Ayn Rand’s Philosophy: The Art of Individualism, Purpose, Responsibility, and Self-Esteem
Photo portrait credited to "Talbot", published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company
Ayn Rand was the Russian-born American writer and philosopher, best known as the author of the philosophy of objectivism and the author of two timeless novels, “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged” - one of the most impactful books of the 20th century.
Her philosophy and points of view influenced 20th-century thinkers and beyond, stimulating the general debate on individualism, rational selfishness, and human responsibility.
Ayn emphasized the crucial role of individuals that have to reach their goals, potential, and happiness within themselves, not being reliant on others. She proposed the concept of man as a heroic being with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life. Additionally, his productive achievements are his noblest activity and Reason the only absolute guidance in the objective reality.
Rand was skeptical about institutions, often questioning their legitimacy, instead, she encouraged individuals to be independent and build bottom-up initiatives from scratch. Additionally, she was trying to avoid the wisdom of the crowds and what’s interesting is that she considered the Founding Fathers as heroes as they built a country based on individual rights.
“The Right to the Pursuit of Happiness means man’s right to live for himself, to choose what constitutes his own private, personal, individual happiness and to work for its achievement, so long as he respects the same right in others.”
I think that the above-mentioned quote grasps her philosophy pretty well and is a good foundation for conveying the idea of Ayn Rand’s ideas. The Right to pursue Happiness is the essence of Objectivism philosophy.
The 20th-century thought-provoking contrarian encouraged individuals to perceive reality by the power of reason, to have a purpose and strive to achieve personal happiness by productive achievement, and above all to have self-esteem, which she considered at the base level as the love for oneself.
1. Pursuing Self-happiness as a moral purpose.
“Man is entitled to his own happiness and that he must achieve it himself. He cannot demand that others give up their lives to make him happy. And nor should he wish to sacrifice himself for the happiness of others. I hold that man should have self-esteem.”
The grand theme of Ayn’s Rand philosophy that emphasized individualism and responsibility is to pursue and reach self-happiness within ourselves, which she considered to be the highest value and moral virtue.
And this concept often is misunderstood because it’s not about exploiting others for our advantage and gains. Her point is that everyone should realize their highest potential by seeking rational goals and living in harmony with others by respecting everyone’s right to live and happiness.
Rand believed that achieving happiness is the proof of self-integrity that resulted from being loyal to one's values. Additionally, she considered happiness as self-contained and self-sufficient. Rand described the happy man first and foremost as a free person.
In her timeless novel, The Fountainhead, she wrote:
“Every form of happiness is private. Our greatest moments are personal, self-motivated, not to be touched. The things which are sacred or precious to us are the things we withdraw from promiscuous sharing.“
And I think that quote grasped her notion of happiness and individualism from both perspectives.
Firstly, it’s the expression of her individual-oriented philosophy, highlighting that happiness is private and the greatest moments are personal. She believed in individuals' capacities to pursue happiness and be able to achieve it themselves.
Secondly, it also showed why she was skeptical about institutions that dictated the set of morals, questioning their foundations. Many people are obedient and operate following the guidelines of top-down institutions, but it’s not authentic and above all self-motivated. It’s often the signal for seeking validation, the social status, and the expression of fear of being rejected.
Happiness for Ayn Rand means a state of consciousness that comes from the fulfillment of our values. But often happiness is misunderstood and misidentified with simple momentary pleasures and mindless self-indulgence. Happiness should be rather rational and, first and foremost, a long-lasting feeling of self-esteem and pride in achievement, not temporary pleasures.
2. Self-esteem.
Self-esteem is reliance on one's power to think. It cannot be replaced by one's power to deceive.
Ayn Rand was a great enthusiast of the human’ self-esteem. She was often falsely associated with the word selfishness, which she didn’t appreciate, and instead, she preferred the word self-esteem. And for Rand, it meant living according to nature by the judgment of the mind and respect for it.
This attitude of self-esteem for Rand meant that a person can appreciate and respect himself by regarding himself as a value. And this deep belief in the possibility of developing one’s self-esteem is about respecting the potential of being a morally virtuous person.
In her bestselling book, Atlas Shrugged, she wrote:
“Self-esteem, as his inviolate certainty that his mind is competent to think and his person is worthy of happiness, which means: is worthy of living“
In Ayn Rand's philosophy, the expression of self-esteem meant that a certain person not only appreciates and respects himself but also views himself as a value worth developing and preserving.
