"Who is John Galt?" was Ayn Rand's failed attempt at a popular catchphrase. In her 4th and last novel, Atlas Shrugged, the question was contemporary slang for answering an important question with no (or no obvious) answer. It roughly translates as "What's the point?" or "Why bother?"
Get into discussions of political theory, and few names rankle more hackles than that of Ayn Rand. Deified by some, vilified by many, Rand was and is a polarizing figure in politics and philosophy. There are good reasons for this, as Rand herself was a love-her-or-hate-her type of person. She had a reputation for being arrogant, self-aggrandizing, and dismissive of her critics. We seldom use phrases like "followers of Aristotle" or "followers of Kant" or "followers of Nietzsche" as if such things were abnormal, but "followers of Ayn Rand" immediately put to mind an image of a mindless sycophant spouting quotes from Atlas Shrugged and berating "looters and moochers". A major figure in philosophy from the '50s through the '70s, few people outside of libertarians and some feminists remember her. Should we? Or should we let her ideas remain in the past?
She was born as Alisa Rosenbaum in 1905 in St. Petersburg, Russia. A girl during the Russian Revolution, she saw her father's pharmacy business seized by the Bolsheviks. After a brief exile to the Crimea, her family returned and she was in the first group of girls permitted into Russian colleges. She got a degree in history (during which she was purged once), and also spent a year in film school. In the '20s, she emigrated to America, living in Chicago and Hollywood while doing film writing. She took Ayn Rand as a professional name and worked as a screenwriter in the '30s and began her career as a novelist with the autobiographical "We the Living" (1936) and the novella "Anthem" (1938). During the '40s she became a political activist for the Republicans and participated in several anti-Communist organizations. She finally found fame with her novel "The Fountainhead" (1943), a story about a successful architect seeking to free himself of the hangers-on that had attached themselves to him seeking a piece of his wealth. As her ideas about living a life based on rational thought developed, she undertook the multi-year writing effort that resulted in the book that concluded her literary career and launched her philosophical career, "Atlas Shrugged" (1957). She founded organizations based on her philosophy, which she called Objectivism, and wrote non-fiction and lectured for most of the rest of her life. She died in 1982.
Rand's early experiences in Russia influenced her thinking. The two early run-ins with the Bolsheviks set within her a strong anti-Communist attitude, and she also decided during her teens that she was an atheist. Her philosophy was most influenced by Nietzsche, and was based on the primacy of the creative human mind. Her biggest novels, "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged", outlined the struggle between people who create and people who take advantage of the creators. Her philosophy of Objectivism grew into a no-holds-barred attack on altruism and charity. She derided "looters", usually government entities and officials who claim the assets of creators to give to those who do not create, and "moochers", who live off the production of creators.
Her most notable contribution to philosophy is her concept of "Sanction of the Victim", which proposes that Good permits itself to suffer at the hands of Evil in a sacrificial role. Evil is a parasite on Good, and can only flourish if Good permits it. In the context of her idea of the primacy of individual, which she described as "rational self-interest", Evil became the parasitic individuals who feed off the produce of the Good. In Rand's world, the worst of the Seven Deadly Sins would be Sloth. This "rational self-interest", however, does not grant a person the right to take unfair advantage of other people. A person who takes something from someone else by force is a "looter". A person who defrauds someone else is a "moocher" of sorts. The morality in Objectivism arises, then, in Good dealing with Good on equal terms, and respecting each other as rational human beings.
It's a philosophy that does not lend itself to sentimentality. Rand proposed that people do not have an obligation to support anyone but themselves. In her mind, only laissez-faire capitalism served society's purpose. Many characterize her philosophy as a sort of social Darwinism, where the non-creators perish while the creators thrive.
