A Short Note on the Legacy of Ayn Rand

Butler Shaffer wrote of Ayn Rand that she "rescued philosophy from its academic prisons, and returned it to the minds of ordinary men and women to assess the conditions in which they choose to live". As I come to think of it, this concise description is right on the spot - I can't think of any 20th century philosopher, let alone any 20th century academic philosopher, who accomplished anything even remotely similar. As far as I'm concerned, for that alone she deserves huge respect, regardless of what intellectual disagreements one might have with her views.