I’m not sure if readers here are familiar with Cato Unbound so here is a short synopsis from their about page:
Each month, Cato Unbound will present an essay on a big-picture topic by one of the world’s leading thinkers. The ideas in that essay will then be tested by the comments and criticism of equally eminent thinkers, each of whom will respond to the month’s lead essay and then to one another. The idea is to create a hub for wide-ranging, open-ended conversation, where ideas will be advanced, challenged, and refined in public view.
I’m by no means one of the world’s leading thinkers. I’m a simple guy. One of the great unwashed. Nevertheless Cato has invited everybody to take up their themes and enter into the discussion on our own websites. I think maybe the everyday man has their own philosophical approach that is just as important that of the great thinkers. After all, the everyday man in the United States carries just as much weight at the ballot box.
What’s Living and Dead in Ayn Rand’s Moral and Political Thought?
Ayn Rand has been dead for 27 years, but the influence of the iconoclastic novelist and philosopher shows no sign of flagging. With the publication of two new major books about Ayn Rand (Ayn Rand and the World She Made by Anne C. Heller and Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right by Jennifer Burns) and an upsurge in public interest in her thought (witness the sales figures of her novels and the signs of “Tea Party” protesters threatening to “Go Galt”) the American public is evidently as excited as ever about Ayn Rand. The time would seem ripe, then, for a reappraisal of her ideas. However, Rand is a polarizing figure and discussions of her thought tend to be either unduly fawning or ignorantly contemptuous. In this edition of Cato Unbound we aim to fill some of the vast middle ground between these extremes with a probing, critical discussion of Rand’s moral and political thought by philosophers familiar with, and perhaps influenced by, Rand’s philosophy. What accounts for Rand’s ongoing appeal? Are her argument for ethical egoism defensible? Does a social order based on individual rights, limited government, and free markets require, as Rand argued, a fundamental reshaping our of our culture’s moral assumptions? What, if anything, should we take into the future from Rand’s moral and political thought, and what, if anything, should we leave behind?
The lead essay this month by Douglas B. Rasmussen is entitled Why Ayn Rand? Answers and Some Questions For Discussion. Take moment to read the essay and give it some thought.
I’m starting with Cato Unbound late in the game this month so the response will be rather limited in scope. Next month I’ll get started early and try to explore the topic presented a little more thoroughly.
On a side note, I think the quote at the end of the About page at Cato is interesting.
“Protection . . . against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough,” wrote John Stuart Mill; “there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling.”
It seems to me that it is more important for the average citizen, such as myself, to challenge the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling than the tyranny of the magistrate. If we don’t do our part and explore and challenge conventional wisdom including our own preconceptions of the issues (as Cato challenges us to do shortly after this quote) then why worry with the tyranny of the magistrate. He’s probably the source, or at least the product, of the prevailing wisdom.
To challenge the prevailing opinion without challenging your own preconceived notions seems to me like an exercise in justifying your own prejudices by selectively choosing your facts, not an actual search for the truth.
