jbgotmar

280
More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.com
EPILOGUE: AYN RAND IN AMERICAN MEMORY
The news that Rand and Nathaniel Branden had been lovers stunned
the broader Objectivist community. Many of Rand’s fans had unquestioningly
taken her side and had been content to let lie the mystery of
Nathan’s depredations. Upon learning the truth, one defender of Rand
recounted a deep sense of betrayal: “and all those years I had thought
Frank was a model for Francisco. My blood literally ran cold at the extent
of Rand’s deceit.” 2 To those who had known Rand intimately or seen her
attack questioners at an NBI lecture, the revelations of her personal failings
were less shocking. But to the outside world Rand emerged a deeply
unsavory fi gure, manipulative, controlling, self-deceived, and wildly
emotional despite her professed rationality. This impression was further
reinforced when Barbara Branden’s memoir was transformed into an
HBO television movie starring Helen Mirren and Eric Stolz. Complete
with scenes of a mink-clad Ayn making furtive love to Nathan in her
foyer, the movie destroyed the vaunted image of Rand as an intellectual
paragon who lived by rationality alone.
Barbara Branden’s memoir also precipitated another great schism
across Objectivist ranks. After Rand’s death a small but active orthodox
Objectivist community had emerged, led by Leonard Peikoff, who
inherited Rand’s estate and whom she publicly proclaimed her “intellectual
heir.” In 1985 Peikoff institutionalized the orthodox approach by
creating the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI), a nonprofi t dedicated to spreading
Objectivism. Peikoff and the other philosophy students who had
clustered around Rand in her fi nal years combined their Objectivist
studies with work in academic philosophy departments, giving them
the grasp of contemporary philosophical discourse that Rand had so
sorely lacked. This network bore fruit in 1988 with the publication of
David Kelley’s The Evidence of the Senses. One of Objectivism’s rising
young stars, Kelley had a doctorate in philosophy from Princeton, where
he studied under the eminent pragmatist philosopher Richard Rorty.
Opening with a tribute to Ayn Rand, Kelley’s book presented a philosophically
rigorous defense of her approach. Educated in a top-ranked
philosophy department and by a mentor who stood in opposition to all
Rand taught, Kelley was the fi rst Objectivist philosopher to grapple seriously
with opposing points of view rather than dispensing with them in
the loaded language that Rand typically employed. As such his volume
opened a new range of possibilities for Rand’s presence within contemporary
philosophy. 3
Fore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.com