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WHO IS JOHN GALT? 1957–1968
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with, as with the route by which we got there: no circularity of reasoning,
no begging the question, no smuggling in a premise under another
name, and so on.” 35 Rand helped him clarify his political views, moving
him to a libertarian position.
Rand’s attack on modern philosophy was inspired by Leonard
Peikoff, who for years had been telling her it was still the age of “prereason.”
This was not a message she wanted to hear while toiling on
her rationalist novel. After its publication, however, Peikoff seemed to
have a point. He identifi ed Kant as the source of all error in modern
thought, an opinion Isabel Paterson had also held. To Peikoff, Kant’s
argument that the means of perception structured humans’ sense of
reality undermined objective reality, reason, and all absolutes. Kant’s
ideas had opened the philosophical gates to destructive ideas like relativism
and existentialism, which created the poisonous atmosphere that
greeted Atlas Shrugged. Rand began to listen more seriously to Peikoff’s
opinions about philosophy.
In a pivotal conversation, Peikoff argued that she had a signifi cant
contribution to make. He told her that no philosopher had claimed her
rendering of “existence is identity,” an idea she considered a self-evident
update of Aristotle. The deciding factor was her meeting with Hospers.
Conversations with him convinced Rand that there were indeed enormous
holes in the contemporary approach to philosophy. She decided
that her ideas about the proper approach to universals and concept formation
were new and valuable. If she were to work them out systemically
she could prove “why conceptual knowledge can be as absolute
as perceptual evidence.” She had the feeling of “taking on a big assignment.”
Imagining herself as an intellectual detective, chasing down the
logical errors and frauds perpetrated over the ages, she became increasingly
interested in meeting professional philosophers. 36
Hospers scheduled a meeting with Rand that included Martin Lean,
a Wittgenstein expert and chair of the Philosophy Department at
Brooklyn College. It was a rowdy session, with Rand even calling Lean
a “shyster” when he made a favorable comment about the USSR. Lean
enjoyed their combat immensely, telling Rand afterward in a lengthy letter,
“For my part I cannot recall having argued with anyone as intellectually
dynamic, challenging, and skilled as you since my . . . Fulbright year
at Oxford.” He admitted to some pretensions about his own dialectical
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