Abstract
Since Atlas Shrugged first appeared on the shelves of American bookstores in 1957, critics of Ayn Rand and her philosophy, Objectivism, immediately spread all around the world. Throughout her novels and philosophy, Ayn Rand depicted extraordinary men who used their minds in order to produce, achieve their own happiness, live their lives to the fullest. They were egoistic and had an absolute code of values to guide their choices and actions. The new morality that she proposed was based on the concept of rational egoism. The catalyst of her moral and philosophical attacks is the pursuit of altruism – in the definition given by Auguste Comte in System of Positive Polity, Volume 4: Containing the Theory of the Future Man of 1851. According to the Russian-borne philosopher, sacrificing own’s self-interests for others had left philosophic vacuum and lack of rationality and purpose in one own’s life. False definitions and irrational schools of thought throughout centuries, corrupted real values such as rationality and egoism. Under this light, opponents of her philosophy, in particular her concept of rational egoism, have not stopped writing against her. In this paper I first give a brief overview of Objectivism, the philosophy she invented, focusing on the implications relevant in this circumstance, then I address major criticism raised against her concept of rational egoism and I give them responses. They are related to 1) utilitarianism; 2) the achievement of happiness; 3) extremism; 4) avoidance of conflicts of interests; 5) incompatibility with ‘society’.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Rational Egoism, Politics, Philosophy, Society, Ayn Rand, Objectivism
