The Objectivist

1966 – 71

Overview

Ayn Rand’s lifelong passion for philosophy was rooted in her conviction that philosophy is the basic force shaping each of our lives and human history. After Atlas Shrugged, she turned to writing nonfiction, both to elaborate on the philosophy set forth in her novels and to use her philosophy, which she named Objectivism, to explain crucial cultural events and fight the negative trends she observed.

From 1962 until 1976, she published and wrote for three successive periodicals: The Objectivist NewsletterThe Objectivist and The Ayn Rand Letter.

Many of her most significant essays — later collected into books such as The Virtue of Selfishness and Philosophy: Who Needs It — were first published in her periodicals.

The Objectivist magazine was published from January 1966 to September 1971 (when it was replaced by a biweekly newsletter: The Ayn Rand Letter.) This 1120-page volume reproduces the entire contents of each issue.

Themes

Some of Rand’s most important philosophical works first appeared in her periodicals. Her monograph Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, for instance, which presents her groundbreaking theory of concepts, was first published in eight installments in The Objectivist (in the July 1966 through February 1967 issues).

The work is an “introduction” to Rand’s theory of knowledge because it focuses on one central issue in epistemology — the nature and validity of concepts — but not other issues such as the validity of the senses or the role of logic in human cognition. (These and other epistemological issues are treated in detail in Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff.)

Aficionados of Rand’s ideas will find it fascinating to see this technical work as it appears in the monthly installments of Rand’s magazine, and how she makes use of her theory, such as in the essays on the philosophy of art.

Extras

IN RAND’S WORDS

Our Cultural Value-Deprivation

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