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
The philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand first composed the philosophy of Objectivism, and it was made popular by her famous novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead . She described it as a philosophy for living on earth. Objectivism is an integrated system of thought that defines the abstract principles by which a man must think and act if he is to live the life proper to man.
Concepts that are informed by sensory experience and logic, rather than from abstract concepts and pure reasoning, are what a rational philosophy ought to talk about. Objectivism is a philosophy done rigorously - it is a philosophical system based on complete logical validation.
Every concept in Objectivism is attributed logically from prior concepts (except for the axioms) - it is a rational whole. It means to describe all the branches of philosophy in an intelligible way, being a philosophical system, and answer their major questions. These questions are:
• What is the fundamental nature of reality? Is reality dependent on our minds, or independent of our minds? (metaphysics)
• How can we acquire knowledge, and what is the nature of this knowledge? (epistemology)
• How should we live? (ethics)
• How should we assemble in society? What institutions should we establish to live in society? (politics)
• What forms of art should we seek? (esthetics)
The essence of Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism is as follows:
1. Metaphysics: Objective Reality
2. Epistemology: Reason
3. Ethics: Self-interest
4. Politics: Capitalism
Translated into a more familiar language, it would read:
1. "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" or "Wishing won't make it so."
2. "You can't eat your cake and have it, too."
3. "Man is an end in himself."
4. "Give me liberty or give me death."
If you held these concepts with total conformance, as the base of your convictions, you would have a full philosophical arrangement to guide the course of your life. To understand, define, to prove and apply them, a great quantity of thought is required to hold them with total conformance. Particularly in the field of politics, this is the superior philosophical position today.
The philosophy of Objectivism holds that:
1. Facts are facts, independent of man's feelings, wishes, hopes or fears - reality exists as an objective absolute.
2. Man's only means of perceiving reality is through reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man's senses). Reality is his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.
3. Man's pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. Man - every man - is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others.
4. The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism. It is a system where men deal with one another as traders, by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves. It is a system where no man may initiate the use of physical force against others, and no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force. The government uses physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use, such as criminals or foreign invaders; it acts only as a policeman that protects man's rights. In a system of full capitalism, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church, there should be (but, historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics.
The basic principles of Objectivism can be summarised as follows:
1. Metaphysics: "Reality, the external world, exists independent of man's consciousness, independent of any observer's knowledge, beliefs, feelings, desires or fears. This means that A is A, that facts are facts, that things are what they are - and the task of man's consciousness is to perceive reality, not to create or invent it." Any belief in the supernatural, and any claim that individuals or groups create their own reality, would be rejected by Objectivism.
2. Epistemology: "Man's reason is fully competent to know the facts of reality. Reason, the conceptual faculty, is the faculty that identifies and integrates the material provided by man's senses. Reason is man's only means of acquiring knowledge." Mysticism (any acceptance of faith or feeling as a means of knowledge) and skepticism (the claim that certainty or knowledge is impossible) would be rejected by Objectivism.
3. Human Nature: Man is a rational being. Reason, as man's only means of knowledge, is his basic means of survival. But the exercise of reason depends on each individual's choice. "Man is a being of volitional consciousness." "That which you call your soul or spirit is your consciousness, and that which you call 'free will' is your mind's freedom to think or not, the only will you have, your only freedom. This is the choice that controls all the choices you make and determines your life and character." Any form of determinism - the belief that man is a victim of forces beyond his control (such as God, fate, upbringing, genes, or economic conditions) - would be rejected by Objectivism.
4. Ethics: "Reason is man's only proper judge of values and his only proper guide to action. The proper standard of ethics is: man's survival qua man - i.e., that which is required by man's nature for his survival as a rational being (not his momentary physical survival as a mindless brute). Rationality is man's basic virtue, and his three fundamental values are: reason, purpose, self-esteem. Man - every man - is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others; he must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others, nor sacrificing others to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life." Any form of altruism - the claim that morality consist in living for others or for society - would be rejected by Objectivism.
5. Politics: "The basic social principle of the Objectivist ethics is that no man has the right to seek values from others by means of physical force - i.e., no man or group has the right to initiate the use of physical force against others. Men have the right to use force only in self-defense and only against those who initiate its use. Men must deal with one another as traders , giving value for value, by free, mutual consent to mutual benefit. The only social system that bars physical force from human relationships is laissez-faire capitalism.
6. Capitalism is a system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which the only function of the government is to protect individual rights, i.e., to protect men from those who initiate the use of physical force." Any form of collectivism, such as fascism or socialism, would be rejected by Objectivism. The current "mixed economy" notion that the government should regulate the economy and redistribute wealth would also be rejected.
7. Esthetics: "Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgments." The purpose of art is to concretise the artist's fundamental view of existence. Ayn Rand described her own approach to art as "Romantic Realism": "I am a Romantic in the sense that I present men as they ought to be. I am Realistic in the sense that I place them here and now and on this earth." The goal of Ayn Rand's novels is the projection of an ideal man - it is not didactic but artistic. "My purpose, first cause and prime mover are the portrayal of Howard Roark or John Galt or Hank Reardan or Francisco d'Anconia as an end in himself - not as a means to any further end.
