[Atlasphere]Tara Smith Receives $300K for Ayn Rand Research

[O-Land News Junkie]

From Statesman.com:

A $300,000 fellowship for research on Ayn Rand’s philosophy of objectivism has been awarded to Tara Smith, a professor of philosophy at UT [university of Texas] and author of “Ayn Rand’s Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist.”

The fellowship brings the California-based Anthem Foundation’s total contribution to the university to $900,000 through 2010. The foundation supports the study of Rand, a Russian-born author and philosopher who died in 1982.

The award coincides with the 50th anniversary of the publication of “Atlas Shrugged,” Rand’s signature work on the role of the mind in human existence. The philosophy of objectivism holds reason as the only source of human knowledge, rational self-interest as the proper end of human action and respect for individual rights as the guiding principle for the political domain, Smith said.

Congratulations to Dr. Smith.

The article doesn’t specify who the donor was, but I would guess BB&T figured in there somewhere.

I look forward to seeing what kinds of intellectual candy come out of this grant.

http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/672.php