Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Born	February 2, 1905(1905-02-02) St. Petersburg, Russia
Died	March 6, 1982 (aged 77) New York City, United States
Occupation	novelist, philosopher, playwright, screenwriter
Notable work(s)	The Fountainhead Atlas Shrugged
Influences Aristotle, John Locke, Thomas Aquinas, Friedrich Nietzsche, Victor Hugo, Henryk Sienkiewicz, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ludwig von Mises, Isabel Paterson
Influenced James Clavell, Henry Hazlitt, John Hospers, Harry Binswanger, Nathaniel Branden, Barbara Branden, Allan Gotthelf, Leonard Peikoff, George Reisman, John Ridpath, David Kelley, Tara Smith, Alan Greenspan, Terry Goodkind
Official website Ayn Rand publicity photo This is an enhanced image taken from User:Michael L. Kaufman This work is copyrighted. ... is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1905 (disambiguation). ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland... is the 65th day of the year (66th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article is about work. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ... A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... Screenwriters, scenarists, or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ... For the film, see The Fountainhead (film). ... For the film, see Atlas Shrugged (film). ... For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... For other persons named John Locke, see John Locke (disambiguation). ... Aquinas redirects here. ... Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: ) was a nineteenth-century German philologist and philosopher. ... Victor-Marie Hugo (pronounced ) (February 26, 1802 — May 22, 1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights campaigner, and perhaps the most influential exponent of the Romantic movement in France. ... Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz (IPA: [], artistic name: “Litwos”, IPA: []) ( May 5, 1846, Wola Okrzejska, Congress Poland, - November 15, 1916, Vevey, Switzerland), Oszyk Coat of Arms, was a Polish novelist and publicist. ... Fyodor Dostoevsky. ... Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) (pronounced was a notable economist and a major influence on the modern libertarian movement. ... Isabel Bowler Paterson (January 22, 1886, Manitoulin Island Canada -- 1961) was a journalist, literary critic, author, and libertarian advocate. ... James Clavell, born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell (10 October 1924 – 7 September 1994) was a British novelist, screenwriter, director and World War II hero and POW. Clavell is best known for his epic Asian Saga series of novels and their televised adaptations, along with such films as The Great Escape... Henry Hazlitt (November 28, 1894 - July 8, 1993) was a libertarian philosopher, economist and journalist for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Newsweek, among other publications. ... John Hospers (born 9 June 1918) was the first presidential candidate of the United States Libertarian Party, running in the 1972 presidential election. ... Harry Binswanger (born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1944) is a philosopher and writer. ... Nathaniel Branden (b. ... Barbara Branden (born 1929, Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a writer, editor, and lecturer. ... Allan Gotthelf (born Brooklyn NY, 1942) is emeritus professor of philosophy at The College of New Jersey and visiting professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he holds the Universitys Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism (since 2003). ... Leonard Peikoff circa 1970 Leonard Peikoff (born 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. ... George Reisman is Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University, and author of the massive 1,050-page volume Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics (ISBN 0915463733). ... John Ridpath, Ph. ... David Kelley For the producer of the same name, see David E. Kelley. ... Tara Smith is a professor of philosophy at The University of Texas at Austin who has specialized in moral and political theory. ... Squalltoonix (born March 6, 1926 in New York City) is an American economist and was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. ... Terry Goodkind (born 1948) is a contemporary American writer and author of the best-selling epic fantasy series, The Sword of Truth, which according to his publisher TOR in an August, 2006 press release[1] has more than 10 million copies in print and has been translated into 20 different...

Ayn Rand (IPA: /ˈaɪn ˈrænd/, February 2 [O.S. January 20] 1905 – March 6, 1982), born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum (Russian: Алиса Зиновьевна Розенбаум), was a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher.^[1] She is widely known for her best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism. is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Old Style redirects here. ... For other uses, see 1905 (disambiguation). ... is the 65th day of the year (66th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ... For the film, see The Fountainhead (film). ... For the film, see Atlas Shrugged (film). ... This article is about the philosophy of Ayn Rand. ...

She was an uncompromising advocate of rational individualism and laissez-faire capitalism, and vociferously opposed socialism, altruism, and other contemporary philosophical trends, as well as religion. Her influential and often controversial ideas have attracted both enthusiastic admirers and scathing denunciation. Individualism is a term used to describe a moral, political, or social outlook that stresses human independence and the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty. ... Laissez-faire is short for laissez faire, laissez passer, a French phrase meaning to let things alone, let them pass. First used by the eighteenth century Physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it is now used as a synonym for strict free market economics. ... For other uses, see Capitalism (disambiguation). ... Religious socialism Key Issues People and organizations Related subjects Socialism refers to a broad array of ideologies and political movements with the goal of a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ... For the ethical doctrine, see Altruism (ethics). ...

Introduction

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Rand's writing (both fiction and non-fiction) emphasizes the philosophic concepts of objective reality in metaphysics, reason in epistemology, and rational egoism in ethics. In politics she was a proponent of laissez-faire capitalism and a staunch defender of individual rights, believing that the sole function of a proper government is protection of individual rights (including property rights). Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... The objective reality is reality which does not depend on our existence and the way of performing observations. ... Plato (Left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. ... For other uses, see Reason (disambiguation). ... Theory of knowledge redirects here: for other uses, see theory of knowledge (disambiguation) According to Plato, knowledge is a subset of that which is both true and believed Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, methods, limitations, and validity of knowledge and belief. ... Rational egoism is the philosophical view that it is always in accordance with reason to pursue ones own interests. ... For other uses, see Politics (disambiguation). ... Laissez-faire is short for laissez faire, laissez passer, a French phrase meaning to let things alone, let them pass. First used by the eighteenth century Physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it is now used as a synonym for strict free market economics. ... Individual rights represent the moral rights of individuals in society prior to government. ... This page deals with property as ownership rights. ...

She believed that individuals must choose their values and actions solely by reason, and that "Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others." According to Rand, the individual "must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life."^[2] Because she held that faith is antithetical to reason, Rand opposed religion. For other uses, see Faith (disambiguation). ...

Rand decried the initiation of force and fraud, and held that government action should consist only in protecting citizens from criminal aggression (via the police) and foreign aggression (via the military) and in maintaining a system of courts to decide guilt or innocence for objectively defined crimes and to resolve disputes. Her politics are generally described as minarchist and libertarian, though she did not use the first term and disavowed any connection to the second.^[3] In civics, minarchism, sometimes called minimal statism or small government, is the view that the size, role and influence of government in a free society should be minimal — only large enough to protect the liberty and property of each individual. ... See also Libertarianism and Libertarian Party Libertarian,is a term for person who has made a conscious and principled commitment, evidenced by a statement or Pledge, to forswear violating others rights and usually living in voluntary communities: thus in law no longer subject to government supervision. ...

Rand, a self-described hero-worshiper, stated in her book The Romantic Manifesto that the goal of her writing was "the projection of an ideal man." In reference to her philosophy, Objectivism, she said: "My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." (Appendix to Atlas Shrugged) The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature is Ayn Rands non-fiction work, a collection of essays regarding the nature of art. ... This article is about the philosophy of Ayn Rand. ... For the film, see Atlas Shrugged (film). ...

Early life

Childhood and education

Rand was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and was the eldest of three daughters (Alisa, Natasha, and Nora)^[4] of Zinovy Zacharovich Rosenbaum and Anna Borisovna Rosenbaum, agnostic and largely non-observant ethnic Jews. Her father was a chemist and a successful pharmaceutical entrepreneur who earned the privilege of living outside the Pale.^[5] From an early age, Alisa displayed an interest in literature and film. Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland... The term agnosticism and the related agnostic were coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869. ... A chemist pours from a round-bottom flask. ... The Pale of Settlement (Черта оседлости in Russian, or cherta osedlosti) was the border region of Imperial Russia in which Jews were allowed to live. ...

