Ayn Rand

She believed in a social system that respected individual rights. She characterized it as “a philosophy of living on earth”, which is grounded in reality.

Background

She was born in Russia, and moved to the United States in 1926. She was a screenwriter in Hollywood, and produced a Broadway play in 1935. In 1943 she wrote The Fountainhead, and in 1957 Atlas Shrugged was published, which was her best known work, and contained much of her philosophy.

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, she was the eldest of three daughters. Her father was a pharmacist, and the family fled to Crimea during the Russian Revolution of 1917. She returned with her family to Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) when she was 16 years old, and endured severe conditions just to survive.

She attended Petrograd State University, where she majored in history. Her study of Aristotle and Plato formed the foundation of her philosophy. She also studied Friedrich Nietzsche, Victor Hugo, Friedrich Schiller, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Edmond Rostand. She graduated in October 1924. Later she spent a year studying at the State Technicum for Screen Arts.

Ayn visited American relatives in New York City in 1925, spent a few months in Chicago with relatives, and then headed to Hollywood to become a screenwriter. While struggling to make a go of it, she took odd jobs, and then unexpectedly met the accomplished film director, Cecil B. DeMille. She obtained a part as an extra in The King of Kings. In 1929 she married actor, Frank O’Connor. She became an American citizen in 1931.

Philosophy and Political Activism

Ayn Rand stressed that the road to knowledge was paved by reason. While supporting laissez-faire capitalism, she condemned statism and collectivism, as well as any initiation of force.

She was also against all forms of dogma and institutionalized religion. Some of her writings depicted a dystopian (a society dominated by repression and control) future society based on totalitarian collectivism.

During the 1940’s she and her husband promoted free market capitalism, and supported the 1940 Presidential campaign of Wendell Willkie. Her successful 1943 novel, The Fountainhead, was both philosophical and romantic, and highlighted a person’s struggle against those who wish to take advantage of others.

Warner Brothers purchased the film rights, and Ayn wrote the screenplay. During this time she continued to promote free market capitalism and anti-communist activism. The film version of The Fountainhead was released in 1949.

Moving to New York City in 1951, she formed a group called “The Collective”, that included Alan Greenspan (future Federal Reserve Bank chairman). Initially the group discussed philosophical topics.

In 1957, her most influential book, Atlas Shrugged was published, which emphasized the role of the mind in our life, and the moral philosophy of rational self interest. This encompassed her philosophy of Objectivism and human achievement.

For the remainder of her life Ayn Rand concentrated on her Objectivist philosophy through lectures and nonfiction works. She spoke at Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Harvard Universities as well as MIT.

She took controversial stances on many social and political issues. Whether you agree with her philosophical beliefs or not, she did make a difference in encouraging people to think, and make rational decisions. She died of heart failure on March 6, 1982.

For additional information on Ayn Rand and her works and philosophy, check out The Ayn Rand Insitute. She describes the essence of her philosophy as "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." Within her philosophy she addressed esthetics, epistemology, political philosophy, metaphysics, and ethics, while stressing individual rights.

” The great creators—the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors—stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won.”

Howard Roark, in The Fountainhead

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