|9780822967835|Aristotle and Ayn Rand|“If there is a philosophical Atlas who carries the whole of Western civilization on his shoulders,” Ayn Rand wrote, “it is Aristotle. He has been opposed, misinterpreted, misrepresented, and—like an axiom—used by his enemies in the very act of denying him. Whatever intellectual progress men have achieved rests on his achievements.” Such tributes to Aristotle in Rand’s writing have led many readers to study his works. And a number of these, including some of the contributors to this volume, would go on to become scholars of both Aristotle and Rand. It is fitting, then, that there should…

|9780822948698|Aristotle and Ayn Rand|“If there is a philosophical Atlas who carries the whole of Western civilization on his shoulders,” Ayn Rand wrote, “it is Aristotle. He has been opposed, misinterpreted, misrepresented, and—like an axiom—used by his enemies in the very act of denying him. Whatever intellectual progress men have achieved rests on his achievements.” Such tributes to Aristotle in Rand’s writing have led many readers to study his works. And a number of these, including some of the contributors to this volume, would go on to become scholars of both Aristotle and Rand. It is fitting, then, that there should…

|9780822948193|The Moral Psychology of Ayn Rand’s Ethics|Ayn Rand controversially defended rational egoism, the idea that people should regard their own happiness as their highest goal. Given that numerous scholars in philosophy and psychology alike are examining the nature of human flourishing and an ethics of well-being, the time is ripe for a close examination of Rand’s theory. Egoism without Permission illuminates Rand’s thinking about how to practice egoism by exploring some of its crucial psychological dimensions. Tara Smith examines the dynamics among four partially subconscious factors in an individual’s well-being: a person’s foundational motivation for being concerned with morality; their…

|9780822960263| The role of science in policymaking has gained unprecedented stature in the United States, raising questions about the place of science and scientific expertise in the democratic process. Some scientists have been given considerable epistemic authority in shaping policy on issues of great moral and cultural significance, and the politicizing of these issues has become highly contentious. Since World War II, most philosophers of science have purported the concept that science should be “value-free.” In Science, Policy and the Value-Free Ideal, Heather E. Douglas argues that such an ideal is neither adequate nor desirable for science. She contends that…

|9780822961192|The Moral Status of Animals in the History of Western Philosophy|Anthropocentrism and Its Discontents is the first-ever comprehensive examination of views of animals in the history of Western philosophy, from Homeric Greece to the twentieth century.In recent decades, increased interest in this area has been accompanied by scholarsÆ willingness to conceive of animal experience in terms of human mental capacities: consciousness, self-awareness, intention, deliberation, and in some instances, at least limited moral agency. This conception has been facilitated by a shift from behavioral to cognitive ethology (the science of animal behavior), and by attempts to affirm the essential similarities between…