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What Went Right?: An Objectivist Theory of History
The most urgent question of our era What went right?
While most of our political and social commentary tends to focus on gloom and doom and predictions of imminent collapse, the actual record of mankind, both in the widest sweep of history and in recent decades, is one of the spread of scientific and technological education, the increase in global commerce and the ongoing conquest of extreme poverty, the adoption of representative government and political freedom as global norms. It is vitally important to understand what makes this possible.
Recognizing the reality of progress requires new theories about the role of ideas in history. Based on controversial essays first published by Robert Tracinski in 2006, this book seeks to make new contributions to the theory on the causes of historical change usually championed by Objectivists, adherents of the philosophy that originated with Ayn Rand.
It also provides some commentary on the organization of the Objectivist movement itself, its role in history, and how it can absorb new ideas and philosophical innovations.
While most of our political and social commentary tends to focus on gloom and doom and predictions of imminent collapse, the actual record of mankind, both in the widest sweep of history and in recent decades, is one of the spread of scientific and technological education, the increase in global commerce and the ongoing conquest of extreme poverty, the adoption of representative government and political freedom as global norms. It is vitally important to understand what makes this possible.
Recognizing the reality of progress requires new theories about the role of ideas in history. Based on controversial essays first published by Robert Tracinski in 2006, this book seeks to make new contributions to the theory on the causes of historical change usually championed by Objectivists, adherents of the philosophy that originated with Ayn Rand.
It also provides some commentary on the organization of the Objectivist movement itself, its role in history, and how it can absorb new ideas and philosophical innovations.
103 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 12, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 28, 2026
A good perspective on recent history. It also raises interesting questions about Objectivism.
July 23, 2023
To start, this book is aimed primarily at those with an understanding and abiding interest in Objectivism--the philosophy of Ayn Rand--and the movement that has attempted to sustain and spread her ideas in the four decades since her death. As such, this will probably confuse the general reader and perhaps even the general historian who might be interested in a new historical theory.
That being said, this is an interesting little book that posits some important insights about how ideas work historically--how they are created/induced, how they spread, etc. I found it fascinating if somewhat familiar from previous reading in the same author's work in addition to my own thoughts over the years of watching Objectivist spats while pondering the Quixotic goal of waiting for University Philosophy faculty to come to Ayn Rand with anything beyond derision and contempt.
Anyone continuing to push that goal as the model for Objectivism's cultural relevancy (implicitly or explicitly) will surely have to confront the arguments laid out here if they wish to be persuasive rather than simply dogmatic.
That being said, this is an interesting little book that posits some important insights about how ideas work historically--how they are created/induced, how they spread, etc. I found it fascinating if somewhat familiar from previous reading in the same author's work in addition to my own thoughts over the years of watching Objectivist spats while pondering the Quixotic goal of waiting for University Philosophy faculty to come to Ayn Rand with anything beyond derision and contempt.
Anyone continuing to push that goal as the model for Objectivism's cultural relevancy (implicitly or explicitly) will surely have to confront the arguments laid out here if they wish to be persuasive rather than simply dogmatic.
May 15, 2023
Developments in Philosophy and History are a Process
Worthwhile insights on the relationship (an iterative process) between historical developments (social, scientific, technological) and philosophical developments. With the former providing the necessary inductive material for the latter. Progress, or lack thereof, continues without explicit application of philosophical principles, but accelerated or hindered under the influence of the general acceptance of their implications.
Offers hope that Ayn Rand's Objectivism, formulated since the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, will be sufficiently influential to renew social progress -- individualism.
Worthwhile insights on the relationship (an iterative process) between historical developments (social, scientific, technological) and philosophical developments. With the former providing the necessary inductive material for the latter. Progress, or lack thereof, continues without explicit application of philosophical principles, but accelerated or hindered under the influence of the general acceptance of their implications.
Offers hope that Ayn Rand's Objectivism, formulated since the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, will be sufficiently influential to renew social progress -- individualism.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews