Ayn Rand's "Objectivism"

I loathe Ayn Rand but I want to be fair. Is there anything -- anything -- to her crud philosophy of "Objectivism?" Or is it just the brilliant idea that there's a world out there independent of us (Who'd ever have thunk it?)?

Objectivism is an entirely subjective perspective on the world based on Ayn Rand's formative experiences in the Soviet Union, when her father's business was taken away from him twice. Her "world out there" is essentially a device for arguing that her anti-collectivist ideas are actually objective truth. Objectivism is understandable but not reasonable, in my opinion. Unless one is totally self-serving and morally bankrupt with a total disregard for the future of society, in which case it's totally logically consistent.

Was this stupid cow even aware of the epistemological debate carried out by Berkeley, Hume and Kant (though of course they weren't around at the same time)? So the idea of Objectivism is: "There's a world out there. It is possible to know it absolutely. And my philosophy of 'Grab what you can and the devil take the hindmost' depicts it completely and totally." Now if this is correct, this "philosophy" is an eclectic mix of Social Darwinism, Nietzsche (notion of superman and "Beyond good and evil") and Carlyle (Great Man theory of history). Do note, I'm trying to be fair to this harridan. If I've missed something, let me know: I don't want to throw the baby out of with the bath water. Perhaps I'm missing some key insight.

As far as I can tell, you have it in a nutshell.
Interestingly, In the prologue to The Fountainhead (which is excellent; if Ayn Rand hadn't been busy crowbarring Objectivism into her works, she'd have been a first-rate novelist), Ayn Rand actually mentions Nietzsche, expressing admiration but feeling that her more Apollonian (my words) approach to the same ideas is superior to his Dionysian one.

hermeticist wrote:I loathe Ayn Rand but I want to be fair. Is there anything -- anything -- to her crud philosophy of "Objectivism?" Or is it just the brilliant idea that there's a world out there independent of us (Who'd ever have thunk it?)?

"Objectivism" is merely a form of ethical egoism allegedly based upon inductive reasoning. It postulates that happiness can only be attained by following one's rational self-interest—which, according to Rand and her disciples, is synonymous with bourgeois values (e.g., self-aggrandizement, acquisitiveness, competitiveness, etc.). It ignores the fact that humanity's moral consciousness varies according to material conditions and that, if human beings have a static nature at all, it's that we're a fundamentally social species.

As I've argued elsewhere, heroic individualism is a ridiculous concept. Individual minds are obviously of immense importance in all manner of scientific and artistic endeavors, but it's impossible to abstract the individual from his social context. Creative ideas don't emerge ex nihilo, there's a social basis behind every invention and innovation—e.g., geniuses are still the beneficiaries of educational curricula, nourishment provided by their community, police protection, government infrastructure, etc., without which no individual could possibly actualize their innate potential. Objectivism doesn't attempt to address matters of class exploitation because it possesses no theory of class, nor does it analyze the illogical principles upon which capitalism is based.

I believe Corey Robin summarizes Ayn Rand's "philosophy" quite well in the following clip:

That clip made me feel sad. Why do you always make me feel sad, Celt?

RedSun wrote:That clip made me feel sad. Why do you always make me feel sad, Celt?

It's my raison d'être.