Philosophy: Who Needs It

Publishing history

Rand had begun work on the collection prior to her death, but the final editing was handled by her heir, Leonard Peikoff. Most of the essays originally appeared in The Ayn Rand Letter. Bobbs-Merrill published the hardcover edition in September 1982, followed by a trade paperback edition in September 1984. New American Library published it as a mass market paperback in November 1984. The New American Library edition was promoted as volume one of the "Ayn Rand Library" series edited by Peikoff.

Contents

The title essay is an address given to the graduating class of the United States Military Academy on March 6, 1974. It argues that philosophy plays a central role in all human activities, that every action or thought has at its root certain assumptions, and that humans need to examine those assumptions to live a full, meaningful life. Another speech included is "Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World", which was delivered at college appearances in 1960.

The remaining chapters are reprints of articles Rand published in the 1970s. These include an essay about how The Miracle Worker illustrates the importance of language and conceptual learning, an open letter to Soviet chess grandmaster Boris Spassky, and a critique of Beyond Freedom and Dignity by B. F. Skinner.

Reception

At the time of its release, the book received mostly negative reviews. Writing in the libertarian magazine Reason, philosopher Douglas Den Uyl gives the book a "mixed assessment", saying that several of the essays are worth reading, but the book as a whole "is not particularly original or substantive" in comparison to her previous works. Den Uyl reaches a similar conclusion in collaboration with Douglas B. Rasmussen, writing in The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand that the book "does not contain the kind of significant philosophizing found in her earlier works".

Later scholars have also criticized the book, as well as some of its essays. Historian James Baker writes that the volume "lacks the strength to launch any significant project." Philosopher Fred Seddon says that Rand's explanation of the ethical views of Immanuel Kant in the essay "Causality versus Duty" is a straw man. George H. Smith describes "Causality versus Duty" as "an important essay" describing Rand's views on morality, but takes her to task for another essay in which she criticized the views expressed by John Rawls in his book A Theory of Justice without having read the book itself.