Айн Рандтың «Объективизм Эпистемологиясына кіріспе» кітабы

1979 book by Ayn Rand

Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology is a book about epistemology by the philosopher Ayn Rand (with an additional article by Leonard Peikoff). Rand considered it her most important philosophical writing. First published in installments in Rand's journal, The Objectivist, July 1966 through February 1967, the work presents Rand's proposed solution to the historic problem of universals, describes how the theory can be extended to complex cases, and outlines how it applies to other issues in the theory of knowledge.

Rand bases her solution to the problem of universals on a quasi mathematical analysis of similarity. Rejecting the common view that similarity is unanalyzable, she defines similarity as: "the relationship between two or more existents which possess the same characteristic(s), but in different measure or degree." The grasp of similarity, she holds, requires a contrast between the two or more similar items and a third item that differs from them, but differs along the same scale of measurement (which she termed a "Conceptual Common Denominator"). Thus two shades of blue, to be perceived as similar, must be contrasted with something differing greatly in hue from both—e. g., a shade of red. Accordingly, Rand defines "concept" as: a "mental integration of two or more units possessing the same distinguishing characteristic(s) with their particular measurements omitted." although there was a review in the journal Teaching Philosophy. The work has received extensive, in depth exposition and development in: A Companion to Ayn Rand (Blackwell Companions to Philosophy) Wiley Blackwell: 2016, Gotthelf and Salmieri (ed. ), Concepts and Their Role in Knowledge: Reflections on Objectivist Epistemology (Ayn Rand Society Philosophical Studies), and How We Know: Epistemology on an Objectivist Foundation (Binswanger, TOF Publications: 2014).