Freedom Book of the Month for March 2001:

The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand: Truth and Toleration in Objectivism
by David Kelley
Transaction, 2000, 128 pp.

Of all the factional disputes within the libertarian movement, none have been more bitter or enduring than those plaguing the philosophy originated by Ayn Rand. As a matter of fact, the mere connection of Rand and the word "libertarian" elicits outraged denials by many adherents of her philosophy, and was the proximate cause of one such dispute that brought on the final break between Leonard Peikoff (head of the Ayn Rand Institute) and David Kelley (executive director of the Objectivist Center).

"The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand" is Kelley's take on that fight, and it contains material that sheds light on debates falling far outside of the Objectivist movement.

The book is divided into five sections. The first four -- Moral Judgement, Sanction, Error and Evil, and Toleration -- address concepts that are applicable to the handling of any philosophical, political or personal dispute. The fifth relates the circumstances under which differing interpretations of those concepts ripped the Objectivist movement apart and why.

I must, at this point, confess to prejudice in the matter. While I am not an Objectivist, the work of Ayn Rand has impacted my life and my ideas in a major way. Having read both Kelley's book and, to the maximum extent possible, the opinions of Ayn Rand Institute partisans on the subject (notably Peikoff's "Fact and Value" and Peter Schwartz's "On Moral Sanctions"), I find myself firmly on Kelley's side.

The questions that Kelley addresses are multiple: Is it possible to be in error and not be evil? Is it moral to tolerate those who are in error, or must they be rejected as evil? Is communication with those in error a sanction of their error? While not retreating from the necessity of moral judgment, Kelley makes the case that it is possible to be in error and not be evil, that it is not a sanction to communicate with those in error for the purpose of persuading them, and that it is permissible to tolerate those in error rather than condemning them on grounds outside of the error itself.

In the final section, Kelley addresses the overall status of Objectivism as a philosophy, pitting the "open system" and "closed system" models against each other. As an advocate of the "open system" approach, Kelley once again makes his case -- this time establishing that Objectivism is a growing set of ideas rooted in principles discovered and expounded upon by Rand. The "closed system" advocates treat Objectivism as consisting of Rand's pronouncements and those alone, whether or not they accord with the established principles and in lieu of any future discoveries. In effect, Kelley establishes the "open system" as a philosophical school and identifies the "closed system" as a manifestation of tribalism, although he does not go as far as some do, in referring to the latter as a "cult."

"The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand" is a work of philosophy in its own right, establishing the necessary grounds for passing moral judgment and acting on it. In the wider libertarian movement, a number of people would be well advised to reconsider their own schisms, "purity" arguments and blanket declarations in light of Kelley's arguments.

Order "The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand" in hardback for $29.95 from Amazon.Com.

Order "The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand" in paperback for $18.95 from Amazon.Com.

Visit The Objectivist Center.

Other books by David Kelley, from Laissez Faire Books:
"A Life of One's Own"
"The Evidence of the Senses"
"Objectivism and the Struggle for Liberty" (audio).

Read Leonard Peikoff's essay "Fact and Value" and "On Moral Sanctions" by Peter Schwartz online from The Ayn Rand Institute.

Peruse Free-Market.Net's directory of over 200 resources on .

February 2001: Crypto by Steven Levy

January 2001: Total Freedom by Chris Matthew Sciabarra

Freedom Book of the Year 2000: Forge of the Elders by L. Neil Smith

December 2000: The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto

November 2000: Escape from Leviathan by J.C. Lester

October 2000: The Art of Political War by David Horowitz

September 2000: An Enemy of the State by Justin Raimondo

August 2000: The Triumph of Liberty by Jim Powell

July 2000: A Generation Divided by Rebecca Klatch

June 2000: Law's Order by David Friedman

May 2000: Forge of the Elders by L. Neil Smith

April 2000: Reciprocia by Richard G. Rieben

March 2000: The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers by Ayn Rand

February 2000: Addiction is a Choice by Jeffrey A. Schaler

January 2000: Revolutionary Language by David C. Calderwood

Special December 1999 Feature: The Freedom Book of the Year: Send in the Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998 by Vin Suprynowicz

November 1999: Conquests and Cultures by Thomas Sowell

October 1999: A Way To Be Free by Robert LeFevre, edited by Wendy McElroy

September 1999: Assassins (Left Behind) by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

August 1999: Don't Shoot the Bastards (Yet): 101 More Ways to Salvage Freedom by Claire Wolfe

July 1999: The Mitzvah by L. Neil Smith and Aaron Zelman

June 1999: The Incredible Bread Machine by R.W. Grant

May 1999: Send in the Waco Killers by Vin Suprynowicz

April 1999: It Still Begins with Ayn Rand by Jerome Tuccille

March 1999: The Dictionary of Free-Market Economics by Fred Foldvary

February 1999: Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand edited by Mimi Reisel Gladstein and Chris Matthew Sciabarra