Her mother taught her French and subscribed to a magazine featuring stories for boys, where Rand found her first childhood hero: Cyrus Paltons, an Indian army officer in a Rudyard Kipling-style story by Maurice Champagne, called "The Mysterious Valley".^[6] Throughout her youth, she read the novels of Sir Walter Scott, Alexandre Dumas, père and other Romantic writers, and expressed an interest in the Romantic movement as a whole. She discovered Victor Hugo at the age of thirteen, and later called him the "greatest novelist in world literature."^[7] Rand wrote that the ideal educational curriculum would be "Aristotle in philosophy, von Mises in economics, Montessori in education, Hugo in literature."^[8] This article is about the British author. ... Maurice Champagne (1868-1951) was a French writer. ... For the first Premier of Saskatchewan see Thomas Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott (August 14, 1771 - September 21, 1832) was a prolific Scottish historical novelist and poet popular throughout Europe. ... Alexandre Dumas redirects here. ... Romantics redirects here. ... Victor-Marie Hugo (pronounced ) (February 26, 1802 — May 22, 1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights campaigner, and perhaps the most influential exponent of the Romantic movement in France. ... For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) (pronounced was a notable economist and a major influence on the modern libertarian movement. ... The Montessori method is a methodology for nursery and elementary school education, first developed by Dr. Maria Montessori. ... Victor-Marie Hugo (pronounced ) (February 26, 1802 — May 22, 1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights campaigner, and perhaps the most influential exponent of the Romantic movement in France. ...

Ayn Rand studied history and philosophy at St. Petersburg University .

Rand was twelve at the time of the Russian revolution of 1917, and her family life was disrupted by the rise of the Bolshevik party. Her father's pharmacy was confiscated by the Soviets, and the family fled to Crimea to recover financially. When Crimea fell to the Bolsheviks in 1921, Rand burned her diary, which contained vitriolic anti-Soviet writings.^[6] Rand then returned to St. Petersburg to attend the University of Petrograd,^[9] where she studied history and philosophy.^[10] Here she discovered the literary works of Edmond Rostand, Friedrich Schiller, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. She admired Rostand for his richly romantic imagination and Schiller for his grand, heroic scale. She admired Dostoevsky for his sense of drama and his intense moral judgments, but was deeply against his philosophy and his sense of life.^[11] She completed a three-year program in the department of Social Pedagogy that included history, philology and law, and received Certificate of Graduation (Diploma No. 1552) on 13 October 1924.^[12] She also encountered the philosophical ideas of Nietzsche, and loved his exaltation of the heroic and independent individual who embraced egoism and rejected altruism in Thus Spake Zarathustra, but later rejected other aspects of his philosophy when she discovered more of his writings. Image File history File links Twelvecollegia. ... Image File history File links Twelvecollegia. ... Saint Petersburg State University (Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is one of the oldest educational institutions in Russia, situated in the city of Saint Petersburg. ... The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a series of political and social upheavals in Russia, involving first the overthrow of the tsarist autocracy, and then the overthrow of the liberal and moderate-socialist Provisional Government, resulting in the establishment of Soviet power under the control of the Bolshevik party. ... For other uses, see Bolshevik (disambiguation). ... Motto Процветание в единстве(Russian) Protsvetanie v edinstve(transliteration) Prosperity in unity Anthem Нивы и горы твои волшебны, Родина(Russian) Nivy i gory tvoi volshebny, Rodina(transliteration) Your fields and mounts are wonderful, Motherland Location of Crimea (red) with respect to Ukraine (light blue). ... Saint Petersburg State University (Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is one of the oldest educational institutions in Russia, situated in the city of Saint Petersburg. ... Statue dedicated to Edmond Rostand in Cambo-les-Bains Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (April 1, 1868 - December 2, 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. ... Friedrich Schiller “Schiller” redirects here. ... Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (Russian: Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский, pronounced , sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky, Dostoievsky, or Dostoevski  ) (November 11 [O.S. October 30] 1821–February 9 [O.S. January 28] 1881) was a Russian novelist and writer of fiction whose works, including Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, have had a profound and lasting effect... is the 286th day of the year (287th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the rap album, see 1924 (album). ... Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 - August 25, 1900) was a highly influential German philosopher. ... The cover for the first part of the first edition. ...

Rand continued to write short stories and screenplays. She entered the State Institute for Cinema Arts in 1924 to study screenwriting; in late 1925, however, she was granted a visa to visit American relatives. Entry visa valid in Schengen treaty countries. ...

Immigration and marriage

In February 1926, she arrived in the United States at the age of 21, entering by ship through New York City, which would ultimately become her home. She was profoundly moved by the city's skyline, later describing it in one of her novels, The Fountainhead: "I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York's skyline, the sky over New York and the will of man made visible. What other religion do we need? I feel that if a war came to threaten this, I would throw myself into space, over the city, and protect these buildings with my body."^[13] New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

After a brief stay with her relatives in Chicago, she resolved never to return to the Soviet Union, and set out for Hollywood to become a screenwriter. Already using Rand as a Cyrillic contraction^[14] of her surname, she then adopted the name Ayn, of disputed origin.^[14] For other uses, see Chicago (disambiguation). ... ... Screenwriters, scenarists, or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ... The Cyrillic alphabet (or azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is an alphabet used for several East and South Slavic languages; (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian, and Ukrainian) and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe. ... In traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new word from two or more individual words. ...

Initially, Rand struggled in Hollywood and took odd jobs to pay her basic living expenses. A chance face-to-face meeting with famed director Cecil B. DeMille led to a job as an extra in his film The King of Kings, and subsequent work as a script reader.^[15] She also worked as the head of the costume department at RKO Studios.^[16] While working on the film, she intentionally bumped into an aspiring young actor, Frank O'Connor, who caught her eye. The two married on April 15, 1929, and remained married for fifty years, until O'Connor's death in 1979 at the age of 82. In 1931, Rand became a naturalized American citizen; she was fiercely proud of the United States, and in later years said to the 1974 graduating class at West Point, "I can say—not as a patriotic bromide, but with full knowledge of the necessary metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, political and aesthetic roots—that the United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world."^[17] American cinema has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. ... Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959) was one of the most successful filmmakers during the first half of the 20th century. ... In drama, an extra is a performer in a film or TV show who has no role or purpose other than to appear in the background (for example, in an audience or busy street scene). ... For other uses, see King of Kings (disambiguation). ... RKO could stand for: RKO Pictures The R.K.O. - finishing manoever (and initials) of WWE professional wrestler Randy Orton. ... Frank OConnor (born Charles Francis OConnor on September 22, 1897 in Lorain, Ohio- November 9, 1979) was an American actor, probably most known for his marriage to the philosopher and writer Ayn Rand. ... is the 105th day of the year (106th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A judge swears in a new citizen. ... USMA redirects here. ...

Fiction

Rand viewed herself equally as a novelist and a philosopher, as she said "(I am) both, and for the same reason."^{[citation needed]} Rand's supporters note that she is part of a long tradition of authors who wrote philosophically rich fiction—including Dante, John Milton, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Albert Camus, and that philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre presented their philosophies in both fictional and non-fictional forms. DANTE is also a digital audio network. ... For other persons named John Milton, see John Milton (disambiguation). ... Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (Russian: Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский, pronounced , sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky, Dostoievsky, or Dostoevski  ) (November 11 [O.S. October 30] 1821–February 9 [O.S. January 28] 1881) was a Russian novelist and writer of fiction whose works, including Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, have had a profound and lasting effect... For other uses, see Camus. ... Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980), normally known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre (pronounced: ), was a French existentialist philosopher and pioneer, dramatist and screenwriter, novelist and critic. ...

In an article about Rand that appeared in The Economist in 1991, it is stated that "Rand’s novels sell some 300,000 copies a year, exhorting readers to think big about themselves, build big and earn big. New editions of all her books carry postcards for readers who might be inclined to learn more about Objectivism, the author’s credo, a blending of free markets, reason and individualism."^[18] The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd and edited in London. ...

