Ayn Rand Scholar List

What This AR Scholars List Is and How to Use It

This Ayn Rand Scholar’s list cites the information of all prominent intellectuals who have studied Ayn Rand: Objectivist Intellectuals (58); Independent Intellectuals (1); Non-Objectivist Intellectuals (151); and Feminists (19).

Accordingly, this list not only references the names, affiliations, and contact information, of 229 AR scholars, but it also lists what books & articles they have written, what subject areas they focus on, their dissertation, or thesis, abstracts, their background biographies, together with where they have taught, what awards they have earned, what they are working on now, what they will work on in the future, and more.

Why this 4-Section AR Scholar List is Color-Coded

The 4 sections of this scholar’s list are color-coded, with Objectivist Intellectuals, in green-and-white, an Independent Philosopher, in blue-and-white, Non-Objectivist Academics in cyan-and-white, and Feminists, in pink-and-white. Each section is headed by a key, so readers see what column represents what information. Each grid section is also separated by a space, to show readers, that some scholars, and classes of scholars, do not belong together. Accordingly, these distinct sections identify what philosophers belong to what ideology, so pupils study the correct person, who is relevant to their research, and do not study the wrong person, irrelevant to their research. So students only analyze intellectually honest, principled scholars, whose study aligns with their area of interest.

Study Ayn Rand First

The best way to understand AR’s philosophy is to read what she wrote about it – to listen to what she says about it – before exploring what other people, think about her. For AR’s analysis of her own books & philosophy, is more accurate than what other people say about it. Including me. Because she gave birth to it all. Because she is the primary being, the root-source, the main-spring, the first-cause, the creative life-giver, of Objectivism. So, what AR writes about her own ideas, should receive priority in your minds. Since AR knows her books and philosophy better than anyone else thinks they do. Including me. So, don’t just listen to what other people say about AR. Go directly to the source yourself. Go straight to Ayn Rand herself to learn what she means. For AR spent her last 25 years explaining to us precisely what her books express. So future generations understand her books accurately. So, do not just unthinkingly believe what other people say about AR, no matter who they are, what knowledge they have, or what credentials they possess. Instead, learn for yourself, what her ideas mean, by reading her fiction-and-nonfiction.

Study Bernstein Next

If either you are a young person, who is just learning about Ayn Rand, or an older person who is new to her philosophy, please read Bernstein’s Ayn Rand for Beginners. It is a short, simple, graphic paperback, that high-schoolers – with a basic education – and adults – new to AR – can use and understand. Since, it directly discusses the themes and ideas of AR’s novels (The Fountainhead & Atlas Shrugged) in a straightforward, simple way. It also explains, in level-appropriate terms, what Objectivism is, how AR created it, what the deeper theories of Objectivism are, and how Objectivism applies to today’s real world—both morally, in terms of principle, and practically, in terms of action. By reading this simple book, you’ll learn who Ayn Rand was, what her fiction means, why she created Objectivism, and what today’s Objectivist movement represents.

After reading Ayn Rand for Beginners, please supplement your basic understanding of her works by reading Bernstein’s CliffNotes. They are easy-to-understand, lucid primers that define difficult terms, condense AR’s novels, organize her characters succinctly, have brief essays that people can easily follow, and analyzes AR’s fiction, in simple ways appropriate for young people, or new readers, who know little about her books. So that young-and-old learners alike can understand what AR’s books mean before focusing on a specific element of her fiction.

Because even though philosophers, intellectuals, scholars, professors, teachers, academics, and graduate students, try hard to convey accurate AR analysis to you, sometimes, we make mistakes. I certainly do. Everybody does. And, if someone is always perfect, they are not human, they are a Greek Pagan God. So even though Bernstein makes honest errors, once in a while (we all do) he is still the world’s best literary critic of AR’s novels. Since he is right about AR’s fiction, 95 percent of the time. I know because I have fact-checked his statements, by matching what he says, to the raw data, of AR’s books, thus, confirming, to myself, that Bernstein’s analysis is highly intelligent, often brilliant, sometimes genius, but not always perfect.

Further, Bernstein qualifies to teach AR because he studied under her. Because AR mentored him, to be her helper. So, he really knows what he is talking about.

Also, although Bernstein is not as great a genius as Ayn Rand was, he is definitely a lesser genius, or more accurately, a virtuoso.

Since, Bernstein’s analysis illuminates AR’s books from a valuable perspective. By showing us how AR’s ideas can enhance our own lives. Why, in effect, we should care? Ergo, Bernstein is a prodigy precisely because he tells people, in the context of AR’s books, how to form their goals, how to want things, what to do to get them, and how to make themselves happy. And, since we all want to be happy, an author, who tells us, how to achieve our own joy, here on earth, in real life, in the real world, should be studied.

Since Bernstein tells us how to live a better life, many of his essays have appeared in the Objectivist Standard, for which he is a contributing editor. This is also why he was selected “Teacher of the Year” at Marymount College, earned an “Outstanding Teacher” award from Clemson, earned a Philosophy PhD, from C.U.N.Y., lectured at Harvard, Stanford, the University of Chicago, and Yale.

Why he has spoken on hundreds of radio shows, and has appeared on several prominent TV news shows, including Neil Cavuto’s. This is why he wrote op-eds for Forbes, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press. Because what he writes and says shows people how to achieve a joyous life by living out our lives, according to who they are as people.

I also direct you to Bernstein because he writes about AR’s books—and only about AR’s books—most of the time. Instead of writing academic articles that explore AR’s biography; her publishing history; her book reviews; her family letters; how she writes her novels; how her books became movies; how AR compares to other authors; how she fits in with Aristotle; and the rest of it. Instead, Bernstein writes germane articles that directly connect to Ayn Rand’s books. Books and articles such as:

• Dominique Francon: Ayn Rand’s Profoundly Misunderstood Heroine;
• The Freedom Gradient in Ayn Rand’s Novels;
• Understanding the Rape Scene in the Fountainhead;
• Anthem and the Collectivist Regression into Primitivism;
• The Integration of Plot and Theme in We the Living;
• The Mind as Hero in Atlas Shrugged; and,
• Atlas Shrugged as the Culmination of the Romantic Novel;

And, though, reliable background data, on AR is useful because it informs a contextual understanding of her person, the real reason why she sold over 30 million books, achieved world fame, and is so greatly studied, throughout the globe, is not because she worked in an architectural office, or because of what she wrote to her parents. It is because she teaches people how to be happy and successful, in their own lives. Just like she was in hers. By living their lives honestly and capably, just like she did. So, people realize their best-selves by studying AR’s books. So, all that background information, though helpful, is not really why most students like AR and care about what she says. They care about what she thinks because she helps youths realize who they are, what goals they should have, and, how, basically to live their lives according to their own basic identities. So, students live a good life, just like AR did hers.