Ayn Rand Flashcards
Rand’s key works
Atlas Shrugged - 1957
Secured her status as a talented libertarian + new right thinker
Explained that talented individuals lay at the heart of any successful society, rather than an ambitious government
Without energy of individuals, the state would quickly wither - no matter how much help from gov
Rand’s ’objectivism’
Idea restated in book ‘The virtue of selfishness’ - 1964
Belief = we should all be guided by self-interest and ‘rational self-fulfilment’
Rand’s association with ‘atomism’
Atomism = a new right term for a society which is defined by millions of autonomous individuals, each independently search for self-fulfilment + self-realisation
Rand’s worked served as a philosophical justication that community was not a practical form, but rather a loose collection of independent individuals
Rand + the new rights link to classic + neo liberalism
Rand’s ideas consistent of classic and neo liberalism, but gained attention through the New Right movement of the 70’s
Rands objectivist theory became strongly connected to the new rights support of laissez-faire capitalism and the use of negative liberty (smaller welfare state)
Provided a philosophical judgement to ‘roll back the frontiers of the state‘ via tax cuts and privatisation
Rand’s objectivist philosophy
Objectivist theory = ones own happiness was the moral purpose of their life , with productive achievement as their noblest activity, and reason as their only absolute
Rand’s view of herself as a libertarian, and her view on equality
Called herself a libertarian due to her favour for the free-market but the individuals ‘right to choose’
Although she supported areas such as homosexuality + abortion, she was against native American’s right to their ancestral land / property
How did Rand strengthen her connection to conservatism
Stated liberty was impossible without order + security, which only the state could provide
Supported the ultra-conservative US presidential candidate Barry Goldman in 1964 - where she wrote ‘ the small state is the strong state’
Barry Goldman got defeated in a landslide victory for LBJ