Early works

Her first literary success came with the sale of her screenplay Red Pawn in 1932 to Universal Studios: "Von Sternberg later considered it for Dietrich, but Russian scenarios were out of favour and the project was dropped."^[19] Rand then wrote the play The Night of January 16th in 1934, which was produced on Broadway. The play was a courtroom drama in which a jury chosen from the audience decided the verdict, leading to one of two possible endings.^[20] This article is about the American media conglomerate. ... Josef von Sternberg (29 May 1894 – 22 December 1969) was an Austrian-American film director. ... Marlene Dietrich IPA: ; (December 27, 1901 – May 6, 1992) was a German-born American actress, singer, and entertainer. ... Night of January 16th was a play written by Ayn Rand. ... Note on spelling: While most Americans use er (as per American spelling conventions), the majority of venues, performers and trade groups for live theatre use re. ... A legal drama is a work of dramatic fiction about law, crime, punishment or the legal profession. ... For jury meaning makeshift, see jury rig. ...

Rand then published the novel, We the Living in 1936. "Rand described We the Living as the most autobiographical of her novels, its theme being the brutality of life under communist rule in Russia."^[21] Its harsh anti-communist tone met with mixed reviews in the U.S., where the period of The Great Depression was sometimes known as "The Red Decade" in reference to the high-water mark of sympathy for socialist ideals. Stephen Cox, at The Objectivist Center, observed that We the Living "was published at the height of Russian socialism's popularity among leaders of American opinion. It failed to attract an audience."^[22] We the Living is Ayn Rands first novel. ... The Great Depression was a global economic slump that began in 1929 and bottomed in 1933. ... The Red Decade. ... The Objectivist Center is a think tank in Washington, D.C. dedicated to Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. ...

Frank O'Connor and Ayn Rand spent the summer of 1937 in Stony Creek, Connecticut, while Frank worked in summer stock theatre,^[22] and Ayn planned the novella Anthem, a dystopian vision of a futuristic society where collectivism has triumphed. Anthem did not find a publisher in the United States and was first published in England in 1938. Stony Creek is a shorefront section of Branford, Connecticut, centered around a harbor on Long Island Sound, in the southeast corner of the town. ... Summer Stock is also the title of a 1950 musical motion picture starring Judy Garland. ... Anthem is a dystopian, science-fiction novella by philosopher Ayn Rand, first published in 1938. ... A dystopia (or alternatively cacotopia) is a fictional society, usually portrayed as existing in a future time, when the conditions of life are extremely bad due to deprivation, oppression, or terror. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...

The Fountainhead

Main article: The Fountainhead

Rand's first major professional success came with her best-selling novel The Fountainhead (1943), which she wrote over a period of seven years. For the film, see The Fountainhead (film). ... For the film, see The Fountainhead (film). ...

The Broadway Hollywood department store on Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood has a moderne style annex just to the west of it built in the 1930's. The building of that addition was viewed by a young Ayn Rand and became the basis of her research on construction techniques and workers found within her novel. Architect Richard Neutra, who designed the international styled Laemmle Building (1932) across Hollywood Boulevard to the north, is said to be the man on which she modelled Howard Roark, her lead character. Kaufmann House, Palm Springs, California. ...

The novel was rejected by twelve publishers. It was finally accepted by the Bobbs-Merrill Company publishing house, thanks mainly to a member of the editorial board, Archibald Ogden, who praised the book in the highest terms ("If this is not the book for you, then I am not the editor for you.") and finally prevailed.^[23] Eventually, The Fountainhead was a worldwide success, bringing Rand fame and financial security. The Bobbs-Merrill Company was a book publisher located in Indianapolis, Indiana. ...

In 1949 it was made into a major motion picture by Warner Brothers with Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal; Rand wrote the screenplay. In the sixty years since it was published, Rand's novel has sold six million copies, and continues to sell about 100,000 copies per year.^[23] The Fountainhead is a film made in 1949 based on the book of the same name by Ayn Rand. ... Warner Bros. ... Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor of English heritage. ... Patricia Neal (born January 20, 1926, Packard, Kentucky) is an Academy Award winning American actress. ...

Following the success of The Fountainhead, Rand wrote screenplays for two movies, Love Letters and You Came Along. Love Letters is a 1945 film which tells the story of a World War II soldier who writes his friends love letters, but begins falling in love with the friends girlfriend. ...

Atlas Shrugged

Main article: Atlas Shrugged

"Atlas," the largest sculptural work at Rockefeller Center in New York City, by Lee Lawrie and Rene Chambellan, in the Art Deco style. (1936)

Rand's magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, was published in 1957. Due to the success of The Fountainhead, the initial printing was 100,000 copies,^[24] and the book went on to become an international bestseller. Although the frequent claim^[25] that Atlas Shrugged became the "second most influential book in America, after The Bible,"^[26] may be an exaggeration of the findings of a 1991 survey,^[27][28] Atlas Shrugged has been cited by many interviewees as the book that most influenced them. (See Popular interest and influence, below.) For the film, see Atlas Shrugged (film). ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1944x2592, 1025 KB) Description: Atlas. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1944x2592, 1025 KB) Description: Atlas. ... In Greek mythology, Atlas was one of the primordial Titans. ... Lower Plaza at Rockefeller Center. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Asheville City Hall. ... Magnum opus (sometimes Opus magnum, plural magna opera), from the Latin meaning great work,[1] refers to the best, most popular, or most renowned achievement of an author, artist, or composer, and most commonly one who has contributed a very large amount of material. ... For the film, see Atlas Shrugged (film). ... The Bible (From Greek βιβλια—biblia, meaning books, which in turn is derived from βυβλος—byblos meaning papyrus, from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) is the sacred scripture of Christianity. ...

Atlas Shrugged contains Rand's most extensive statement of Objectivism in any of her works of fiction. In its appendix, she offered this summary:

"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."

The theme of Atlas Shrugged is "The role of man's mind in society." Rand upheld the industrialist as one of the most admirable members of society and fiercely opposed the resentment popularly accorded to industrialists. This led her to envision a novel wherein the industrialists of America go on strike and retreat to a mountainous hideaway, where they build an independent free economy with gold currency. The American economy and its society in general, deprived of its most productive members, slowly start to collapse, while the government responds by increasing the already stifling controls on industry.

The novel, which includes elements of mystery and science fiction, deals with other diverse issues as wide-ranging as sex, music, medicine, politics, philosophy, industry, and human ability.

Objectivism: Ayn Rand's philosophical system

Main article: Objectivism (Ayn Rand)

Rand's philosophical system, Objectivism, encompasses positions on metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics and aesthetics. While there have been "objectivist" theories in the past, Rand's Objectivism uses the term in a new way: it treats knowledge and values as neither subjective, nor intrinsic in existence (the traditional meaning of "objective") but rather as the factual identification, by Man's mind, of what exists. This article is about the philosophy of Ayn Rand. ... This article is about the philosophy of Ayn Rand. ... Plato (Left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. ... Theory of knowledge redirects here: for other uses, see theory of knowledge (disambiguation) According to Plato, knowledge is a subset of that which is both true and believed Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, methods, limitations, and validity of knowledge and belief. ... For other uses, see Ethics (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Politics (disambiguation). ... Aesthetics is commonly perceived as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste. ... For other uses of objectivity, see objectivity (disambiguation). ... This article is about the philosophy of Ayn Rand. ...

Philosophical influences

Rand was greatly influenced by Aristotle, found early inspiration in Nietzsche, and was vociferously opposed to some of the views of Kant. She also had an intellectual kinship with John Locke, who conceptualized the ideas that individuals "own themselves," have a right to the products of their own labor, and have natural rights to life, liberty, and property,^[29] and more generally with the philosophies of the Age of Enlightenment and the Age of Reason. She occasionally reported her approval of specific philosophical positions, including some of Baruch Spinoza and St. Thomas Aquinas. She also respected the 20th-century American rationalist Brand Blanshard, who, like Rand, believed that "there has been no period in the past two thousand years when [both reason and rationality] have undergone a bombardment so varied, so competent, so massive and sustained as in the last half-century."^[30] For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 - August 25, 1900) was a highly influential German philosopher. ... Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (April 22, 1724 – February 12, 1804) was a Prussian philosopher, generally regarded as one of Europes most influential thinkers and the last major philosopher of the Enlightenment. ... For other persons named John Locke, see John Locke (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Universalism (disambiguation). ... The Age of Enlightenment (French: ; Italian: ; German: ; Spanish: ; Swedish: ) was an eighteenth-century movement in Western philosophy. ... The Age of Reason is either Thomas Paines book The Age of Reason. ... Baruch de Spinoza (‎, Portuguese: , Basque: , Latin: ) (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Jewish origin. ... Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 - March 7, 1274) was a Catholic philosopher and theologian in the scholastic tradition, who gave birth to the Thomistic school of philosophy, which was long the primary philosophical approach of the Roman Catholic Church. ... Percy Brand Blanshard (August 27, 1892, Fredericksburg, Ohio – 1987) was an American philosopher known primarily for his defense of reason. ...

