Torres examines key studies and commentaries on the nature of scholarship, especially regarding commonly accepted standards of scholarly writing, before responding to the essays in The Journal of Ayn Rand Studie'Aesthetics Symposium, most of which critiqued portions of What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand He concludes that only two of the essays meet such standards as knowledge of subject matter, rules of evidence, clarity of communication, and integrity —even when critical of his and Michelle Kamhi's co-authored work. (...) The other essays, he argues, are flawed in varying respects. (shrink)