A guide to Ayn Rand's philosophy

Ayn Rand was a novelist with a philosophical position called objectivism, which taught that the world was real and knowable through the senses. Hers was a basically ethical position that respected property rights and liberty and that saw humans as ends in themselves. She thought that the ideal society was a capitalist one composed of individuals freely trading.

Reality

Objectivism Objectivism is the belief that there is a world independent of human desires. There is no point in pretending or wishing that the world were other than it is, because we must live in it and steer our course through its shoals. Objectivism led her to the belief that socialist ideals were basically flying in the face of human nature and economic realities and were therefore doomed to fail. Theory of knowledge Her objectivist view was linked to an empiricist epistemology, theory of knowledge. Empiricism is the belief that knowledge is gained through the senses. Ayn, however, was well within the Western tradition of thought by observing that reason also has a very important place. Reason gets to work on the results of the information derived from the senses. It is by reason that we steer our course through life, discover reality [in conjunction with the senses] and attain our goals

Ethics and politics

Ethics For Ayn, all humans were ends in themselves, an idea derived from Kant, and therefore they were not to be used as the means for others' ends. This led her to a deep respect for personal liberty and a determination to reject all threats to it. She promoted the virtue of selfishness, as she believed that humans were entitled to seek their own ends. She extolled individualism and in her book Anthem Ayn Rand expressed her horror at denial of individuality and the degrading consequences that flow therefrom. Politics It is for her political views that she is best known and which the Ayn Rand institute promotes. For Ayn Rand, objectivism led to capitalism, a position which linked with her deep respect for personal property, which she saw as the proper result of the individual's labours. She was known for anti-communism, as she saw all forms of socialism as theft. Closely linked to individualism is her belief in the importance of personal liberty, without which individuality cannot be expressed. The natural expression of these principles came through capitalism. However, she was not an exponent of exploitative capitalism of masters and servants. She extolled the importance of a society of individuals trading freely with each other. She took an extreme view of the state, preferring to separate it from economic life. As such, she is an exponent of laissez-faire capitalism.