Aristotle

Rand's greatest influence was Aristotle, especially Organon ("Logic"); she considered Aristotle the greatest philosopher.^[31] In particular, her philosophy reflects an Aristotelian epistemology and metaphysics—both Aristotle and Rand argued that "there exists an objective reality that is independent of mind and that is capable of being known."^[32] Although Rand was ultimately critical of Aristotle's ethics, others have noted her egoistic ethics "is of the eudemonistic type, close to Aristotle's own … a system of guidelines required by human beings to live their lives successfully, to flourish, to survive as 'man qua man.'"^[33] Younkins argued "that her philosophy diverges from Aristotle’s by considering essences as epistemological and contextual instead of as metaphysical. She envisions Aristotle as a philosophical intuitivist who declared the existence of essences within concretes."^[34]. For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... This article is about Aristotles logical works. ... Theory of knowledge redirects here: for other uses, see theory of knowledge (disambiguation) According to Plato, knowledge is a subset of that which is both true and believed Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, methods, limitations, and validity of knowledge and belief. ... Plato (Left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. ... Some have translated the classical Greek word eudaimonia (εὐδαιμονία, used by Aristotle) as the word happiness, although Princeton University Aristotle scholar John M. Cooper proposes the translation, human flourishing. ... In philosophy, essence is the attribute (or set of attributes) that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is. ...

Nietzsche

In her early life, Rand admired the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, and did share "Nietzsche's reverence for human potential and his loathing of Christianity and the philosophy of Immanuel Kant,"^[35] but eventually became critical, seeing his philosophy as emphasizing emotion over reason and a subjective interpretation of reality rather than reality existing independently from the self.^[35] There is debate about the extent of the relationship between Rand's views and Nietzsche's, and over what seemed to be an evolution of Rand's view of Nietzsche. Allan Gotthelf, in On Ayn Rand, describes the first edition of We the Living as very sympathetic to some Nietzschean ideas. Bjorn Faulkner and Karen Andre, characters from The Night of January 16th, exemplify certain aspects of Nietzsche's views. Ronald Merrill, author of The Ideas of Ayn Rand identified a passage in We the Living that Rand had omitted from the 1959 reprint: "In it, the heroine entertains (though finally rejects) sentiments explicitly attributed to Nietzsche about the justice of sacrificing the weak for the strong."^[36] Rand herself denied a close intellectual relationship with Nietzsche and characterized changes in later editions of We the Living as stylistic and grammatical. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: ) was a nineteenth-century German philologist and philosopher. ... Allan Gotthelf (born Brooklyn NY, 1942) is emeritus professor of philosophy at The College of New Jersey and visiting professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he holds the Universitys Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism (since 2003). ...

The destruction of Gail Wynand in The Fountainhead is an example of her later view, a rejection of Nietzsche, that the great cannot succeed by sacrificing the masses: "her [1934] journals suggest a rejection of traditional false-alternative ethics. Her May 15 entry, for example, identifies the error of Nietzscheans such as Gail Wynand: in trying to achieve power, they use the masses, but at the cost of their ideals and standards, and thus become 'a slave to those masses.' The independent man, therefore, will not make his success dependent upon the masses."^[35] Although Rand disagreed with many of Nietzsche's ideas, the introduction to the 25th anniversary edition of The Fountainhead concludes with Nietzsche's statement, "The noble soul has reverence for itself." For the film, see The Fountainhead (film). ... is the 135th day of the year (136th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the film, see The Fountainhead (film). ...

Kant

See also: Critique of Pure Reason

Ayn Rand's view of Kant's philosophy led her to consider Kant a "monster"^[37]

Rand was deeply opposed to the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Although Rand disagreed strongly with Kant on almost every philosophical issue, their divergence is greatest in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. In regard to Kant's essential philosophy, his metaphysics and epistemology, she had this to say: Title page of the 1781 edition. ... Image File history File links Kant_2. ... Image File history File links Kant_2. ... Kant redirects here. ... Plato (Left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. ... Theory of knowledge redirects here: for other uses, see theory of knowledge (disambiguation) According to Plato, knowledge is a subset of that which is both true and believed Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, methods, limitations, and validity of knowledge and belief. ... For other uses, see Ethics (disambiguation). ...

The "phenomenal" world, said Kant, is not real: reality, as perceived by man's mind, is a distortion. The distorting mechanism is man's conceptual faculty: man's basic concepts (such as time, space, existence) are not derived from experience or reality, but come from an automatic system of filters in his consciousness (labeled "categories" and "forms of perception") which impose their own design on his perception of the external world and make him incapable of perceiving it in any manner other than the one in which he does perceive it. This proves, said Kant, that man's concepts are only a delusion, but a collective delusion which no one has the power to escape. Thus reason and science are "limited," said Kant; they are valid only so long as they deal with this world, with a permanent, pre-determined collective delusion (and thus the criterion of reason's validity was switched from the objective to the collective), but they are impotent to deal with the fundamental, metaphysical issues of existence, which belong to the "noumenal" world. The "noumenal" world is unknowable; it is the world of "real" reality, "superior" truth and "things in themselves" or "things as they are"—which means: things as they are not perceived by man.

Even apart from the fact that Kant's theory of the "categories" as the source of man's concepts was a preposterous invention, his argument amounted to a negation, not only of man's consciousness, but of any consciousness, of consciousness as such. His argument, in essence, ran as follows: man is limited to a consciousness of a specific nature, which perceives by specific means and no others, therefore, his consciousness is not valid; man is blind, because he has eyes—deaf, because he has ears—deluded, because he has a mind—and the things he perceives do not exist, because he perceives them.^[38]

Rand believed to the contrary, that man can have full, direct awareness of reality. In Rand's view, Kant's dichotomy severed rationality and reason from the real world.

In ethics, Rand criticized Kant for claiming that an action only has moral worth if it is done out of duty, a concept which, according to Rand, was an outgrowth of mysticism and the tradition of selflessness and which had no basis in reality. She also strongly disagreed with Kant's notion that morality has nothing to do with happiness.

"As to Kant's version of morality, it was appropriate to the kind of zombies that would inhabit that kind of [Kantian] universe: it consisted of total, abject selflessness. An action is moral, said Kant, only if one has no desire to perform it, but performs it out of a sense of duty and derives no benefit from it of any sort, neither material nor spiritual; a benefit destroys the moral value of an action. (Thus, if one has no desire to be evil, one cannot be good; if one has, one can.)"^[39]

In Rand's words,

In the final issue of The Objectivist, she further wrote,

Objectivist movement

Main article: Objectivist movement

In 1950 Rand moved to 120 East 34th Street^[41] in New York City, and formed a group (jokingly designated "The Collective") which included future Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, a young psychology student named Nathan Blumenthal (later Nathaniel Branden) and his wife Barbara, and Leonard Peikoff, all of whom had been profoundly influenced by The Fountainhead. According to Branden, "I wrote Miss Rand a letter in 1949 … [and] I was invited to her home for a personal meeting in March, 1950, a month before I turned twenty."^[42] Rand launched the Objectivist movement with this group to promote her philosophy. The Objectivist movement was a movement to popularize Ayn Rands Objectivist philosophy that began with the founding of the Nathaniel Branden Institute in 1960. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... The Collective was a group of men and women who were close confidants, students, and proponents of Ayn Rand and her theories of Objectivist philosophy during the 50s and 60s. ... The Federal Reserve System is headquartered in the Eccles Building on Constitution Avenue in Washington, DC. The Federal Reserve System (also the Federal Reserve; informally The Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. ... Squalltoonix (born March 6, 1926 in New York City) is an American economist and was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. ... Nathaniel Branden (b. ... Barbara Branden (born 1929, Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a writer, editor, and lecturer. ... Leonard Peikoff circa 1970 Leonard Peikoff (born 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. ... Objectivism is the philosophical system developed by Russian-American philosopher and writer Ayn Rand. ...

