Abstract/Summary

This book will offer the first, sustained academic critique of the work of Ayn Rand. Rand’s texts are often dismissed out of hand by those hostile to the ideology promoted within them. This book argues, instead, that considering the influence this work exerts on the present cultural and economic climate, there is a pressing need for it to be taken seriously and analysed in detail. . Rand’s worldview does not tolerate uncertainty, relying as it does upon a notion of truth untroubled by doubt. In contrast, the contributors to this volume argue that any progressive response to Rand should resist the dubious comforts of a position of ethical or aesthetic purity, even as it challenges the individualistic ideology of ‘selfishness’ promoted within her philosophy. This critique is achieved through chapters that engage the diversity of Rand’s interests and influences, from Psychoanalysis to The Gold Standard; from Hannah Arendt to Spiderman.