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BIG SISTER IS WATCHING YOU 187
ability, yet acknowledged Rand as his equal, perhaps even his superior:
“The combination of intellectual vigor and native logical acuity which
you possess are truly awesome. It is academic philosophy’s loss that you
did not choose this as the fi eld of your concentration.” 37 He went on to
express disagreement with Rand’s political and economic position, noting
that her arguments were thought-provoking, if not convincing.
Lean also touched on what he called “communication diffi culties.”
Some of their disagreement, he thought, stemmed “from the fact
that certain words and statements have a customary technical meaning
among contemporary professional philosophers that differs from
the historical use.” Rand and he had different understandings of such
terms as “volition” and “volitionality,” he noted. Lean also suggested that
Peikoff had mischaracterized Wittgenstein and other linguistic philosophers
and offered to make a formal presentation to clear up the confusion.
Throughout 1961 Lean and Rand corresponded occasionally and
had at least one more meeting of their “small discussion group.” Lean
declined an invitation to attend the opening of an NBI lecture series but
did deliver the promised presentation of Wittgenstein in a session that
proved to be, in Rand’s words, “indecisive.” 38
As Lean noticed, it was undoubtedly true that Rand had her own
unique defi nitions for common philosophical terms. In a designation
that must have shocked Rand, he even joked that he was “not as much of
a Kantian” as Rand. 39 Instead of believing all questions could be resolved
by fact and deductive logic, a position he attributed to Kant, Lean suggested
that subjective factors might play a role. Hospers had the same
experience with Rand: “I had to be careful that she not misinterpret or
oversimplify what a philosopher was saying; she was so ‘out of the loop’
of the give-and-take of contemporary philosophers that she found even
the basics to be elusive.” 40 If she truly wanted to make an impact on the
fi eld, Hospers told her, she should publish in an academic journal and
respond to her critics; a dialogue would start, and she would be on her
way. But the normal push and pull of academic life was alien to Rand.
Her friendship with Hospers ended dramatically when he invited her
to present at the 1962 American Aesthetics Association meeting, held at
Harvard University. Rand must have felt she was fi nally getting her due,
speaking to Ivy League philosophers as an equal. But after her presentation
Hospers took the fl oor and made a critical commentary on her
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