The group originally started out as informal gathering of friends who met with Rand on weekends at her apartment to discuss philosophy; later the Collective would proceed to play a larger, more formal role, helping edit Atlas Shrugged and promoting Rand's philosophy through the Nathaniel Branden Institute (NBI), established by him for that purpose. Many Collective members gave lectures at the NBI and in cities across the United States, while others wrote articles for its sister newsletter, The Objectivist. For the film, see Atlas Shrugged (film). ... The Nathaniel Branden Institute (originally the Nathaniel Branden Lectures) was an organization founded by Nathaniel Branden in 1958 to promote Ayn Rands philosophy, Objectivism. ... The Objectivist was an Objectivist magazine published from January 1966 to September 1971, as the successor to The Objectivist Newsletter. ...

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Rand developed and promoted her Objectivist philosophy through both her fiction and non-fiction works, and by giving talks at several east-coast universities, largely through the NBI: "The Objectivist Newsletter, later expanded and renamed simply The Objectivist, contained essays by Rand, Branden, and other associates … that analyzed current political events and applied the principles of Objectivism to everyday life."^[43] Rand later published some of these in book form. The Objectivist Newsletter was an 4-page Objectivist magazine published monthly from January 1962 to December 1965, when it was replaced by The Objectivist. ...

After several years, Rand's close relationship with the much younger Branden turned into a romantic affair, with the consent of their spouses. It lasted until Branden (having separated from Barbara) entered into an affair with the young actress Patrecia Scott, whom he later married. The Brandens hid the affair from Rand, and when she found out, she abruptly ended her relationship with both Brandens and with the NBI, which closed. She published a letter in The Objectivist repudiating Branden for dishonesty and "irrational behavior",^[44] never disclosing their affair. Both Brandens remain personae non gratae to the mainline Objectivist movement, particularly the group that formed the Ayn Rand Institute. Patrecia Scott (1940-1977) was a Canadian-born model and television and theatrical actress. ... Look up Persona non grata in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism (ARI) was established in 1985, three years after Ayn Rands death, by Leonard Peikoff, Rands legal and intellectual heir. ...

Political and social views

Rand held that the only moral social system is laissez-faire capitalism. Her political views were strongly individualist and hence anti-statist and anti-Communist. She exalted what she saw as the heroic American values of rational egoism and individualism. As a champion of rationality, Rand also had a strong opposition to mysticism and religion, which she believed helped foster a crippling culture acting against individual human happiness and success. Rand detested many prominent liberal and conservative politicians of her time, including prominent anti-Communists, such as Harry S. Truman, Ronald Reagan, Hubert Humphrey, and Joseph McCarthy. She opposed US involvement in World War I, World War II,^[45] and the Korean War, although she also strongly denounced pacifism: "When a nation resorts to war, it has some purpose, rightly or wrongly, something to fight for—and the only justifiable purpose is self-defense."^[46] She opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, "If you want to see the ultimate, suicidal extreme of altruism, on an international scale, observe the war in Vietnam—a war in which American soldiers are dying for no purpose whatever,"^[46] but also felt that unilateral American withdrawal would be a mistake of appeasement that would embolden communists and the Soviet Union.^[45] She said also that she considered the anti-Communist John Birch Society "futile, because they are not for capitalism but merely against communism."^[47] Laissez-faire is short for laissez faire, laissez passer, a French phrase meaning to let things alone, let them pass. First used by the eighteenth century Physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it is now used as a synonym for strict free market economics. ... For other uses, see Capitalism (disambiguation). ... For judgements of value about collectivism and individualism, see individualism and collectivism. ... Anti-statism refers to all philosophies that in some degree reject or oppose the establishment of a territorial national government. ... Anti-communism is opposition to communist ideology, organization, or government, on either a theoretical or practical level. ... In historical context The factual accuracy of this section of this article is disputed. ... Rational egoism is the philosophical view that it is always in accordance with reason to pursue ones own interests. ... Individualism is a term used to describe a moral, political, or social outlook that stresses human independence and the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ... American conservatism is a constellation of political ideologies within the United States under the blanket heading of conservative. ... For other persons named Harry Truman, see Harry Truman (disambiguation). ... Reagan redirects here. ... For other uses, see Hubert Humphrey (disambiguation). ... This article is about the U.S. senator from Wisconsin (1947-1957). ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Belligerents United Nations: Republic of Korea Australia Belgium Canada Colombia Ethiopia France Greece Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Philippines South Africa Thailand Turkey United Kingdom United States Naval Support and Military Servicing/Repairs: Japan Medical staff: Denmark Italy Norway India Sweden DPR Korea PR China Soviet Union Commanders Syngman Rhee Chung... Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes or gaining advantage. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... Appeasement is a policy of accepting the imposed conditions of an aggressor in lieu of armed resistance, usually at the sacrifice of principles. ... The John Birch Society is a conservative American exceptionalist organization founded in 1958 to fight what it saw as growing threats to the Constitution of the United States, especially a suspected communist infiltration of the United States government, and to support free enterprise. ...

Rand supported Israel during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, which she saw as an attack on a government that supported individual rights: "The Arabs are one of the least developed cultures. They are typically nomads. Their culture is primitive, and they resent Israel because it's the sole beachhead of modern science and civilization on their continent. When you have civilized men fighting savages, you support the civilized men, no matter who they are."^[48] Combatants  Israel  Egypt,  Syria,  Iraq Commanders Moshe Dayan, David Elazar, Ariel Sharon, Shmuel Gonen, Benjamin Peled, Israel Tal, Rehavam Zeevi, Aharon Yariv, Yitzhak Hofi, Rafael Eitan, Abraham Adan, Yanush Ben Gal Saad El Shazly, Ahmad Ismail Ali, Hosni Mubarak, Mohammed Aly Fahmy, Anwar Sadat, Abdel Ghani el-Gammasy, Abdul Munim...

Rand is considered one of the three founding mothers (along with Rose Wilder Lane and Isabel Paterson) of modern American libertarianism, although she rejected libertarianism and the libertarian movement. ^[49] Rose Wilder Lane Rose Wilder Lane (December 5, 1886, De Smet, Dakota Territory – October 30, 1968, Danbury, Connecticut) was an American journalist, travel writer, novelist, and political theorist. ... Isabel Bowler Paterson (January 22, 1886, Manitoulin Island Canada -- 1961) was a journalist, literary critic, author, and libertarian advocate. ... This article is about the political philosophy based on private property rights. ... The libertarian movement consists of the various individuals and institutions who have historically advanced the ideas and causes of libertarianism. ...

Economics

She expressed qualified enthusiasm for the economic thought of Ludwig von Mises and Henry Hazlitt. The Ludwig von Mises Institute says that "it was largely as a result of Ayn's efforts that the work of von Mises began to reach its potential audience."^[50] Later Objectivists, such as Richard Salsman, have claimed that Rand's economic theories are implicitly more supportive of the doctrines of Jean-Baptiste Say, though Rand herself was likely not acquainted with his work. Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) (pronounced was a notable economist and a major influence on the modern libertarian movement. ... Henry Hazlitt (November 28, 1894 - July 8, 1993) was a libertarian philosopher, economist and journalist for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Newsweek, among other publications. ... Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, Auburn, Alabama The Ludwig von Mises Institute (LvMI), based in Auburn, Alabama, is a libertarian academic organisation engaged in research and scholarship in the fields of economics, philosophy and political economy. ... Richard Salsman is an an American economist and lecturer. ... Jean-Baptiste Say (January 5, 1767 – November 15, 1832) was a French economist and businessman. ...

