From: Scott Chase (ecphoric@hotmail.com)
Date: Sat 03 Jul 2004 - 15:14:19 GMT
I just finished Albert Ellis's book _Is Objectivism a Religion?_. His
final chapter was intriguing as he summarizes the debate beween former
Objectivist guru Nathaniel Branden and him that may have spawned his
book. One also wonders if Ellis was trying to win converts to his
psychological theory of rational-emotive therapy. In the debate between
Ellis and Branden we witness a clash of mindsets between Objectivism and
RET. Taking a step back from both mindsets it might be fruitful to look
at each mindset indepedently and then see how they clash. I don't have
time for delving into Ellis's approach quite yet having other fish to
fry. I was exposed to Ellis very superficially, I remember vaguely, in
some psych courses. I have his book _Humanistic Psychotherapy: the
Rational-Emotive Approach_ but it's presently collecting dust. Rand and
Branden are featured in the index, but turning to the appropriate pages
I can't say their presence is significant in this book.
There are some webpages that discuss the clash between Ellis and Branden
and Ellis's subsequent book.
This one by Richard Lawrence talks about Ellis's putative motivation for
writing the book:
http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/books/other/religion.html
Lawrence links to this old review by Roy Halliday where Ellis's book is
a sort of "declaration of war":
http://royhalliday.home.mindspring.com/ellis.htm
If you google the newsgroup humanities.philosophy.objectivism you can
find some discussion of Ellis's book.
Enjoy.
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