Objectivism

“My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.” 

Ayn Rand

Rand argues, with clarity and cogency, that selfishness is a virtue, that reality is knowable and that happiness depends on knowing it, and that human identity is individual and not based on collective membership.

Objectivism is the name of the philosophy of Ayn Rand, described by her as a “philosophy for living on Earth” – a philosophy with clear guidelines on how to live your life to its full potential.

What is Objectivism? Ayn Rand herself once tried to explain her philosophy in such a manner that its core points could be understood and explained “while standing on one foot”.

Metaphysics: Objective Reality

Reality exists as an objective absolute — facts are facts, independent of man’s feelings, wishes, hopes or fears

Epistemology: Reason

Reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man’s senses) is man’s only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.

Ethics: Self-interest

Man — every man — is an end in himself, not the 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.

Politics: Capitalism

The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire 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 where no man may obtain any values from others by resorting 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.