Gender, sex, and race

See also: Objectivism, Ayn Rand, and homosexuality

Rand's views on gender roles have created some controversy. While her books championed men and women as intellectual equals (for example, Dagny Taggart—the protagonist of Atlas Shrugged—was a hands-on railroad executive), she thought that the differences in the physiology of men and women led to fundamental psychological differences that were the source of gender roles. Rand denied endorsing any kind of power difference between men and women, stating that metaphysical dominance in sexual relations refers to the man's role as the prime mover in sex and the necessity of male arousal for sex to occur.^[51] According to Rand, "For a woman qua woman, the essence of femininity is hero-worship—the desire to look up to man." (1968) Objectivism is a philosophy created by Ayn Rand, which some gay and lesbian people have been interested in for its celebration of personal freedom and individuality at the expense of government power. ... A bagpiper in Scottish military clan-uniform. ...

Rand's theory of sex is implied by her broader ethical and psychological theories. Far from being a debasing animal instinct, she believed that sex is the highest celebration of our greatest values. Sex is a physical response to intellectual and spiritual values—a mechanism for giving concrete expression to values that could otherwise only be experienced in the abstract. In Atlas Shrugged, one of the heroes says "Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life. Show me the woman he sleeps with and I will tell you his valuation of himself."^[52]

In a McCall's magazine interview, Rand stated that while women are competent to be President, no rational woman should seek that position; she later explained that it would be psychologically damaging to the woman.^[53] She strongly opposed the modern feminist movement, despite supporting some of its goals.^[54] Feminist author Susan Brownmiller called Rand "a traitor to her own sex," while others, including Camille Paglia and the contributors to 1999's Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand, have noted Rand's "fiercely independent—and unapologetically sexual" heroines who are unbound by "tradition's chains … [and] who had sex because they wanted to."^[36] Cover of the March 1911 issue McCalls was a monthly American womens magazine that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of six million in 1960. ... Feminism is a social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. ... Susan Brownmiller (b. ... Camille Anna Paglia (born April 2, 1947 in Endicott, New York) is an American social critic, author and teacher. ...

In Atlas Shrugged, Rand has one of her villains, Lillian Rearden, observe that the "band on the wrist of [Dagny's] naked arm gave her the most feminine of all aspects: the look of being chained." Lillian says, "I am humbly aware that the wife of a great man has to be contented with reflected glory—don't you think so, Miss Taggart?" "No," said Dagny, "I don't."^[55] This novel, along with Night of January 16th (1968) and The Fountainhead (1943), features sex scenes with stylized erotic combat that some claim borders on rape. Rand said that if what The Fountainhead depicted was rape it was "rape by engraved invitation."^[56] In a review of a biography of Rand, writer Jenny Turner opined,

"the sex in Rand’s novels is extraordinarily violent and fetishistic. In The Fountainhead, the first coupling of the heroes, heralded by whips and rock drills and horseback riding and cracks in marble, is ‘an act of scorn … not as love, but as defilement’—in other words, a rape. (‘The act of a master taking shameful, contemptuous possession of her was the kind of rapture she had wanted.’ In Atlas Shrugged, erotic tension is cleverly increased by having one heroine bound into a plot with lots of spectacularly cruel and handsome men.)^[19]

Another source of controversy is Rand's view of homosexuality. According to remarks at the Ford Hall Forum at Northeastern University in 1971, Rand's personal view was that homosexuality is "immoral" and "disgusting."^[57] Specifically, she stated that "there is a psychological immorality at the root of homosexuality" because "it involves psychological flaws, corruptions, errors, or unfortunate premises."^[58] A number of noted current and former Objectivists have been highly critical of Rand for her views on homosexuality.^[59] Others, such as Kurt Keefner, have argued that "Rand’s views were in line with the views at the time of the general public and the psychiatric community," though he asserts that "she never provided the slightest argument for her position, … because she regarded the matter as self-evident, like the woman president issue"^[60] although in her article "About a Woman President" Rand said that that issue was not self-evident. Homosexuality refers to sexual interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ... The Ford Hall Forum is the oldest free public lecture series in the United States. ... Northeastern University, occasionally abbreviated as NU or NEU, is a top-tier private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. ...

In the same appearance, Rand noted, "I do not believe that the government has the right to prohibit homosexual behavior. It is the privilege of any individual to use his sex life in whichever way he wants it."^[57] Sexual behavior is a form of physical intimacy that may be directed to reproduction (one possible goal of sexual intercourse) and/or to the enjoyment of activity involving sexual gratification. ...

Rand defended the right of businesses to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, race, or any other criteria. Rand argued that no one's rights are violated by a private individual's or organization's refusal to deal with him, even if the reason is irrational. Sexual orientation refers to the direction of an individuals sexuality, usually conceived of as classifiable according to the sex or gender of the persons whom the individual finds sexually attractive. ... For other uses, see Race. ...

Rand opposed ethnic and racial prejudice on moral grounds, in essays like "Racism" and "Global Balkanization," while still arguing for the right of individuals and businesses to act on such prejudice without government intervention. She wrote, "Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism … [the notion] that a man is to be judged, not by his own character and actions, but by the characters and actions of a collective of ancestors,"^[61] but also opposed governmental remedies for this problem: "Private racism is not a legal, but a moral issue—and can be fought only by private means, such as economic boycott or social ostracism."^[62] Balkanization is a geopolitical term originally used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region into smaller regions that are often hostile or non-cooperative with each other. ... Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Ethnocracy Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial quota... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Look up Boycott in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

HUAC testimony

In 1947, during the Second Red Scare, Rand testified as a "friendly witness" before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.(transcript here) Her testimony regarded the disparity between her personal experiences in the Soviet Union and the fanciful portrayal of it in the 1943 film Song of Russia. Rand argued that the film grossly misrepresented the socioeconomic conditions in the Soviet Union and portrayed life in the USSR as being much better than it actually was. Furthermore, she believed that even if a temporary alliance with the USSR was necessary to defeat the Nazis, the case for this should not have been made by portraying what she believed were falsely positive images of Soviet life: Some factual claims in this article need to be verified. ... The House Committee on Un-American Activities or HUAC (1945-1975) was an investigating committee of the United States House of Representatives. ... Song of Russia is a pro-Soviet propaganda film made and distributed by MGM Studios in 1944. ...

"If we had good reason, if that is what you believe, all right, then why not tell the truth? Say it is a dictatorship, but we want to be associated with it. Say it is worthwhile being associated with the devil, as Churchill said, in order to defeat another evil which is Hitler. There might be some good argument made for that. But why pretend that Russia was not what it was?"^[63]

After the hearings, when Rand was asked about her feelings on the effectiveness of their investigations, she described the process as "futile".^[63]

Charity

Rand supported, in principle, the right to give charity but opposed the notion that it was a moral duty, and she did not consider it a major virtue.^[64] She opposed all charity and social programs by the government. According to Cathy Young, her characterization of charity in her fiction was chiefly negative.^[65]

Later years

Visiting lecturer

Rand was a visiting lecturer at several universities, beginning in 1960 when she talked at Yale University, Princeton University and Columbia University. In subsequent years, she went on to lecture at University of Wisconsin, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University and MIT.^[66] She received an honorary doctorate from Lewis & Clark College in 1963.^[67] Yale redirects here. ... Princeton University is a private coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. ... Alma Mater Columbia University is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. ... The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin. ... The Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876, is a private institution of higher learning located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. ... Harvard redirects here. ... “MIT” redirects here. ... Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. ...

For many years, she gave an annual lecture at the Ford Hall Forum, answering questions from the audience afterward.

Declining health and death

Grave marker of Frank O'Connor and Ayn Rand.

In 1973, she was briefly reunited with her youngest sister, Nora, who still lived in the Soviet Union.^[43] Although Rand had written 1,200 letters to her family in the Soviet Union, and had attempted to bring them to the United States, she had ceased contacting them in 1937 after reading a notice in the post office that letters from Americans might imperil Russians at risk from Stalinist repression. Rand received a letter from Nora in 1973 and invited her and her husband to America; but her sister's views had changed, and to Rand's disappointment Nora voluntarily returned to the USSR.^[68] Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 2775 KB) Summary Description: Grave marker of Frank OConnor and Ayn Rand OConnor, at w:en:Kensico Cemetery in w:en:Valhalla, New York. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 2775 KB) Summary Description: Grave marker of Frank OConnor and Ayn Rand OConnor, at w:en:Kensico Cemetery in w:en:Valhalla, New York. ... Frank OConnor (born Charles Francis OConnor on September 22, 1897 in Lorain, Ohio- November 9, 1979) was an American actor, probably most known for his marriage to the philosopher and writer Ayn Rand. ... Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Georgian: , Ioseb Besarionis Dze Jughashvili; Russian: , Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) (December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1878[1] – March 5, 1953), better known by his adopted name, Joseph Stalin (alternatively transliterated Josef Stalin), was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Unions Central Committee from...

