| People don't like her because they disagree with her conclusions and what they assume are her methods. In order to understand her methods you must understand her epistemology. This requires reading her nonfiction systematically (and Peikoff's). Here's a Reddit reaction to Rand's response to a letter:
http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1reias/til_th...
especially see this response:
http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1reias/til_th... She's completely misunderstood and misrepresented. There are countless examples of this. In politics, she's seen as the epitome of all that is "right wing", whatever the Hell that means. Her ethics are disregarded as simple ignorant selfishness. It's easy to see why many would disagree with her. Academia simply dismisses her. However, her ideas are becoming harder to ignore - they are important! Highly recommend reading at least Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. Then pick up Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, Virtue of Selfishness, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, and the recently released Understanding Objectivism . UO is very good (it's useful/personal, down to earth), but requires familiarity with Objectivism. |