Philosophy

I read that Rand had an affinity for Neitzsche earlier in her life but then began to vehemently hate and despise his ideas. D'awww.

That would make a lot of sense, because while they have similar philosophies, some ideas are so in conflict as to be totally irreconcilable.

Okay, the wiki on this seems kind of scattered, so I'll just ask Thade. Give me a rundown on the Übermensch. Explain it in as much detail as possible. XD

Alright.  So, basically, the ubermensch defines his own values.  That is the most basic summary you're going to get.  In TSZ, Nietzsche goes on and on about how its some sort of higher being.  But that's just metaphorical.  Neitzsche stated that ubermensch (what's the plural of this?) or people close to it already existed.  He named people like Beethoven and Goethe as examples.  
But I'm getting ahead of myself.  First we must understand why the ubermensch must exist.  You've heard the expression 'god is dead' in relation to Nietzsche, but that meant simply that we can no longer use god as a basis for morality.  The problem with this arrives when we come to realize that if god is no longer a source of morality, what the fuck do we do?   'In a world without God, everything is permitted' Dostoevsky said.  So we need to find a source of morals or society will descend into nihilism, which to Nietzsche was really bad.  The overman, or ubermensch, is the solution to nihilism, as a creator of values.

tldr
Ubermensch creates his own morals.  

Now this is just lightly brushing the surface of Nietzsche's philosophy, but I'm not fantastic at explaining and I'm tired.

Thade, you legitimately sound like a scholar, and that was a really helpful explanation. Thank you.

I'm just a guy with too much time on his hands and a large collection of books. It's nothing.

Oh and nihilism doesn't mean 'life is meaningless' in the this context, but instead that 'life is meaningless and ergo we shouldn't even bother.' (He lumps Christianity in here as nihilist because of it's rejection of this world in favor of another.) And embracing life is also an important aspect of the ubermensch. I can't believe I nearly forgot that.

Thank you, that was incredibly helpful.

No problem.  I'm glad to help.

I had always seen Rand as an Aristotelian thinker. I feel like I've seen her actually mention that, but I can't remember a source for it. Though, in all honesty, I think Rand's ethical theories can be defined as consequentialism which is kind of at odds with Virtue Ethics and it's focus on action as a moral fulcrum?

I don't know, I've always been terrible with philosophical logic, haha.

Resurrecting this dead thread.

Anyone read Kierkegaard?

I have no idea what that even is.

Danish proto-existentialist.  I enjoy existentialism as a whole.  

But anyway, Kierkegaard is interesting as one of the only Christian, and very religious at that, existentialists.  But he also spoke out heavily against the established church.  Very cool guy.

Bump.

Fountain and I stayed up for about 3 hours a few months ago arguing about Ayn Rand and I finally found out I fucking hate her. You guys did it. You convinced me she's terrible. Congrats.

Well, you just started researching her and did that yourself. XD

To be fair, I researched her because slightly younger and more starry eyed me fully aligned with her beliefs, and I could never understand why anyone would have a problem with her.

Adult commu-anarchist me says she's not too smart.

Though, to be fair, Rand tried to explain to people that her fictional novels were not indicative of her actual beliefs and were sort of self parodying, and no one listened. So I hold that she's not entirely horrible. Just.... stupid.