Abstract

Roger E. Bissell challenges Barry Vacker's claim that "aesthetics is at the core of Randian theory," even as he endorses Vacker's comments on the fractal aesthetics of Rand's Fountainhead. Bissell observes that "the actual fountainhead" of Rand's aesthetics is a certain metaphysical value-judgment, which he terms the Turbulent Universe, Pro-Effort Premise. He acknowledges Vacker's valuable insights about the demanding nature of the dynamic, chaotic processes in the world around us and explains how it is just another aspect of what Rand regards as the (conditional) "benevolence" of the universe