AYN RAND'S PHILOSOPHY

Ayn Rand spoke against the idea of selflessness most vociferously all through her life.She believed this concept was the foundation on which the evil-ish ideas of socialism and communism were based.It should however never be misinterpreted that she stood against equal opportunity to all,but she strongly believed that based on their intellect and the values they stood for, men were different and thus equating them would be an absurdity.Selflessness according to her was an excuse in disguise of virtue.An excuse for those who lacked originality,vision and strength to possess any value for their own or anyone else's sake.She holds that people who will stand tall when we look back upon our history were not driven by the will to serve others but by a vision of their
own,neither did they work towards making their vision a reality for the sake of others but because they had in them a morality that gave them their power,our reverence was not what they worked for but it was the happiness they seeked and got rewarded with throughout the process.

John Galt the central character of the book Atlas Shrugged says"You have heard no concepts of morality but the mystical or the social.For centuries,the battle of morality was fought between those who claimed that your life belongs to God and those who claimed that it belongs to your neighbors–between those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of ghosts in heaven and those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of incompetents on earth. And no one came to say that your life belongs to you and that the good is to live it.".This book was written by Ayn Rand but she was'nt just a writer,she was a woman with a vision of her own much like the heroes of her stories.A vision that cut through minds and mindsets so cleanly that even after 50 years of the first publication of Atlas Shrugged it came second after Bible in a census conducted in the U.S for finding the most influential book.Through all her books she tried to educate the readers about the philosophy that she was true to and considered as the only true philosophy.The philosophy is known as objectivity.

Most dictionaries define objectivity as the approach that believes in the absolute nature of truth and it being independent of human existence or belief.Applying such an approach in philosophy turns it into a mathematics of sorts. The universal validity of mathematical relations arise from the absolute nature of the numbers and operations involved and as such the concept of absoluteness of truth implies that a universal moral code valid for everyone is also possible.The analogy to mathematics is noticed in Ayn Rand's own words "Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong." which reminds of the popular logic in mathematics that when a contradiction arises some assumption must be wrong.In this world of objective reality a man is armed with just his power to reason and to serve only one morality-living life for one's own happiness.Happiness as defined by Rand is the direct reward of being true to your values.

At times Rand's philosophy seems to be built to counter the ideas of socialism and communism.The anti hero of the socialists and communists- the industrialist with no sense of empathy for the masses or the scientific visionary whose ideas could send thousands of workforce jobless seem to be the hero of all of Rand's books.However her heroes are not driven by the money that they earn but by the happiness involved in making money through the vision they hold and by never compromising with their values in doing so.Moreover her heroes were very honest and ethical.They looked after their workers well, not out of empathy though, but because they thought them to be deserving.

Her philosophy approaches everything from an individual's point of view and so for her the purpose of civilization is to free the individual from the herd and the purpose of society is to ensure, this freedom remains intact.Likewise Rand believes in a completely deregulated economy and that government should only be responsible for protecting citizens from unrational and criminal elements of the society.Her philosiphy denounces every thing that is not reasonable be it god,superstitions,metaphysics,concept of soul or rebirth.Faith cannot be blind she says as it is born from a rational process of identifying an entity which never contradicts its integrity.

Ayn Rand was an atheist and whatever adjectives a devout follower ascribes to his god Rand ascribed to man.She was a hero worshipper and believed that every thing was possible for men with original vision and stength to stand by their values.Now most of us are conditioned to believe that true happiness is to be found in some metaphysical realm upon exorcising ourselves of our cravings for all worldly pleasures.To this Rand would have said "Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be waiting for us in our graves - or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth".
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