Thoughts on Research...

I stumbled upon this article while researching The Fountainhead the other day, and I thought it provided a couple really savvy insights into social response to Ayn Rand's philosophies and works. Among other things, the author talks about Rand's totalist mentality as a source of friction between her supporters and her detractors, and that's an idea that I've been toying with recently in my study of online interactions between Rand's friends and foes. It's been really interesting seeing the dynamics of social involvement in Objectivism, and I am wondering if I might be better off doing my research paper on just that (though it would likely distance me from the actual primary text to some extent). In any case, check out the article! If nothing else, it provides a good overview of Rand's influence and place in modern society.

And, just as some food for thought, an idea taken from Rand's "Man's Rights":

There is only one fundamental right (all the others are its consequences or corollaries): a man’s right to his own life. Life is a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action; the right to life means the right to engage in self-sustaining and self-generated action—which means: the freedom to take all the actions required by the nature of a rational being for the support, the furtherance, the fulfillment and the enjoyment of his own life. (Such is the meaning of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.) . . .