Rand underwent surgery for lung cancer in 1974, and conflicts continued in the wake of the break with Branden and the subsequent collapse of the NBI. Many of her closest "Collective" friends parted company, and during the late 1970s her activities within the Objectivist movement declined, especially after the death of her husband on November 9, 1979.^[69] One of her final projects was work on a television adaptation of Atlas Shrugged. She had also planned to write another novel, To Lorne Dieterling, but did not get far in her notes.^[70] Lung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. ... is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ...

Rand died of heart failure on March 6, 1982 at her 34th Street home in New York City,^[71] years after having successfully battled cancer, and was interred in the Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York. David Kelley read Kipling's poem "If—" at her graveside.^[43][72] Rand's funeral was attended by some of her prominent followers, including Alan Greenspan. A six-foot floral arrangement in the shape of a dollar sign was placed near her casket.^[16] is the 65th day of the year (66th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Kensico Cemetery, located in Valhalla, Westchester Co. ... Valhalla is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, USA. The population was 5,379 at the 2000 census. ... David Kelley For the producer of the same name, see David E. Kelley. ... This article is about the British author. ... Edition of If by Doubleday Page and Company, Garden City, New York, 1910. ... Squalltoonix (born March 6, 1926 in New York City) is an American economist and was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. ...

Legacy

A quote from Rand, featured in an American Adventure exhibit in the Epcot Centre, Walt Disney World.

Rand's books continue to be widely sold and read, with more than 22 million copies sold (as of 2005), and 500,000 more being sold each year.^[73] Rand and Objectivism are less well known outside North America, although there are pockets of interest in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Her novels are reported to be popular in India^[74] and Turkey (where filmmaker Sinan Çetin publishes her works) and to be gaining an increasingly wider audience in Africa. She also enjoyed some popularity in Israel, through the early work of Moshe Kroy. Generally, Rand's work has had little effect on academic philosophy; her followers have been largely drawn from other professions. The Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship offers resources to study Objectivism at The University of Texas at Austin, Ashland University in Ohio, and the University of Pittsburgh. At the University of Pittsburgh, professors James Lennox and Allan Gotthelf head the research. Both scholars are renowned for their illuminations of Aristotle's writings. Duke University's professor Gary Hull is a member of the Ayn Rand Institute and has lectured courses incorporating Objectivist literature and discussion. Professor Allan Gotthelf also points to certain modern trends in academic philosophy which make philosophers more receptive to Objectivist ideas. Chief among them are the notions of essence and concept as epistemological developments in virtue theory ethics, and current projects in normative philosophies of science and logic. Following Rand's death, continued conflict within the Objectivist movement led to establishment of independent organizations claiming to be her intellectual heirs. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (2,048 × 1,536 pixels, file size: 848 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The content of this image was reviewed by Astrojunta and afterwards uploaded by FlickrLickr. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (2,048 × 1,536 pixels, file size: 848 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The content of this image was reviewed by Astrojunta and afterwards uploaded by FlickrLickr. ... This article is about the Epcot theme park. ... Cinderella Castle, at the center of the Magic Kingdom, is Walt Disney World Resorts most recognizable icon Introduction Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company, the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, USA is home to four theme parks, two water parks, several resort hotels and golf courses... North American redirects here. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Sinan Çetin (born 1953) is a Turkish actor, film director and producer born in Kars, Turkey. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... University of Texas redirects here. ... Allan Gotthelf (born Brooklyn NY, 1942) is emeritus professor of philosophy at The College of New Jersey and visiting professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he holds the Universitys Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism (since 2003). ... Duke University is a private coeducational research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. ... Allan Gotthelf (born Brooklyn NY, 1942) is emeritus professor of philosophy at The College of New Jersey and visiting professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he holds the Universitys Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism (since 2003). ...

Ayn Rand Institute

Main article: Ayn Rand Institute

In 1985, Leonard Peikoff, a surviving member of "The Collective" and Ayn Rand's designated heir, established "The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism" (ARI). The Institute has since registered the name "Ayn Rand." The Ayn Rand Institute "works to introduce young people to Ayn Rand's novels, to support scholarship and research based on her ideas, and to promote the principles of reason, rational self-interest, individual rights and laissez-faire capitalism to the widest possible audience." The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism (ARI) was established in 1985, three years after Ayn Rands death, by Leonard Peikoff, Rands legal and intellectual heir. ... Leonard Peikoff circa 1970 Leonard Peikoff (born 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. ... The Collective was a group of men and women who were close confidants, students, and proponents of Ayn Rand and her theories of Objectivist philosophy during the 50s and 60s. ... The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism (ARI) was established in 1985, three years after Ayn Rands death, by Leonard Peikoff, Rands legal and intellectual heir. ...

The Objectivist Center and The Atlas Society

Main article: The Atlas Society

Another schism in the movement occurred in 1989, when Objectivist David Kelley wrote "A Question of Sanction," in which he defended his choice to speak to non-Objectivist libertarian groups: "It was a response to an article by Peter Schwartz in The Intellectual Activist, demanding that those who speak to libertarians be ostracized from the movement...[I] observed that Objectivism is not a closed system of belief; and that we might actually learn something by talking to people we disagree with." ^[75] Kelley's description of the reasons behind the break is disputed by the Ayn Rand Institute. Peikoff, in an article for The Intellectual Activist called "Fact and Value" argued that Objectivism is, indeed, a closed system, and that truth and morality are directly related.^[76] Peikoff expelled Kelley from his organization, whereupon Kelley founded The Institute for Objectivist Studies, now known as The Atlas Society, which has its own web site that is focused on attracting readers of Ayn Rand's fiction, downplaying her role as a philosopher. The associated Objectivist Center division deals with more academic ventures. The Atlas Society/Objectivist Center also publishes The New Individualist (formerly Navigator), the first magazine in the U.S. to feature one of the Mohammad cartoons on the cover. The Atlas Society (formerly the Objectivist Center (TOC) and originally the Institute for Objectivist Studies or IOS) is a global online community linking those who admire the fiction of Ayn Rand, including Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. It is not merely a literary fan club, but a part of the... David Kelley For the producer of the same name, see David E. Kelley. ... This article is about the political philosophy based on private property rights. ... Peter Schwartz is a writer and journalist who follows the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand. ... The Intellectual Activist is a monthly Objectivist magazine based in Charlottesville, Virginia. ... The Atlas Society (formerly the Objectivist Center (TOC) and originally the Institute for Objectivist Studies or IOS) is a global online community linking those who admire the fiction of Ayn Rand, including Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. It is not merely a literary fan club, but a part of the... The Face of Muhammed. ...

Popular interest and influence

The Fountainhead Cafe, a coffee shop in New York City inspired by Objectivism. The sign reads "Eat Objectively, Live Rich".

Although Rand's influence has been greatest in the United States, she has a growing international following.^[77] Her books were international best sellers, and they continue to sell in large numbers.^[78] For example, Atlas Shrugged is consistently in the top few hundred best sellers at Amazon.com;^[79] 185,000 copies were sold in 2007, fifty years after it was first published.^[80] Image File history File links Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (480 × 640 pixels, file size: 51 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The content of this image was reviewed by Astrojunta and afterwards uploaded by FlickrLickr. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (480 × 640 pixels, file size: 51 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The content of this image was reviewed by Astrojunta and afterwards uploaded by FlickrLickr. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...

