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To Robert F. Anderson, philosophy professor at the University of Nebraska [Letter 583]

Item Reference Code: 023_11A_003_001

Date(s) of creation

February 14, 1977

Recipient

Robert F. Anderson

Transcript

February 14, 1977

Robert F. Anderson
Dept. of Philosophy, Oldfather Hall 1024
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska  68588

Dear Mr. Anderson:

In answer to your letter of December 8, Miss Rand has asked me to convey to you the following:

“You say ‘I find I am not quite clear on whether you hold that the proper life for humans is a life of productive work or a life of rational activity.’ I do not understand what you mean by the words ‘rational activity’ in such a context. Does this mean that you regard productive work as an irrational activity?

“If, by ‘rational activity,’ you mean thinking, or mental work, or intellectual work, then you are totally outside my context. I do not recognize the mind/body dichotomy. I hold that intellectual work is the root of any other kind of work, and that every kind of productive work includes both an intellectual and a physical component.”

Yours truly,

 

Barbara Weiss

BW/b

 

Barbara Weiss was AR’s secretary for many years.