Objectivism found little acceptance in academic philosophy initially, but gained more after her death (perhaps they just didn't want to stoke up her ego :-). Its biggest influence has been on politics, especially libertarianism. Those who claim Rand as an influence reads like a Who's Who of fiscal conservatism and libertarianism, including Fed chief Alan Greenspan, Libertarian Party co-founder David Nolan, Texas congressman Ron Paul, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. While her admirers are overwhelmingly Right on the political spectrum, she has also drawn praise from feminists and atheists. Rand was fiercely pro-choice and was an early proponent of women as sexual equals to men.
Okay, so why all the bile aimed at her? The obvious is that most of her core ideas are anathema to both Liberals and devout Christians: A dismissal of supporting the weak and disadvantaged, the rejection of altruism and charity, and distaste over the appearance of her depiction of the advantaged as victim. Additionally, she consciously stoked a cult of personality, surrounded herself with the sycophants described earlier, and by most accounts was arrogant and obnoxious to be around. Rather than recognizing people could disagree with her philosophy in good conscience, Rand looked down on them as morally inferior.
There is also the issue that Objectivism as a societal ideal is, in many ways, impractical to implement. Rand's idea of oppression of creators is supposed to be more like a musician being taken advantage of by their record label, or the sort of governmental confiscation of small business she witnessed in revolutionary Russia. In the real world, her philosophy seems to give permission to big business to use people with impunity, to propose that up is in fact down by virtue of the wealthy being oppressed by the poor. This is exacerbated by Rand's own ardent support for laissez-faire capitalism, which most people associate with the abuses of the corporate world rather than the barter economy of the small town. She seems to make little distinction between earned wealth, inherited wealth, and exploited wealth.
She has also been dismissed by many as a hypocrite. While she enjoyed an affair with a younger man (with her husband's permission), she severed all contact with him when he had his own affair (albeit without her permission). While noisily anti-government and anti-welfare, she once accepted government medical assistance, rationalizing that she might as well take it, since the government took the money from her in the first place. She opposed anti-gay laws on one hand, but reviled gays on the other. She opposed the draft on one hand, but criticized draft dodgers on the other. While her philosophy included virtues of honesty and integrity, Rand publicly supported the taking of land from the Native Americans.
Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism will no doubt be evaluated and debated for decades to come. Even if you don't know or remember her name, her ideas are sure to influence a ballot box near you.
Get into discussions of political theory, and few names rankle more hackles than that of Ayn Rand. Deified by some, vilified by many, Rand was and is a polarizing figure in politics and philosophy. There are good reasons for this, as Rand herself was a love-her-or-hate-her type of person. She had a reputation for being arrogant, self-aggrandizing, and dismissive of her critics. We seldom use phrases like "followers of Aristotle" or "followers of Kant" or "followers of Nietzsche" as if such things were abnormal, but "followers of Ayn Rand" immediately put to mind an image of a mindless sycophant spouting quotes from Atlas Shrugged and berating "looters and moochers". A major figure in philosophy from the '50s through the '70s, few people outside of libertarians and some feminists remember her. Should we? Or should we let her ideas remain in the past?
She was born as Alisa Rosenbaum in 1905 in St. Petersburg, Russia. A girl during the Russian Revolution, she saw her father's pharmacy business seized by the Bolsheviks. After a brief exile to the Crimea, her family returned and she was in the first group of girls permitted into Russian colleges. She got a degree in history (during which she was purged once), and also spent a year in film school. In the '20s, she emigrated to America, living in Chicago and Hollywood while doing film writing. She took Ayn Rand as a professional name and worked as a screenwriter in the '30s and began her career as a novelist with the autobiographical "We the Living" (1936) and the novella "Anthem" (1938). During the '40s she became a political activist for the Republicans and participated in several anti-Communist organizations. She finally found fame with her novel "The Fountainhead" (1943), a story about a successful architect seeking to free himself of the hangers-on that had attached themselves to him seeking a piece of his wealth. As her ideas about living a life based on rational thought developed, she undertook the multi-year writing effort that resulted in the book that concluded her literary career and launched her philosophical career, "Atlas Shrugged" (1957). She founded organizations based on her philosophy, which she called Objectivism, and wrote non-fiction and lectured for most of the rest of her life. She died in 1982.
