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Comment by maxharris | Hacker News Reader

This highlights one of the two major problems I have with religion: altruism. (The other thing I don't accept is faith as a valid method of obtaining knowledge.)

In Atlas Shrugged, John Galt says, "I swear by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."

Edit: Why the downvotes? The parent post quoted the Bible, so why is it invalid for me to quote the second most popular book next to it?

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Is Atlas Shrugged the second most popular book next to the bible? A cite would be cool. Also, nobody likes people like John Galt or those who try to follow him; some of us think that there is as much blind faith to strictly follow economists silly models as it does to follow any other religion.

I believe that claim is a reference to a 1991 survey conducted by the Library of Congress of 2,000 Book Of The Month readers, so take that as you will. Atlas Shrugged has sold around 7 million copies since it was published, which puts it at around half as many copies as The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy.

7 million copies sold puts Atlas Shrugged 33 million copies behind Jonathan Livingston Seagull etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books

John Galt is a fictional character in Atlas Shrugged.

Rand's philosophy is not about economics - it's a complete system, with distinct metaphysical, epistemological and moral positions, all of which give rise to applications in politics, art, science and other fields of human endeavor. (Not unlike Aristotle.)

Here's the citation for Atlas Shrugged being only 2nd to the Bible in popularity: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:U54zOrN...

It isn't fair to critique a philosopher (or anybody) without reading them, but ... I just can't take Ayn Rand seriously. Like, at all. And to compare her to Aristotle seems laughable.

So you haven't read her, and you admit that you're acting unfairly?

How do you know that comparing her to Aristotle is laughable if you don't actually know what she said?

I recommend "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology" if you'd like to compare her epistemology with Aristotle's.

Edit: again, why the downvote? Yes, I know some people don't like Ayn Rand (and others adore her). But there's nothing in this message that warrants a downvote.

I thing Pilgrim's Progress is number 2 in the States. At least I think that's still true.

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