In other words, self-esteem is the permission to pursue happiness, which also means permission to a dignified life because the great purpose of the philosophy of Objectivism is to achieve self-happiness, understood as realizing the highest potential by achieving great goals ourselves.
In short, the essence of self-esteem is love for oneself. But most importantly is that you can achieve self-esteem through efficacious action in objective reality. And it seems crucial for our development because sometimes, even though we do not have enough knowledge of reality, we still have a sense of self-worth to deepen it and integrate the truth through our first-hand experiences made by following our reason.
“A man of independent judgment is a man of profound self-esteem.“
By developing our self-esteem through the lens of reason and an independent mind, we have enough power not to be afraid to pursue our happiness and we value ourselves enough to experience reality, setbacks, victories, and overall development as human beings. It’s a productive and positive approach to have.
3. The power of Reason.
“A man, if he wants to be an intellectual, has to learn how to differentiate his thinking, his reasoned judgment, from his emotions, wishes, hopes, fears or whims.”
Ayn Rand as an individual highly grounded in the philosophy of objectivism and rationalism considered knowledge as the guide to reality, and she rejected emotions as the tools of cognition. She believed that man must be guided by reason, and the proper frame of reference for reality is when emotions are the consequences of reason, not the leader of it.
Ayn Rand thought that reason is man’s only faculty for perceiving reality and the only means by which man can achieve knowledge of reality.
Rand often raised the topic of the so-called “ideal man“ as an individual highly grounded in the objective reality supported by the power of reason.
The distinguishing characteristic of an ideal man, according to Rand, is an independent man guided exclusively by reason with great self-esteem striving for his personal happiness. And the rational man would never permit himself to act on the guidance of emotions. A man guided by reason always knows what and why he’s doing.
Additionally, Rand thought that a man never should expect others to sacrifice for him and he should respect the independence and the rights of others and never take part in any kind of enslavement.
“Man who reject the responsibility of thought and reason can only exist as parasites on the thinking of others“
In the philosophy of Ayn Rand, a rational man should be guided by his thinking and supported by independent judgment, which are the features of human reason. And the mind, according to the creator of the philosophy of Objectivism is our only tool of cognition that allows us to perceive reality properly.
4. Objectivism
“My philosophy is based on the concept that reality exists as an objective absolute. That man’s mind, reason, is his means of perceiving it. And that man need a rational morality. “
Ayn Rand described her view of metaphysics as an acceptance of the existence of the objective reality, the view of which can essentially be condensed to Francis Bacon's quote, "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed."
And in this view, we can notice some similarities to the philosophy of Stoicism. And both Stoicism and Ayn Rand's philosophy, Objectivism, accepts objective reality and emphasizes our pursuit of values and improving our lives by following our reason. The difference, however, is that Ayn Rand's objectivity emphasizes man's free will, while Stoicism supports a more deterministic worldview.
I wrote a blog post on “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius, and one of his crucial pieces of advice is to focus on our minds, not outside events.
The essence of objectivism is that reality exists as an objective absolute independent of man’s feelings, emotions, views, fears, and wishes. In short, facts are facts. And the reason is man’s only means of perceiving reality and the source of knowledge.
Rand has developed a code of morality that is not based on faith, social beliefs of arbitrary whim, but on reason, which means that morality can be proved by logic and shown to be true and necessary.
“Man—every man—is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others“
The understanding of the idea of Objectivism begins with the embracement of the fact that existence exists, that the facts are facts, independent of our subjective perceptions. And our mission is to discover reality’s nature and learn to perform successfully in the objective reality.
Combining the idea of reality as an objective absolute, existing regardless of human views with man’s free will and his ability to perceive that absolute by the support of reason gives man motivation to work on his mind and independent judgment. And it's worth working on because the stakes are high, we can always reality, but can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.
5. Love.
“Love is the expression of one’s values, the greatest reward you can earn for the moral qualities you have achieved in your character and person, the emotional price paid by one man for the joy he receives from the virtues of another.“
Ayn Rand was of the view of a strong relationship between values, virtues, and love. She believed that we do not love someone unconditionally, but we love for the values a given person represents. Rand said that the currency in love is a virtue.
