capitalism

O
OBJECTIVISM
Objectivism is the term that Ayn Rand coined to describe
her system of ideas. The central themes of Objectivism are
that individuals should regard their own happiness as an
end in itself; that reason is their only source of knowledge
and moral guidance; that people should deal with each
other on the basis of mutually beneficial trade, rather than
sacrifice; and that the ideal political and legal system is
laissez-faire capitalism, in which a strictly limited government
protects individuals’ rights to life, liberty, and property.
Thus, Objectivism includes aspects of libertarianism
as a political doctrine, but it grounds that doctrine in the
broader context of an entire philosophical system.
Rand articulated those ideas in her best-selling novels
The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and in nonfiction
works such as The Virtue of Selfishness and Capitalism:
The Unknown Ideal. She was among the most influential
authors in launching the modern libertarian movement.
Some previous writers had defended the morality of free
exchange and the many benefits it creates, but Rand’s distinctive
contribution to the defense of capitalism was to
portray it as a moral ideal. Her ethical theory revolves
around the love of achievement, and she saw capitalism as
the only economic and social system that consistently fostered
and rewarded productive work and achievement. With
the failure of some socialist communities, some intellectuals
had argued that man was not good enough for socialism.
Rand argued that socialism was not good enough for man.
Every philosophical system rests on a basic worldview
regarding the nature of reality and man’s place in it.
Objectivism holds that there is no higher realm beyond the
natural world perceivable by the senses, that nature is
governed by a causal order discoverable by science, and
that man is an animal who, like other animals, is part of
that order. It denies the existence of God and of any life
hereafter. It holds that reason is man’s only means of
knowledge—not only in science, but in morality and other
humanistic areas—and thus denies the validity of faith,
revelation, and other nonrational sources of knowledge.
Unlike many secular thinkers, however, Rand did not
reduce human nature to conditioned reflexes, evolutionary
drives, or economic interests. Objectivism holds that man’s
faculty of reason, while dependent on the evidence of the
senses for its data, allows us to go beyond what is directly
given, integrating sensory data into abstract concepts and
principles, using logic to derive inferences from observations,
and developing comprehensive theories to explain
what we observe. Reason allows us to live by production,
rather than by scavenging or plunder. As a volitional faculty,
reason also gives rise to the need for morality and for
other nonmaterial goods, such as art and love.
A philosophical system also must address issues of good
and evil, values and virtues, and justice and rights—in
short, the nature and standards of morality. Rand was an
advocate of ethical egoism, the moral principle that a
person should pursue his own self-interest. She was a vehement
opponent of altruism, the ethical principle that prescribes
self-sacrifice and service to others as the highest or
primary good. Challenging both the religious tradition of
subservience to God and the collectivist call for subordinating
the individual to the collective, she argued that altruism
is irrational and that it stifles everything good in human
nature. The purpose of morality, Rand held, “is to teach
you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live.”
Objectivist ethics is a form of enlightened egoism. It
does not define self-interest in terms of subjective desire,
nor of exclusively material goods such as wealth. Rather,
as Rand put it, self-interest is defined by “the terms, methods,
conditions and goals required for the survival of a
rational being through the whole of his lifespan.” As a living
being, man must survive by the exercise of his mind,
with happiness as the emotional barometer of success.
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