Objectivism (Ayn Rand)

Objectivism is a philosophical system that originated as the personal philosophy of Russianborn American writer Ayn Rand (19051982). First developed in her novels and polemical essays, it was
later given more formal structure by her designated intellectual heir, philosopher Leonard Peikoff, who
characterizes it as a "closed system" that is not subject to change.
Objectivism's central tenets are that reality exists independent of consciousness, that human beings have
direct contact with reality through sense perception, that one can attain objective knowledge from
perception through the process of concept formation and inductive logic, that the proper moral purpose of
one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness (rational self-interest), that the only social
system consistent with this morality is one that displays full respect for individual rights embodied
in laissez-faire capitalism, and that the role of art in human life is to transform
humans' metaphysical ideas by selective reproduction of reality into a physical forma work of artthat
one can comprehend and to which one can respond emotionally.
Academia has generally ignored or rejected her philosophy, but it has been a significant influence
among libertarians and American conservatives. The Objectivist movement, which Rand founded,
attempts to spread her ideas to the public and in academic settings.

Rand originally expressed her philosophical ideas in her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged,
and other works. She further elaborated on them in her periodicals The Objectivist Newsletter, The
Objectivist, and The Ayn Rand Letter, and in non-fiction books such as Introduction to Objectivist
Epistemology and The Virtue of Selfishness.
The name "Objectivism" derives from the idea that human knowledge and values are objective: they exist
and are determined by the nature of reality, to be discovered by one's mind, and are not created by the
thoughts one has. Rand stated that she chose the name because her preferred term for a philosophy
based on the primacy of existence"existentialism"had already been taken.
Rand characterized Objectivism as "a philosophy for living on earth", grounded in reality, and aimed at
defining human nature and the nature of the world in which we live.
My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral
purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

It is widely believed today that our moral, cultural, and political alternatives are limited either to the ideas of the
secular, relativistic leftor to those of the religious, absolutist rightor to some compromised mixture of the two. In
other words, ones ideas are supposedly either extremely liberal or extremely conservative or somewhere inbetween. Ayn Rands philosophy, Objectivism, rejects this false alternative and offers an entirely different view of the
world.
Objectivism is fully secular and absolutist; it is neither liberal nor conservative nor anywhere in-between. It recognizes
and upholds the secular (this-worldly) source and nature of moral principles and the secular moral foundations of a
fully free, fully civilized society.

Morally, Objectivism advocates the virtues of rational self-interestvirtues such as independent thinking,
productiveness, justice, honesty, and self-responsibility. Culturally, Objectivism advocates scientific advancement,
industrial progress, objective (as opposed to progressive or faith-based) education, romantic artand, above all,
reverence for the faculty that makes all such values possible: reason. Politically, Objectivism advocates pure, laissezfaire capitalismthe social system of individual rights and strictly limited governmentalong with the whole moral
and philosophical structure on which it depends.
Rand described Objectivism as a philosophy for living on earth. The reason why it is a philosophy for living on earth
is that its every principle is derived from the observable facts of reality and the demonstrable requirements of human
life and happiness.
As a philosophical system, Objectivism includes a view of the nature of reality, of mans means of knowledge, of
mans nature and means of survival, of a proper morality, of a proper social system, and of the nature and value of
art. Rand presented her philosophy in her many fiction and nonfiction books, such as The Fountainhead, Atlas
Shrugged, Philosophy: Who Needs It, The Virtue of Selfishness, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, and The Romantic
Manifesto.
There is a great deal to Objectivism, much more than can be addressed in a book, let alone an essay. Moreover,
neither I nor anyone elseother than Randcan speak for Objectivism; the philosophy is precisely the body of
philosophical principles set forth in her works. What follows, therefore, is an essentialized condensation of
Objectivism as I see it. Any errors in the presentation are mine.

DIVISION OF PHILOSOPHY
Specifically, philosophy includes five fields of study and discourse: logic, aesthetics, ethics, politics, and
metaphysics.
Logic is the study of the ideal method in thought and research: observation and introspection, deduction
and induction, hypothesis and experiment, analysis and synthesis. It contains rules for formulating
arguments and ordering thought so as to come to sound conclusions.
Aesthetics is the study of, or expressions of theories of reasoned thought regarding the ideal form, or
beauty; it is the philosophy of art.
Ethics is the study of ideal conduct, right and wrong; it attempts to deal with questions of "what ought to
be" in regards to our behavior.
Politics is the study of the ideal organization of society and government; justice, monarchy, aristocracy,
democracy, socialism, anarchism, feminism: these are some of the possible elements of political
philosophy.
Metaphysics is the study of, or expressions of theories of those things that are above or beyond nature or
physics; beyond the five senses, the "ultimate reality" of all things. It includes two other distinctive
categories within its pale:
Ontology , the study of being, of what is; the ultimate reality of and behind 'existence' and 'matter'; and
Epistemology , from two Greek words: 'episteme' (knowledge) and 'logos' (speech, reasoning).
The subject explores How we know, or the nature and limitations of knowledge.