Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand (February 2 1905–March 6 1982; first name pronounced (IPA) {{IPA|/aɪn/}} (rhymes with 'mine')), born Alissa "Alice" Zinovievna Rosenbaum, was best known for her philosophy of Objectivism and her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Her philosophy and her fiction both emphasize, above all, her concepts of individualism, rational egoism ("rational self-interest"), and capitalism. Believing government has a legitimate but relatively minimal role in a free society, she was not an anarchist, but a minarchist. Her novels were based upon the archetype of the Randian hero, a man whose ability and independence causes conflict with the masses, but who perseveres nevertheless to achieve his values. Rand viewed this hero as the ideal and made it the express goal of her literature to showcase such heroes. She believed:

Controversy

Like all controversial philosophies, Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism have been subject to criticism. In the realm of analytic philosophy, however, it is more accurate to say that Rand's work has been mostly ignored. Some academics, however, are bringing her work into the mainstream.. One sign of this is the existence of the Ayn Rand Society, founded in 1987, an organization of academic philosophers that is affiliated with the American Philosophical Association. Another sign that Rand is entering the mainstream is that selections from Rand's writings now regularly appear in philosophy textbooks and anthologies.

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One example of critical attention paid to Rand by an analytic philosopher is the essay "On the Randian Argument" by Harvard University's Robert Nozick, which appears in his Socratic Puzzles. Nozick's own libertarian political conclusions are similar to Rand's, but his essay is critical of her argument. He argues that her solution to David Hume's famous is-ought problem is unsatisfactory: she asserts that preserving one's own life is objectively the highest value because it makes all other values possible, but Nozick believes she still needs to explain why a person could not rationally prefer the state of eventually dying and having no values. Thus, he argues, her attempt to deduce the morality of selfishness is essentially an instance of begging the question. Nevertheless, Nozick respected Rand as an author and noted that he found her books enjoyable and thought-provoking.

Related Topics:
Harvard University - Robert Nozick - Libertarian - David Hume - Is-ought problem - Begging the question

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Rand has sometimes been viewed with suspicion for her practice of presenting her philosophy in fiction and non-fiction books aimed at a general audience rather than publishing in peer-reviewed journals. Rand's defenders note that she is part of a long literary tradition of authors who write philosophically-rich fiction ? including Dante, John Milton, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Albert Camus, and that other philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre presented their philosophies in both fictional and non-fictional forms.

Related Topics:
Peer-review - Dante - John Milton - Fyodor Dostoevsky - Albert Camus - Jean-Paul Sartre

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Other critics argue that Rand?s idealistic philosophy and her Romantic literary style are not applicable to the inhabited world. In particular, those critics have claimed that Rand's novels are made up of one-dimensional characters. They dislike that most of the Objectivist heroes are incredibly intelligent and unencumbered by doubt. Some of the heroes are very rich. Others seem to have no shortcomings at all ? especially Howard Roark, the hero of The Fountainhead. The antagonists are often weak, pathetic, full of uncertainty, and lacking in imagination and talent.

Related Topics:
Romantic - Howard Roark - The Fountainhead

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Defenders of Rand respond with counterexamples from her novels to show her range of characterization: Neither Eddie Willers nor Cherryl Taggart is particularly gifted or intelligent, but both are characters of dignity and respect; Leo Kovalensky suffers enormously due to his inability to cope with the brutality and banality of communism; Andrei Taganov dies after realizing his philosophical errors; Dominique Francon is initially bitterly unhappy because she believes evil is powerful; and Dagny Taggart thinks that she is capable of saving the world alone. Nor are all of her heroes rich: Howard Roark, Hank Rearden, and John Galt started out poor. Moreover, Hank Rearden is taken advantage of because of his social naïveté. As for the purportedly weak and pathetic villains, Rand's defenders point out that Ellsworth Toohey is represented as being a great strategist and communicator from an early age; Dr. Robert Stadler is a brilliant scientist; and the dynamic Gail Wynand fails utterly because he compromises his principles.

Related Topics:
Howard Roark - John Galt

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Rand herself replied to the criticism (and in advance of much of it) with her essay "The Goal of My Writing" (1963). There, and in other essays collected in her book The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature (2nd rev. ed. 1975), Rand makes it clear that her goal is to project her vision of an ideal man: not man as he is, but man as he might and ought to be.

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