Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand
If you love freedom, capitalism and reason you will find a home in the ideas of Ayn Rand. Ayn Rand was born in Russia in 1905 and moved to America in 1926 after enduring years of suffocating socialism in her native land. She travelled to America pursue her dream of making movies. Once here she was disappointed to find so many Americans unable to philosophically defend laissez-faire capitalism and freedom. As she dug deeper and examined more fundamental philosophic layers she encountered flaws leading all the way to the bottom (metaphysics).
As a result of this experience she started with a clean slate and sought to determine what was true at each level of philosophy using induction and non-contradiction. In my own words here is a summary of her conclusions. She called her philosophy Objectivism.
Politics: The only proper function of government is to stop the initiation of force and arbitrate disputes. Therefore the government should only have a military, police and justice system. The government should not interfere in the economy nor take money from one person and give it to another.
Ethics: Ethics should be evaluated at the individual level not the level of "society" since "society" is not a living being but simply a word used to describe a group of individuals. Each person is an end in themselves and should not be used as a means to some other end. Each individual should live for their own long-term happiness. Individuals should trade with each other to gain values not use force no matter whether the force is direct as in armed robbery or indirect as in advocating a law that takes money from one person and gives it to another.
Epistemology: What method should we use to determine what is true or false? Rand shows that our senses, although affected by the environment, are still objective reporters of the facts of our world and when combined with reason can allow us to know truths about the world. This is validated by the fact that planes consistently fly, buildings consistenly stand, diseases are consistently cured, and people in general are generally able to obtain the values the need to live.
Metaphysics: This is the bottom most level of philosophy in which we try to find axioms that are universally true. This is the foundation of knowlege on which everything else is built. Rand ascertained: 1. Existence Exists, 2. To Exist is to exist a certain way (to have a specific identity that doesn't contradict itself), and 3. Consciousness exists (if it didn't you wouldn't be aware of this sentence.) Trying to disprove these axioms will in fact validate them. As axioms their truth can only be observed not proven since they are the bottom most level of knowledge.
But I have paraphrased only a small sample of her philosophy. Learn more here:
Objectivist Center
Ayn Rand Institute
Philosophy of Liberty Video: Not purely Objectivist but real close.
Importance of Philosophy
Books to understand the basics of Objectivism
Non-fiction: Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, The Virtue of Selfishness, Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, The Ideas of Ayn Rand.
Fiction: The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, We The Living, Anthem
Sponsor: This website is sponsored by Freestar Media, LLC. Watch Freestar's Objectivist-powered videos and learn about its plan to make money fighting for freedom with a controversal documentary movie and a nationally syndicated half-hour television newsmagazine.
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