View source for Philosophy:The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand

{{short description|1984 book edited by Douglas Den Uyl and Douglas B. Rasmussen}}
{{Infobox book
| name          = The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand
| image         = File:The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand, first edition.jpg
| caption       = Cover of the first edition
| editors       = {{ubl | Douglas Den Uyl | Douglas B. Rasmussen}}
| cover_artist  = 
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| subjects      = {{hlist | [[Biography:Ayn Rand|Ayn Rand]] | [[Philosophy:Objectivism|Objectivism]]}}
| pub_date      = 1984
| publisher     = University of Illinois Press
| media_type    = {{nowrap|Print (hardcover{{·}}paperback)}}
| pages         = 284
| isbn          = 978-0-252-01407-9
}}
'''''The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand''''' is a 1984 collection of essays on [[Biography:Ayn Rand|Ayn Rand]]'s philosophy of [[Philosophy:Objectivism|Objectivism]], edited by Douglas Den Uyl and Douglas B. Rasmussen.<ref>[http://lccn.loc.gov/83005844 ''The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand'' at the Library of Congress]</ref> It includes essays by nine different authors covering Rand's views in various areas of philosophy. The work received positive reviews, crediting it with bringing serious attention by philosophers to Rand and her work. However, reviewers also noted that the work assumed considerable prior knowledge of philosophy on the part of the reader.

==Contents==
The book is divided into three sections that represent different areas of philosophy addressed in Rand's thought. Each section starts with an essay by Den Uyl and Rasmussen, followed by essays from other contributors. The first section covers [[Philosophy:Metaphysics|metaphysics]] and [[Philosophy:Epistemology|epistemology]]. It includes essays by [[Biography:Wallace Matson|Wallace Matson]] and Robert Hollinger. The second section covers [[Philosophy:Ethics|ethics]] and contains essays by Jack Wheeler, Charles King, and Erick Mack. The final section covers [[Philosophy:Political philosophy|political philosophy]] and has essays by [[Biography:Antony Flew|Antony Flew]] and Tibor R. Machan.

==Publication history==
Den Uyl and Rassmussen began work on the book while Rand was still alive. When she heard about the project, she actively discouraged it, as she had done previously with other projects. Rand died in 1982, and work on the book proceeded despite her disapproval.<ref>{{cite journal |last=McLemee |first=Scott |url=http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/9909/rand.html |title=The Heirs Of Ayn Rand: Has Objectivism Gone Subjective? |journal=Lingua Franca |date=September 1999 |volume=9 |issue=6 |pages=45–55}}</ref>

''The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand'' was first published by as a hardcover book by the University of Illinois Press in 1984. They released it as a paperback in 1986.<ref>{{cite book |title=Formats and Editions of The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand |publisher=[[WorldCat]] |oclc = 9392804}}</ref>

==Reception==
Sidney Gendin gave ''The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand'' a positive review in ''Library Journal'', writing that the work redressed the neglect of Rand's work by academic philosophers, avoided being uncritical of Rand, and revealed interesting parallels between Rand and writers such as [[Biography:Gilbert Ryle|Gilbert Ryle]] and [[Biography:J. L. Austin|J. L. Austin]]. However, he noted that the book assumed that the reader had "considerable background in general philosophy".<ref>{{cite journal |first=Sidney |last=Gendin |title=The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand (Book) |journal=Library Journal |date=January 1984 |volume=109 |issue=1 |page=96}} {{subscription needed|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}</ref> A review in ''The Freeman'' praised the book as "a valuable beginning by serious philosophers at the important task of evaluating, describing, and developing Rand's philosophy, in a dispassionate, objective manner."<ref>{{cite journal |first=Howard |last=Baetjer, Jr. |title=Book Reviews: ''The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand'' |journal=The Freeman |date=November 1984 |volume=43 |issue=11 |url=http://fee.org/freeman/detail/book-review-the-philosophic-thought-of-ayn-rand-edited-by-douglas-j-den-uyl-and-douglas-b-rasmussen |page=703}}</ref>

In ''Reason'', the philosopher [[Biography:Randall Dipert|Randall Dipert]] wrote that the book "marks a turning point" in getting professional philosophers engaged with Rand's ideas, but was not "uniformly successful".<ref>{{cite journal |first=Randall |last=Dipert |title=Taking Ayn Rand Seriously |journal=Reason |date=January 1985 |volume=16 |issue=8 |pages=58–62}}</ref> Rand scholar Mimi Reisel Gladstein described it as "a major contribution to Rand scholarship", although not always approachable for readers not versed in academic philosophy.<ref>{{cite book |title=The New Ayn Rand Companion |last=Gladstein |first=Mimi Reisel |location=Westport, Connecticut |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1999 |isbn=0-313-30321-5 |oclc=40359365 |pages=101–102}}</ref> In 2003, Chris Matthew Sciabarra identified ''The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand'' as one of several books that reflected a growing interest in Rand after her death.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Chris Matthew |last=Sciabarra |title=Recent Work |journal=Philosophical Books |date=January 2003 |volume=44 |issue=1 |page=42|doi=10.1111/1468-0149.00280 }} {{subscription needed|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* "[http://www.reasonpapers.com/pdf/10/rp_10_7.pdf The Randian Argument Reconsidered: A Reply to Charles King]", a paper by Paul St. F. Blair responding to King's essay in this volume


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