The influential 20th-century thinker considered the love placed above oneself not only immoral but also the impossible. Rand thought that loving people indiscriminately and causelessly don’t have much in common with real love based on the virtues, and she compared this kind of love to asking to love nobody.
“Man has free will. If a man wants love, he should correct his flaws and he may deserve it [love].“
Rand always emphasized the power of love based on virtues and values. She encouraged us to support our life with thoughts and efforts of mind because they are the proper tools for perceiving reality. They allow us to hold independent judgment and deepen our perspective of reality. And a man must be in his most elevated state of mind before thinking about pursuing a romantic relationship because the stronger mind, the stronger foundation of love based on values.
Talking about Ayn Rand's philosophy is inevitably related to the notion of self-happiness or selfishness. And, according to Rand, falling in love is one of the most properly selfish emotions because we love the significant other due to the fact we consider her or him as a true value, and she or he contributes to our happiness. “Love is not self-sacrifice, but the most profound assertion of your own needs and values. It is for your own happiness that you need the person you love, and that is the greatest compliment, the greatest tribute you can pay to that person.“
The concept of love and building a mutual relationship based on deep virtues may seem to be contradictory to the whole of Ayn Rand's philosophy. But it is in our interest to help and support the significant other because, according to Rand, we take selfish pleasure and contribute to our happiness and the development of our virtues by doing so.
6. Responsibility.
“The evasion of responsibility is the major cause of most peoples frustrations and defeats.”
Ayn Rand was in favor of building a moral discipline by accepting full responsibility for our actions and choices. She also thought that by taking personal responsibility, we can achieve independence, which, according to Rand, is one of the signs of the rational and ideal human being. Otherwise, we can only perform as the reflection of the other’s thoughts.
“Men who reject the responsibility of thought and reason can only exist as parasites on the thinking of others.“
The idea of personal responsibility goes well together with Rand’s concept of pursuing happiness as a higher moral purpose. And taking responsibility means not placing artificial barriers in the pursuit of life as long as we’re not hurting other people.
Taking responsibility is a human struggle with his limitations, weaknesses, or perhaps failures. But most importantly, this struggle should be supported by the mind and independent judgment to fully realize one's potential. And this concept, while being supported by previously mentioned the idea of self-esteem, described as the love for oneself should make such a struggle much easier.
Additionally, Ayn Rand in terms of responsibility often advised us that we shouldn’t expect others to be forced to help us.
“A man who seeks escape from the responsibility of supporting his life by his own thought and effort, and wishes to survive by conquering, ruling and exploiting others, is NOT an Individualist.“
The idea of taking full responsibility seemed to be consistent with the whole picture of Ayn Rand’s philosophy which emphasizes the concept of man as a heroic being who strives for his own happiness and faces challenges, accepting the existence of reality as it is.
And Rand noted that, unfortunately, many people try to escape this responsibility by surrendering to easier and automatic actions, such as being guided by emotions, fears, or subjective artifacts.
We as human beings are born into certain circumstances that are not of our own making, and there are conditions we cannot change, but the uplifting fact is that we also have free will, therefore the shape of our lives take is up to us. And the concepts of the power of reason, taking responsibility, self-esteem, and the pursuit of happiness as a moral goal can greatly facilitate this shaping of our lives and make it much easier and more fulfilling.
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Summary
I think that the great summary of the Ayn Rand's philosophy could be described by the words of the character named John Galt from her bestselling book Atlas Shrugged:
“To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and ruling values of his life: Reason, Purpose, and Self-esteem.” - John Galt.
Achieving self-happiness is the moral purpose that we must fulfill within ourselves without demanding that others give up their lives to make us happy.
Self-esteem essentially means the love for ourselves, but also it’s the permission to pursue happiness and esteem ourselves as a value worth developing and persevering.
“A man, if he wants to be an intellectual, has to learn how to differentiate his thinking, his reasoned judgment, from his emotions, wishes, hopes, fears or whims.”
The essence of objectivism is that reality exists as an objective absolute independent of man’s feelings, emotions, views, fears, and wishes. In short, facts are facts. And the reason is man’s only means of perceiving reality and the source of knowledge.
“Love is the expression of one’s values, the greatest reward you can earn for the moral qualities you have achieved in your character and person, the emotional price paid by one man for the joy he receives from the virtues of another.“
Taking responsibility is the moral discipline we should cultivate to become an independent individual who strives for their own happiness and faces challenges, accepting the existence of reality as it is.