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From: mike@hpfclp.UUCP (mike)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Re: Orphaned Response
Message-ID: <4500023@hpfclp.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 10-Jul-85 19:28:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: hpfclp.4500023
Posted: Wed Jul 10 19:28:00 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 20-Jul-85 01:22:08 EDT
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Nf-From: hpfclp!mike    Jul 10 15:28:00 1985

>  Question: Does anyone know why her "philosophy" is called Objectivism?

Rand called her philosophy  Objectivism  because of her conviction  that
reality is objective,  and that concepts,  those  metaphysical  building
blocks  that   compose  all  of  man's   knowledge,   are  derived  from
observations of reality  (percepts), and the  integrations  performed by
man's   conceptual   faculty.  Rand  regarded   concept-formation   (the
identification  of new  knowledge)  as a  strictly  rational,  objective
process not to be tainted by whim,  desire, or  emotion.  Further,  Rand
believed that all moral, ethical, and political  values could be deduced
and  tested  based  on the  existence  of  objective  definitions  (i.e,
definitions  in  accordance  with  reality).  One of  her  later  books,
"INTRODUCTION TO OBJECTIVEST  EPISTEMOLOGY",  explains how knowledge and
truth is  identified  and  validated  by using  axiomatic  concepts  and
non-contradictory reasoning.

Michael Bishop
hplabs!hpfcla!mike-b