Rand was a proponent of what she called rational self interest. Her ideas follow most closely to those of Locke, in that she believed that humans are naturally rational and self preserving beings. She derived her metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, political, and esthetic principles from this assertion. Staying in the context of the class I will focus on her political views. Like Locke, Rand believed that the rights of life, liberty, and property are derived from human's nature. Unlike Locke, Rand does not make the assertion that humans transfer some of their rights to government through social contract. Rand states that the proper role of government is only in the protection of its citizens inherent rights. This means that only the military (to protect against foreign threats), the police (to protect against internal threats), and the judiciary (to establish laws to deal with those who do infringe upon other's rights) should exist. Although because she did not believe in taxes, the funding of these institution remains in question.
With the major debate over the role of government that ensues today, I strongly urge all to look further in to Rand's philosophy of objectivism. Although it is tempting to immediately right her seemingly "crazy" ideas of selfishness and complete capitalism off, it is very important to take the time to read further into her moral defense of capitalism. It is apparent that people are already increasingly doing so, as seen in the increase in sales of her writings, and in the production of the Atlas Shrugged the movie (which kind of sucks). In the context of our class, I think many of you would find her writings very thought provoking, and her novels very entertaining, for she builds off of the ideas of the enlightenment writers, and intertwines these ideas into heroic novels.
Christopher,
ReplyDeleteI love this post, but I wish you would dig a step or two deeper. Let me start by saying that Atlas Shrugged was a formative book in my political self, I continually reread and refer back to passages for inspiration and understanding.
In today's day and age, with record government spending and a vastly broadened scope of federal government, the ideas in Atlas Shrugged have never been more important. As we approach the "Fiscal Cliff" and talk about raising taxes on the wealthiest of Americans, when do we start considering the ramifications of the productive "motors" of our economy deciding its not worth it to continue to push and innovate. I'm not saying that there should be a "strike" in the dramatized way Galt calls for, but the idea of decentivizing hard work is the effect of higher taxes and more entitlement programs.
By the way, I happen to love the Atlas Shrugged movie (both Part I and Part II).
Brad
Having only read Rand’s The Fountainhead myself, I cannot accurately speak for the book Atlas Shrugged, but from reading The Fountainhead, I do know about Rand’s philosophy of objectivism and rational self-interest. I think that calling her philosophies “crazy” is just a mode of deterrence for people who do not want these ideas to be implemented in society, because her ideas are not actually extreme in terms of ideology, because Rand simply advocates that people follow their natural self-interest in order to benefit society to the greatest degree, because then everyone will be truly productive and happy, because they are following their desires and doing what they would presumably be best at, since it is what they love. Her ideas of capitalism are also in this vein, because the free market in the Rand philosophy will give rise to the highest quality of products, making everything, especially industrial things, safer and more efficient.
ReplyDeleteRand talks a lot about industrialism as well, though in a completely contrasting way to Karl Marx. Marx blames industrialism for the rise of capitalism and the oppression of the laborer, while Rand takes a more romanticized view of the industrialist, painting them as hard-working, passionate, and tangibly human in their efforts. Marx and Rand take essentially opposing views on industrialism and capitalism; Marx claiming that both are means of oppression, and Rand claiming that both are means of obtaining personal freedom.
The observation that Rand’s books have become recently more popular again I think indeed has to do with the major changes happening in our government’s structure, such as Obamacare or the extension of many welfare and social programs, and people’s reactions to those changes. Because many people would like to preserve the classical liberal model of government structure, philosophers that support this like Rand are being increasingly looked to for support of this theory of government.