A Socialist Reads Atlas Shrugged

In this final episode, Jonathan discusses recent life changes that led to the break in episodes. Alas, this will be the last episode for a long while. Thank you to all the listeners who have corresponded and shared their experiences with the podcast. That has been a true joy.

Jonathan is starting a History graduate program and won't have time to continue the podcast. Before signing off, Jonathan reflects on Ayn Rand's ideas in American culture in June 2023, as reflected in the funeral episode of HBO's series, Succession. Have Ayn Rand's theories finally been cast into the dustbin of history? Over the coming years, we'll see...

Jonathan will keep the email address for the show active and will have time to correspond with listeners of these episodes, even though the project remains incomplete. The email address is: [email protected]

Learn more about Jonathan Seyfried at the website, https://jonathanseyfried.net

In this episode, Jonathan explores Hank Reardon's perception that business enterprise is a "shameful cult." This involves a larger discussion of the value of work and the psychological toll of living with people who have different values. Jonathan mentions the book Callings as an example of how work can hold larger value.

My five themes to explore in this podcast's close read of Atlas Shrugged are:

1. What is human nature?
2. Straw-man arguments and their impact on the world Ayn Rand creates.
3. Dagny Taggart as a true hero.
4. How empathy can be de-legitimized.
5. What is Capitalism and what is wrong with it? 

Questions or comments? Email me at: [email protected]

Learn more about Jonathan Seyfried at the website, https://jonathanseyfried.net

The intro/outro music was composed by John Sib.

The podcast theme image was created by Karina Bia 

In this episode, Jonathan finishes up a discussion of Chapter 5. We see Dagny and Francisco interact in the novel's present time. The dialog reinforces the pattern for Francisco: keeping secrets and acting paternalistic toward Dagny. However, we also see suspenseful developments of Dagny's character on the Hero's Journey. Ayn Rand takes some more pot shots at socialism, which Jonathan addresses.

My five themes to explore in this podcast's close read of Atlas Shrugged are:

1. What is human nature?
2. Straw-man arguments and their impact on the world Ayn Rand creates.
3. Dagny Taggart as a true hero.
4. How empathy can be de-legitimized.
5. What is Capitalism and what is wrong with it? 

Questions or comments? Email me at: [email protected]

Learn more about Jonathan Seyfried at the website, https://jonathanseyfried.net

The intro/outro music was composed by John Sib.

The podcast theme image was created by Karina Bia 

In this episode, Jonathan discusses the end of the backstory of Francisco and Dagny's relationship. In reference to the "exhilaration" of Francisco's manic overworking, Jonathan draws out the distinction between workaholism and flow state. Flow state is a concept explained by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (click here for his book on the flow state). This episode contains a lot of commentary about trust in relationships and how Francisco d'Anconia violates Dagny's trust.

My five themes to explore in this podcast's close read of Atlas Shrugged are:

1. What is human nature?
2. Straw-man arguments and their impact on the world Ayn Rand creates.
3. Dagny Taggart as a true hero.
4. How empathy can be de-legitimized.
5. What is Capitalism and what is wrong with it? 

Questions or comments? Email me at: [email protected]

Learn more about Jonathan Seyfried at the website, https://jonathanseyfried.net

The intro/outro music was composed by John Sib.

The podcast theme image was created by Karina Bia 

[For October-November 2022, episodes will not be released with the usual weekly frequency due to some family commitments. Hopefully the podcast will get back to regular weekly episodes soon. Thanks, everyone, for your patience and thoughtful engagement with the podcast!]

In this episode, Jonathan analyzes the next few scenes of Chapter 5 (Part 1). Dagny and Francisco, now young adults, take their relationship to new levels of intimacy. Ayn Rand's description of that intimacy features the language of capitalism (ownership) but also there are surprising moments of feminism and sex positivity.

My five themes to explore in this podcast's close read of Atlas Shrugged are:

1. What is human nature?
2. Straw-man arguments and their impact on the world Ayn Rand creates.
3. Dagny Taggart as a true hero.
4. How empathy can be de-legitimized.
5. What is Capitalism and what is wrong with it? 

Questions or comments? Email me at: [email protected]

Learn more about Jonathan Seyfried at the website, https://jonathanseyfried.net

The intro/outro music was composed by John Sib.

The podcast theme image was created by Karina Bia 

In this episode, we "Fast Forward" to the Story of the 20th Century Motor Company (located in Chapter 10 of Part 2; p.616-627 in the Signet paperback edition). There are not many places on the internet to find the excerpt except for this link.

Jonathan begins the Fast Forward episodes on the 20th Century Motor Company by doing a case study of the post-Soviet economy of Estonia, responding to a speech given by Mart Laar at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín in 2006 (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lasy0pfn1is). Much of Ayn Rand's purpose in this section of Atlas Shrugged is to argue that socialist policies will fail to produce prosperity and instead produce misery. Laar argues that free market ideology caused the prosperity of Estonia. Jonathan complicates both these portrayals by 1) looking deeper at the historical context of post-Soviet Estonia, and 2) examining the cultural resonance of the Communist dictum, "from each according to their ability, to each according to their need."
 
Regarding Estonia, some sources that Jonathan drew from to prepare for this episode are:

• Kukk, K. (1997). The Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In P. Desai (Ed.), Going global: transition in the world economy (pp. 243–272). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
• Kukk, Merike, and Karsten Staehr. 2014. “Income Underreporting by Households with Business Income: Evidence from Estonia.” Post-Communist Economies 26 (2): 257–76. 
• Feldmann, Magnus. 2018. “Extraordinary Politics and Durable Reform: Lessons from Trade Liberalisation in Estonia and Poland.” Post-Communist Economies 30 (3): 365–81. 
• Tamm, Marek. 2016. “The Republic of Historians: Historians as Nation-Builders in Estonia (Late 1980s–early 1990s).” Rethinking History 20 (2): 154–71. doi:10.1080/13642529.2016.1153272.