Rand's early experiences in Russia influenced her thinking. The two early run-ins with the Bolsheviks set within her a strong anti-Communist attitude, and she also decided during her teens that she was an atheist. Her philosophy was most influenced by Nietzsche, and was based on the primacy of the creative human mind. Her biggest novels, "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged", outlined the struggle between people who create and people who take advantage of the creators. Her philosophy of Objectivism grew into a no-holds-barred attack on altruism and charity. She derided "looters", usually government entities and officials who claim the assets of creators to give to those who do not create, and "moochers", who live off the production of creators.
Her most notable contribution to philosophy is her concept of "Sanction of the Victim", which proposes that Good permits itself to suffer at the hands of Evil in a sacrificial role. Evil is a parasite on Good, and can only flourish if Good permits it. In the context of her idea of the primacy of individual, which she described as "rational self-interest", Evil became the parasitic individuals who feed off the produce of the Good. In Rand's world, the worst of the Seven Deadly Sins would be Sloth. This "rational self-interest", however, does not grant a person the right to take unfair advantage of other people. A person who takes something from someone else by force is a "looter". A person who defrauds someone else is a "moocher" of sorts. The morality in Objectivism arises, then, in Good dealing with Good on equal terms, and respecting each other as rational human beings.
It's a philosophy that does not lend itself to sentimentality. Rand proposed that people do not have an obligation to support anyone but themselves. In her mind, only laissez-faire capitalism served society's purpose. Many characterize her philosophy as a sort of social Darwinism, where the non-creators perish while the creators thrive.
Objectivism found little acceptance in academic philosophy initially, but gained more after her death (perhaps they just didn't want to stoke up her ego :-). Its biggest influence has been on politics, especially libertarianism. Those who claim Rand as an influence reads like a Who's Who of fiscal conservatism and libertarianism, including Fed chief Alan Greenspan, Libertarian Party co-founder David Nolan, Texas congressman Ron Paul, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. While her admirers are overwhelmingly Right on the political spectrum, she has also drawn praise from feminists and atheists. Rand was fiercely pro-choice and was an early proponent of women as sexual equals to men.
Okay, so why all the bile aimed at her? The obvious is that most of her core ideas are anathema to both Liberals and devout Christians: A dismissal of supporting the weak and disadvantaged, the rejection of altruism and charity, and distaste over the appearance of her depiction of the advantaged as victim. Additionally, she consciously stoked a cult of personality, surrounded herself with the sycophants described earlier, and by most accounts was arrogant and obnoxious to be around. Rather than recognizing people could disagree with her philosophy in good conscience, Rand looked down on them as morally inferior.
There is also the issue that Objectivism as a societal ideal is, in many ways, impractical to implement. Rand's idea of oppression of creators is supposed to be more like a musician being taken advantage of by their record label, or the sort of governmental confiscation of small business she witnessed in revolutionary Russia. In the real world, her philosophy seems to give permission to big business to use people with impunity, to propose that up is in fact down by virtue of the wealthy being oppressed by the poor. This is exacerbated by Rand's own ardent support for laissez-faire capitalism, which most people associate with the abuses of the corporate world rather than the barter economy of the small town. She seems to make little distinction between earned wealth, inherited wealth, and exploited wealth.
She has also been dismissed by many as a hypocrite. While she enjoyed an affair with a younger man (with her husband's permission), she severed all contact with him when he had his own affair (albeit without her permission). While noisily anti-government and anti-welfare, she once accepted government medical assistance, rationalizing that she might as well take it, since the government took the money from her in the first place. She opposed anti-gay laws on one hand, but reviled gays on the other. She opposed the draft on one hand, but criticized draft dodgers on the other. While her philosophy included virtues of honesty and integrity, Rand publicly supported the taking of land from the Native Americans.
Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism will no doubt be evaluated and debated for decades to come. Even if you don't know or remember her name, her ideas are sure to influence a ballot box near you.
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