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Ayn Rand

Page history last edited by adamm 15 years ago

 Biography

          "I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." Ayn Rand -Atlas Shrugged

          

          

 

 Ayn Rand (Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum); February 2, 1905 - March 6, 1982

 

  • Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, February 2, 1905
  • Taught herself to read at age 6
  • Decided to make a career out of her fiction writing at age 9
  • During her lifetime, Ayn Rand witnessed two revolutions, the Kerensky and the Bolshevik
  • Emigrated to the United States in 1925
  • Changed her name to Ayn Rand to avoid Soviet retaliation against her family for her Anti-Socialist veiws
  • Ayn Rand left Soviet union due to the rise of Socialists and the country held no future for her except in America.
  • In 1926 she left Chicago, and pursued her career as a screenwriter in Hollywood
  • She married and actor, Frank O'Connor 1929 and was married until his death 50 years later
  • her first writing was a play called The Night of January 16th(encyclopedia.com)

  • First major success came with her novel Fountainhead in 1943
  • She was very opposed to mysticism, which is the acceptance of allegations without evidence or proof, either apart from or against the evidence. 
  • "Worry is a waste of emotional reserve"- The Fountainhead www.wikiquote.org/wiki.Ayn_Rand 
  • She was also opposed to collectivism.
  • Rand rejected the idea that individuals have obligations toward one another
  • "When I die, I hope to go to Heaven, whatever the Hell that is." (Ayn Rand)  www.brainyquote.com/quotes/author/a/ayn_rand.html
  • Author of two great books: The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged

 

 

Rand's Philosophy:

Objectivism

Objectivism is the idea of a rational self interest self responsibility 

The best way to describe Any Rand's philosophy is in her own words. As such, here is a quote of Rand from 1962: "... Objectivism holds that:

  1. Reality exists as an objective absolute - facts are facts, independent of man's feelings, wishes, hopes, or fears.
  2. Reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man's sences) is mans only means of prociving reality, his source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.
  3. Man - every man - is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness, is the highest moral purpose of his life. 
  4. The ideal political-economic system laissez-fair capitalism. It is a system where men deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as traders, by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit. It is a system in which no man may obtain any values from others by resulting to physical force, and no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. The government acts only as a policeman that protects man's rights; it uses physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use, such as criminals or foreign invaders. In a system of full capitalism there should be (but historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church" From: www.aynrand.org 

Objectivism is, therefore, basically based on the idea that reality is an objective absolute. It also holds that happiness is the highest moral goal.

 

 

Political Views:

Ayn Rand's political views are anti-communist, anti-statist, and pro-capitalist. They also emphasized individualism, and the constitutional right to life, liberty, and property.

 

Libertarianism

1. "I do not join or endorse any political group or movement. More specifically, I disapprove of, disagree with and have no connection with, the latest aberration of some conservatives, the so-called "hippies of the right", who attempt to snare the younger or more careless ones of my readers by claiming simultaneously to be followers of my philosophy and advocates of anarchism. Anyone offering such a comination confesses his inability to understand either." [ Ayn rand "the objectivist" September 1971] www.aynrand.org

3. Many see Libertarianism as an act of threat of the establishment of a state but all that Libertarianism promotes is the maximum increase of liberty to citizens and is the absence of tyranny. www.chaospark.com

4. Promotes no supreme ruler to community and do not act as socialism or communism do.

5."A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others."(Ayn Rand) www.brainyquotes.com/quotes/author/a/ayn_rand.html

 

Randian Hero

     1. The concept Ayn Rand had for an ideal man, as in her fiction books she wrote, is a man who possessed strong, high morals and is heroically rational. The hero represents the kind of man that performs actions to his will along with the way he survives is by reason. Also, the hero's "highest moral purpose" to him is happiness.

2. Ayn Rand's characteristics of her hero are for him to be "tall, blond, clear-eyed, ruggedly handsome and well-built"(Tucille 116-117). For woman, she is to be slim, have pure calmness in her, and stand in ways that make her look powerful, more advance than others. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randian_hero 

3. That the Randian Hero independence leads them to wherever he/she wants and leading to conflicts to other people. But the hero continues to achieve their goals.  

4. Marxist philosopher "sees the Randian hero to be phallocratic" due to the hero being seen as a feminine subject made in "the desire of the Other to a "being of pure drive" indifferent towards it". thus, seeing the hero as not a true universal hero but as a feminine hero (Zizek 107-108).

5." Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice."- Ayn Rand www.brainyquote.com/quotes/author/a/ayn_rand.html

 

 

Ethics and Morals:

Abortion

Ayn Rand was definitely pro-choice. She said that "Abortion is a moral right" and that the decision should be left to the woman involved.  

 

Views on Euthanasia:

"the essence of political liberty is the right to control one's own body (and to end it's existence), free of state coercion." - Dr. Bernstein, a professor of philosophy and a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute, promoting the philosophy of Ayn Rand author of Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

 

" It is no accident that the strongest hostility towards euthanasia comes from devout religionists. For on their view, a man's life does not belong to himself, but to God. The anti-evolution law did not permit a man to choose how to think; the anti-euthanasia does not permit a man to choose how to live. The first was directed against man's mind, the second against his body, but the principle is identical: the individual's life is ultimately to be controlled by some higher authority." -Dr Bernstein www.aynrand.org

 

Views on the Death Penalty:

"Life is a choice we must make consciously and seriously, or else we may find that, by default we have chosen the  alternative: suffering and death," -ayn rand

Ayn Rand's view on the Death Penalty is unknown for she never provided an answer for that topic. But according to her philosophies and words, she believed that a person has no right to take another person's life. So in conclusion, Ayn Rand would not have supported the Death Penalty. 

 

Some of Rand's quotations:

"Happiness is that state of consciousness that proceeds from the achievement of one's values."

"I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction on my being. I am the warrant and the sanction."-Anthem

"Pride is the recognition of the fact that you are your own highest value and, like all of man's values, it has to be earned."-Atlas Shrugged

"That which you call your soul or spirit is our consiousness, And that which you call 'free will' is your mind's freedom to think or not, the only will you have, your only freedom, the choice that controls all the choices you make and determines your life and your character."-Atlas Shrugged

The quotations above were found at www.quotationspage.com

 

 

Sources:

1. www.aynrand.org

 

2. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randian_hero

 

3. www.brainyquote.com/quotes/author/a/ayn_rand.html

 

4. www.quotationspage.com

 

5. www.chaospark.com 

 

 

 

 

Comments (10)

adamm said

at 1:09 pm on Feb 17, 2009

who are you guys

skylerw said

at 8:43 am on Feb 27, 2009

dang you guys are far

jeng said

at 8:49 am on Feb 27, 2009

This is Jenn and Sara's page =]

saram said

at 9:00 am on Feb 27, 2009

:]

Don Pogreba said

at 10:46 pm on Mar 5, 2009

I'm a little concerned that this seems like it might need to have some more diverse sources and less direct quotation from other pages. I'd really like to see a section on the Randian hero as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randian_hero

adamm said

at 10:37 pm on Mar 6, 2009

thanks for da advice pogreba

saram said

at 7:58 am on Mar 9, 2009

adamm-find views on death penalty :]

jeng said

at 7:59 am on Mar 9, 2009

Oh and add a list of sources on the bottom. =] thanks

jeng said

at 8:07 am on Mar 9, 2009

check www.noblesoul.com

adamm said

at 11:40 am on Mar 9, 2009

NO!!!

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