Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand

Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (1991) by Leonard Peikoff is the first systematic, comprehensive presentation of Objectivism as a philosophy. Rand herself never wrote one: her non-fiction was published as essays addressed to particular questions, and her systematic statement of the philosophy is Galt's speech in Atlas Shrugged. This book supplies the missing treatise, and is usually abbreviated OPAR.

“Philosophy is not a bauble of the intellect, but a power from which no man can abstain.”
~ Leonard Peikoff, Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand

Where the book comes from

Peikoff was Rand's closest philosophical associate for three decades and the person she named as her intellectual heir. The book grew out of his 1976 lecture course "The Philosophy of Objectivism", which Rand attended and in which she took part in the question periods. She endorsed the course as an accurate presentation of her philosophy; she died in 1982, nine years before the book itself appeared.

The distinction matters for how the book is cited. Rand's own writing is the primary source for Objectivism. OPAR is Peikoff's presentation of it — authoritative in a way no other secondary work is, but written after her death and not reviewed by her in book form.

Structure: the hierarchy is the argument

The chapters are ordered by logical hierarchy rather than by topic, so that each rests only on what came before. This is itself a claim about philosophy — that a conclusion in ethics cannot be established without the epistemology it depends on, and that epistemology cannot be established without metaphysics.

Reality — the axioms, causality, the primacy of existence, the metaphysically given
Sense Perception and Volition — the validity of the senses, free will
Concept-Formation — measurement omission, abstraction, definitions
Objectivity — objectivity, the analytic-synthetic dichotomy
Reason — logic, proof, certainty, the arbitrary
Man — human nature, emotions, the mind-body relationship
The Good — life as the standard of value, egoism
Virtue — the seven virtues, and the trader principle
Happiness — happiness, self-esteem, sex, love
Government — rights, the initiation of force, the proper functions of the state
Capitalism — capitalism as the political expression of the preceding chapters
Art — the Objectivist aesthetics

How this wiki cites it

Articles here cite OPAR by chapter rather than by page, because the Dutton hardcover and Meridian paperback differ in pagination and a page number no reader can check is a provenance failure. "Peikoff, Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, chapter 8" is checkable in any edition.

Common misunderstandings

That it is Rand's own book. It is Peikoff's. Where a question turns on precisely what Rand held, the primary sources are The Virtue of Selfishness, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology and the novels.
That it is a good first book. Most readers find it hard going as an introduction. It presumes an interest already formed by the fiction and rewards a second pass more than a first.
That disagreement with OPAR is disagreement with Objectivism. Some of the book's positions — particularly on the arbitrary and on moral judgment — have been argued over within Objectivist circles since publication. The wiki treats it as authoritative without treating it as beyond discussion.
That "the philosophy of Ayn Rand" means a biography. The book contains almost no biographical material. It is a philosophical treatise.

Discussion

References

Peikoff, Leonard. Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. Dutton, 1991. ISBN 0-452-01101-9 (Meridian paperback).
Peikoff, Leonard. "The Philosophy of Objectivism" lecture course, 1976 — the material the book was built from.

External links

Leonard Peikoff's website