Summer Reading

I am once again looking forward to summer reading and discussions with Duane, mein freund und lehrer auf Ephrata. Last summer we took on The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. I think he also read a few of McLaren's books I loaned him, discussion forthcoming. This summer we are going to tackle Ayn Rand and her objectivist philosophy.

What are the essentials of objectivism, you ask? Here is Ayn Rand in her own words:

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 was once asked if she could present the essence of Objectivism while standing on one foot. Her answer was:

1. Metaphysics: Objective Reality
2. Epistemology: Reason
3. Ethics: Self-interest
4. Politics: Capitalism

As a Christian, I am looking forward to engaging this humanist vision...this exalted vision of man as an end in himself. Roark's enterprise, philosophy and vision is that of deconstructing the alternate visions of religion and secular humanism. In her own words, "It is this highest level of emotions that has to be redeemed from the murk of mysticism and redirected at its proper object: man. It is in this sense, with this meaning and intention, that I would identify the sense of life dramatized in The Fountainhead as man-worship.

Anybody else interested in engaging Rand as a conversation partner?

We could form a book club...