Atlas Shrugged
/I finished Atlas Shrugged in the British Library. I really like the book & the ending. The political fog is lifted and the opposing viewpoint labeled and rationally, logically explored. The kernel of Objectivism- “My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”-Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged. The book is definitely worth a read, if nothing else read John Galt’s fifty page speech, because of the way Ayn Rand frames and argues the point of alturism and working for your own happiness. One clever side note, Ayn Rand argues that reality is real, exists, and affects us; our senses do not deceive us. These points were discussed in my philosophy course, Locke: Appearance and Reality. Some philosophers argue that we cannot know anything, or that the world is a creation of our mind. This line of thinking reminds me of the lady who died trying to live on sunshine (Darwin Award anyone?). But the book is a great read, the fictional story helps lighten the load of the dense philosophy. While reading it I could clearly see many parallels to news stories or the way politicians were acting, rationally exposing their motives and goals.