This episode contains references to the work of Brene Brown (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bren%C3%A9_Brown).


My five themes to explore in this podcast's close read of Atlas Shrugged are:

1. What is human nature?
2. Straw-man arguments and their impact on the world Ayn Rand creates.
3. Dagny Taggart as a true hero.
4. How empathy can be de-legitimized.
5. What is Capitalism and what is wrong with it? 

Questions or comments? Email me at: [email protected]

Learn more about Jonathan Seyfried at the website, https://jonathanseyfried.net

The intro/outro music was composed by John Sib.

The podcast theme image was created by Karina Bia 

This episode starts by checking in with Jim Taggart's growing apprehension of the power of shame-based morality -- something that Dagny thinks is potentially dangerous but Francisco considers merely disdainful. Next, the conversation turns to the dynamic between Francisco and Dagny, which continues to play according to Francisco's terms, mostly. Jonathan responds to the moral formula that someone who doesn't work has no value. The most important thing to understand about this is that the word "work" has an entire network of associations and meanings in our culture.  When Francisco slaps Dagny, Rand wants to produce shock in the reader regarding how awful it is that girls are pressured to play dumb in school, but ends up legitimizing violence against women and connecting violence to intimacy. This episode ends with the scene of Dagny's debut dance. Her mother thinks Dagny needs to experience sadness but in her experience of the debut, Dagny proves that is wrong. But there is fallout: the social world has disappointed Dagny. She realizes that it is indeed rare to approach life in the way that she and Fransisco do.

For the next episode, we "Fast Forward" to the Story of the 20th Century Motor Company (located in Chapter 10 of Part 2; p.616-627 in the Signet paperback edition). There are not many places on the internet to find the excerpt except for this link.

My five themes to explore in this podcast's close read of Atlas Shrugged are:

1. What is human nature?
2. Straw-man arguments and their impact on the world Ayn Rand creates.
3. Dagny Taggart as a true hero.
4. How empathy can be de-legitimized.
5. What is Capitalism and what is wrong with it? 

Questions or comments? Email me at: [email protected]

Learn more about Jonathan Seyfried at the website, https://jonathanseyfried.net

The intro/outro music was composed by John Sib.

The podcast theme image was created by Karina Bia 

In this episode, Jonathan delves into the next stages of the friendship between Dagny and Francisco. Also, this episode further analyzes the antipathy between James and Francisco. Next, Jonathan spends a lot of time reflecting on the optimistic paragraph that describes how the three friends (Dagny, Francisco, and Eddie) sit around the bonfire imagining the greatness of the future. The next section of this episode addresses the kind of vulnerability that is briefly introduced regarding Francisco's capacity for joy. Lastly, Jonathan interprets the "new reticence" mentioned between Francisco and Dagny.

My five themes to explore in this podcast's close read of Atlas Shrugged are:

1. What is human nature?
2. Straw-man arguments and their impact on the world Ayn Rand creates.
3. Dagny Taggart as a true hero.
4. How empathy can be de-legitimized.
5. What is Capitalism and what is wrong with it? 

Questions or comments? Email me at: [email protected]

Learn more about Jonathan Seyfried at the website, https://jonathanseyfried.net

The intro/outro music was composed by John Sib.

The podcast theme image was created by Karina Bia 

This episode focuses on the first scenes presented about Francisco d'Anconia's childhood interactions with the Taggart family, especially Dagny. Jonathan analyzes the friendship dynamics between Francisco, Dagny, and Eddie. Then, when Francisco attempts to test their mettle as an anonymous call boy for the train, we see the temptation that we all have to get an evaluation of our skills apart from our inherited or social background. Jonathan asserts that this is an illusion because of the socially embedded nature of identity, skills, and culture. There are interesting parallels between this episode in Francisco's story and Ayn Rand's biography. Beyond that illusion, though, Francisco does display admirable grit and perseverance. But does Jim deserve the humiliation that Francisco often instigates? In this context, Jonathan mentions Jean Jacques Rousseau's book on education, Emile. At the end of the episode, Jonathan delves into the psychological and cultural implications of Francisco's decision to keep his railroad work secret from Dagny.

My five themes to explore in this podcast's close read of Atlas Shrugged are:

1. What is human nature?
2. Straw-man arguments and their impact on the world Ayn Rand creates.
3. Dagny Taggart as a true hero.
4. How empathy can be de-legitimized.
5. What is Capitalism and what is wrong with it? 

Questions or comments? Email me at: [email protected]

Learn more about Jonathan Seyfried at the website, https://jonathanseyfried.net

The intro/outro music was composed by John Sib.

The podcast theme image was created by Karina Bia 

In this episode, Jonathan analyzes the back story of Francisco D'Anconia's ancestry. The main topic of this episode is how Ayn Rand infuses an aristocratic family with bourgeois values. This involves thinking about social class in the terms conceptualized by Friedrich Nietzsche in the Genealogy of Morals. Jonathan recommends the podcast Philosophize This for a great explanation of the philosophy of Nietzsche.

Adam Reed's essay about Francisco D'Anconia's connections to Judaism can be found by clicking here.

My five themes to explore in this podcast's close read of Atlas Shrugged are:

1. What is human nature?
2. Straw-man arguments and their impact on the world Ayn Rand creates.
3. Dagny Taggart as a true hero.
4. How empathy can be de-legitimized.
5. What is Capitalism and what is wrong with it? 

Questions or comments? Email me at: [email protected]

Learn more about Jonathan Seyfried at the website, https://jonathanseyfried.net

The intro/outro music was composed by John Sib.

The podcast theme image was created by Karina Bia