Newberry, Theophiliskou 5, 85100 Rhodes, Greece, is a painter who has exhibited his work throughout the world. He taught at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles and has given lectures on the creative process and form versus formlessness at The Objectivist Center’s Summer Seminars. In July 1999, he was featured in CNN International’s “The Art Club,” which had a worldwide audience.
David Rasmussen is an independent scholar living in Carson City, Nevada.
Jeff Riggenbach is the author of In Praise of Decadence (Prometheus, 1998). He has been a working critic of the arts (most notably of literature, music, and film) since 1972, publishing widely in newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News, Berkeley Monthly, Libertarian Review, Reason, and Inquiry. From 1996 to 2000, he taught courses in philosophy, music appreciation, popular culture, and writing at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco.
Alexander Tabarrok is the Vice President and Director of Research, The Independent Institute, 100 Swan Way, Oakland, California 94621-1428. He received his Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University. He has taught economics at the University of Virginia and Ball State University. His papers have appeared in The Journal of Law and Economics, Public Choice, Economic Inquiry, The Journal of Health Economics, The Journal of Theoretical Politics, and many other academic journals. In addition, he has contributed opinion-editorial pieces to magazines and newspapers across the United States.
Barry Vacker is an Assistant Professor, Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275. He is the author of many articles on aesthetics and technology. His forthcoming book, Chaos at the Edge of Utopia, offers a radical reinterpretation of the aesthetics and technologies of utopia, past and future.
The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies 