Metaethics, egoism, and virtue : studies in Ayn Rand's normative theory / Allan Gotthelf, editor ; James G. Lennox, associate editor.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Gotthelf, Allan, 1942-2013, editor.

Lennox, James G., editor.

Series:

Ayn Rand Society philosophical studies.

Ayn Rand Society philosophical studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Normativity (Ethics).

Egoism.

Virtue.

Rand, Ayn.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (201 pages).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : University of Pittsburgh Press, [2011]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Philosopher-novelist Ayn Rand (1905-1982) is a cultural phenomenon. Her books have sold more than twenty-five million copies, and countless individuals speak of her writings as having significantly influenced their lives. In spite of the popular interest in her ideas, or perhaps because of it, Rand's work has, until recently, received little serious attention from academics. Though best known among philosophers for her strong support of egoism in ethics and capitalism in politics, there is an increasingly widespread awareness of both the range and the systematic character of Rand's philosophic thought. Metaethics, Egoism, and Virtue examines central aspects of Ayn Rand's ethical theory. Though her endorsement of ethical egoism is well known-one of her most familiar essay collections is The Virtue of Selfishness-the character of her egoism is not. Leading Rand scholars and specialists in ethical theory address issues such as: the basis of Rand's egoism in a virtue-centered normative ethics; her account of how moral norms in general are themselves based on a fundamental choice by an agent to value his own life; and how her own approach to the foundations of ethics is to be compared and contrasted with familiar approaches in the analytic ethical tradition. Philosophers interested in the objectivity of value, in the way ethical theory is (and is not) virtue-based, and in acquiring a serious understanding of an egoistic moral theory worthy of attention will find much to consider here. Metaethics, Egoism, and Virtue is the first of a new series, developed in conjunction with the Ayn Rand Society, to offer a fuller scholarly understanding of this highly original and influential thinker. The Ayn Rand Society, an affiliated group of the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, seeks to foster scholarly study by philosophers of the philosophical thought and writings of Ayn Rand.

Contents:

Reasoning about ends : life as a value in Ayn Rand's ethics / Darryl Wright

The choice to value / Allan Gotthelf

The foundations of the ethics : objectivism and analytic philosophy / Irfan Khawaja

Egoism and eudaimonism : replies to Khawaja / Paul Bloomfield

Nietzsche and Rand as virtuous egoists / Christine Swanton

Virtue and sacrifice : response to Swanton / Darryl Wright

Rational selves, friends, and the social virtues / Helen Cullyer

Egoistic relations with others : response to Cullyer / Tara Smith

Virtuous egoism and virtuous altruism / Christine Swanton

On altruism, and on the role of virtues in Rand's egoism : response to Swanton / Tara Smith

What is included in virtue? / Lester H. Hunt

The primacy of action in virtue : response to Hunt / Tara Smith.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (pages 167-173) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780822977599

0822977591

OCLC:

794700639