A review by tincan6
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

0.25

This book is about genius CEOs and inventors (heroes) and the government/people (villains) being a drain on the heroes. Some of the heroes of the series wish to form their own utopia where they invented a ton of magic technology that could solve all the world's problems, they just never could before because all the government regulations held them back. Other of the heroes wish to help everyone but are incompetently stopped every step of the way by government officials. This premise is laughable and over-the-top. 

I read this book primarily as a work of philosophy to understand Rand's perspective. Given her actual work of philosophy is primarily a polemical work going through the history of western philosophy showing an extreme lack of reading comprehension, there's not too much to expect here. While Rand's works could be a good philosophy introduction for the young, her reprehensible views make it very hard to recommend.

Rand seems to support in this book a form of Virtue Ethics in which society should be set up so those who are superior and industrious are allowed to do what they wish in the American capitalist system with no regulation by the governmen (being kept down by their inferiors). Along with this comes a form of capitalist apologism, where what almost everyone takes to be the negatives of capitalism she takes to be good. She views selfishness (and other things along with it like greed) to be good, and generosity to be bad. The only philosopher Rand ever liked was Aristotle, and what Aristotle would have to say about her work is she is a vicious person and completely lacking in the virtues of generosity and magnanimity. This means she has vices which make her view bad things as the correct thing to do, part of Aristotle's psychological view that our habits form our moral character and if one is entrenched in bad habits related to a vice, their view becomes warped where they are unable to gauge right from wrong in relation to that vice. As explored in Origin of Greek Thought by Jean-Pierre Vernant, ancient Greek philosophy was heavily influenced by the politics of its time. The Polis system promoted viewing other citizens in your city-state as extended family you must be loyal to. While Aristotle puts individuals and their virtue first in his Nicomachean Ethics, he puts forward virtues that promote a harmony in the Polis. Rand's political influence meanwhile is reactionary, seeing Soviet problems and American capitalism, she promotes a black and white love of capitalism as solution to all problems where anything that seems like Soviet system is evil and anything that seems American is good. 

Epicureans promoted an often selfish worldview of hedonism, but they prized friendship and virtues which came with it. Among philosophers like Xunzi who viewed humans as inherently evil, he saw selfishness as something to overcome. Her views are the egoism of sociopath CEOs, they work together  to get their own ends, but there is no warmth or true friendship involved even among those with the same goals as them.