United StatesWho was Ayn Rand?
Ayn Rand was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1905. Her family's life was disrupted by the 1917 revolution, and in 1925 she left the Soviet Union for the United States, deciding not to return. Her first novel, We the Living (1936), depicted life under communist rule. She became widely known for The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957), novels that dramatize individualism and productive achievement. In later essays she developed a philosophy she called Objectivism, covering ethics, politics and knowledge. She died in New York City in 1982.
Political views
Held that laissez-faire capitalism is the only moral social system because it rests on voluntary trade and respects people as ends in themselves.
Source: plato.stanford.eduCalled for a complete separation of state and economics, comparing it to the separation of state and church.
Source: aynrand.orgArgued that government's only proper function is protecting individual rights through police, courts and armed forces under objective law.
Source: plato.stanford.eduRejected anarchism as unworkable because it lacks a single objective legal system, a point disputed by Murray Rothbard and others.
Source: plato.stanford.eduOpposed military conscription and laws enforcing virtue or welfare, and championed a woman's right to make her own reproductive choices.
Source: plato.stanford.eduGrounded rights in human nature and reason rather than divine law or legislation, consistent with her atheist naturalism.
Source: aynrand.orgSaw the trader and the warrior as fundamental antagonists, arguing that capitalism excludes physical force from social relations.
Source: plato.stanford.edu
Legacy
Rand's novels have sold millions of copies and remain influential among libertarians, entrepreneurs and some conservative politicians. Admirers value her moral defense of capitalism and individual achievement. Many academic philosophers have criticized her arguments as underdeveloped, and critics on the left and among religious conservatives reject her view of altruism and self-interest. She largely disowned the libertarian movement that drew on her work, and her ideas continue through the Ayn Rand Institute and other organizations.
In their words
No man may initiate the use of physical force against others.
Rights are conditions of existence required by man's nature for his proper survival.