When asked in a 1991 survey by the Library of Congress and the Book-of-the-Month Club what the most influential book in the respondent's life was, Rand's Atlas Shrugged was the second most popular choice, after the Bible.^[81] Readers polled in 1998 and 1999 by Modern Library placed four of her books on the 100 Best Novels list (Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, Anthem, and We the Living were in first, second, seventh, and eighth place, respectively) and one on the 100 Best Nonfiction list (The Virtue of Selfishness, in first place), with books about Rand and her philosophy in third and sixth place.^[82] However, the validity of such polls has been disputed.^[83][84] A Freestar Media/Zogby poll conducted in 2007 found that around 8 percent of American adults have read Atlas Shrugged.^[85] Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ... The Book of the Month Club (founded 1923) is a mail-order business where consumers are offered a new book each month. ... For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation). ... For the film, see Atlas Shrugged (film). ... For the film, see The Fountainhead (film). ... Anthem is a dystopian, science-fiction novella by philosopher Ayn Rand, first published in 1938. ... We the Living is Ayn Rands first novel. ... The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism is a 1964 collection of essays and papers by Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden. ...

Many individuals have acknowledged that Rand significantly influenced their lives, including: Harry Binswanger, Nathaniel Branden, Barbara Branden, Sinan Çetin, Roy A. Childs, James Clavell, Edward Cline, Chris Cox, Mark Cuban, Paul DePodesta, Steve Ditko, Terry Goodkind, Allan Gotthelf, Alan Greenspan, Hugh Hefner, Erika Holzer, John Hospers, Angelina Jolie, David Kelley, Billie Jean King, Anton LaVey, Rush Limbaugh, Frank Miller, Ron Paul, Michael Paxton, Neil Peart, Leonard Peikoff, Ronald Reagan, George Reisman, John Ridpath, Robert Ringer, Tracey Ross, Kay Nolte Smith, Tara Smith, John Stossel, Linda & Morris Tannehill, Margaret Thatcher, Clarence Thomas, Vince Vaughn, Jimmy Wales, and many others.^[86] Rand's philosophy of Objectivism continues to influence workers in the arts, business, and science. The "Randex" Web site updates a list of recent media references to Rand or her work.^[87] Harry Binswanger (born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1944) is a philosopher and writer. ... Nathaniel Branden (b. ... Barbara Branden (born 1929, Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a writer, editor, and lecturer. ... Sinan Çetin (born 1953) is a Turkish actor, film director and producer born in Kars, Turkey. ... James Clavell, born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell (10 October 1924 – 7 September 1994) was a British novelist, screenwriter, director and World War II hero and POW. Clavell is best known for his epic Asian Saga series of novels and their televised adaptations, along with such films as The Great Escape... Edward Cline is a novelist and essayist, best known for his Sparrowhawk series of novels, which take place in England and Virginia before the American Revolutionary War. ... Chris Cox For other people named Chris Cox, see Chris Cox (disambiguation). ... Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)[1] is an American billionaire entrepreneur. ... Paul DePodesta (born December 16, 1972) is baseball front-office assistant for the San Diego Padres. ... Stephen Ditko (born 2 November 1927) is a renowned American comic book artist and writer best known as the co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. ... Terry Goodkind (born 1948) is a contemporary American writer and author of the best-selling epic fantasy series, The Sword of Truth, which according to his publisher TOR in an August, 2006 press release[1] has more than 10 million copies in print and has been translated into 20 different... Allan Gotthelf (born Brooklyn NY, 1942) is emeritus professor of philosophy at The College of New Jersey and visiting professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he holds the Universitys Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism (since 2003). ... Squalltoonix (born March 6, 1926 in New York City) is an American economist and was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. ... Hugh Marston Hefner (born April 9, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois), also referred to colloquially as Hef, is the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine. ... John Hospers (born 9 June 1918) was the first presidential candidate of the United States Libertarian Party, running in the 1972 presidential election. ... Angelina Jolie (born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975) is an American film actor, a former fashion model, and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. ... David Kelley For the producer of the same name, see David E. Kelley. ... Billie Jean Moffitt King (born November 22, 1943 in Long Beach, California) is a retired tennis player from the United States. ... Anton Szandor LaVey, born Howard Stanton Levey[1][2] (11 April 1930 – 29 October 1997) was the founder and High Priest of the Church of Satan as well as a writer, occultist, musician, and actor. ... For other uses, see Limbaugh. ... This article is about Frank Miller, the comic book writer and artist. ... Ronald Ernest Ron Paul (b. ... Neil Ellwood Peart (pronounced ) OC, (born September 12, 1952 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian musician and author. ... Leonard Peikoff circa 1970 Leonard Peikoff (born 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. ... Reagan redirects here. ... George Reisman is Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University, and author of the massive 1,050-page volume Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics (ISBN 0915463733). ... John Ridpath, Ph. ... Robert Ringer is an American entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and author of several bestselling self-help books. ... Tracey Ross (born February 27, 1959 in Brooklyn, New York, USA) is an actor best known for roles on the soap operas Ryans Hope (1985-1987), and Passions (1999-, and as a winner in the Spokesmodel category in the television series Star Search. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Tara Smith is a professor of philosophy at The University of Texas at Austin who has specialized in moral and political theory. ... John F. Stossel (born 6 March 1947) is a consumer reporter, author and co-anchor for the ABC News show 20/20. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 until 1990, being the first and only woman to hold either post. ... Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist and has been an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1991. ... Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American film actor. ... Jimmy Donal Jimbo Wales, (born August 7, 1966)[2] is an American Internet entrepreneur best known for his role in founding Wikipedia, as well as other wiki-related projects, including the charitable organization Wikimedia Foundation, and the for-profit company Wikia, Inc. ... This article is about the philosophy of Ayn Rand. ...

BioShock, an award-winning video game released in the summer of 2007, is built around a story influenced by Ayn Rand's philosophy and Atlas Shrugged.^[88] BioShock is a first-person shooter[10] video game by 2K Boston/2K Australia (previously Irrational Games),[11] designed by Ken Levine. ...

She appears on a 33 cent U.S. postage stamp,^[89] which debuted 22 April 1999 in New York City. is the 112th day of the year (113th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ...

Rand's work and academic philosophy

During Rand's lifetime her work was not given much attention by academic philosophers, and currently only a few leading research universities consider Rand or Objectivism to be an important philosophical specialty or research area. Many adherents and practitioners of continental philosophy criticize her celebration of self-interest, so there has similarly been little focus on her work in this movement. However, since her death in 1982, there has been an increase in academic interest in Ayn Rand's work. For example: Continental philosophy is a term used in philosophy to designate one of two major traditions of modern Western philosophy. ...

• Fellowships for the study of Ayn Rand's ideas have been established at academic institutions such as the University of Texas at Austin,^[90] Ashland University in Ohio, Cambridge University, and the University of Pittsburgh.^[91]
• Courses of the Ayn Rand Institute's Objectivist Academic Center are accredited, so students can obtain university credits for studying Objectivism.^[92]
• The Ayn Rand Society, founded in 1987 and affiliated with the American Philosophical Association, has been active in sponsoring seminars.^[93]
• The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies (JARS), a scholarly, peer reviewed journal dedicated to the study of Ayn Rand - principally her philosophic work, is published twice yearly. JARS is nonpartisan and accepts articles that are favorable to or critical of Rand's positions. The stated editorial position is to remain unaligned with any advocacy group, institution or person. "While we publish essays by Objectivists and those influenced by Rand, we are especially interested in publishing scholars who work in traditions outside of Objectivism—including those who are critical of Rand's thought. We promote and encourage scholarly give-and-take among diverse elements of the academy." ^[94]

In a 1999 interview in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Rand scholar Chris Matthew Sciabarra said, "I know they laugh at Rand," while also noting a growing interest in her work in the academic community.^[95] The American Philosophical Association is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. ...

In 2006, Cambridge University Press published a volume on Rand's ethical theory written by ARI-affiliated scholar Tara Smith, a philosophy professor at the University of Texas at Austin. The book is titled Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews recently published a review of Smith's book by Helen Cullyer of the University of Pittsburgh. The review ends with the following: The headquarters of the Cambridge University Press, in Trumpington Street, Cambridge. ... Tara Smith is a professor of philosophy at The University of Texas at Austin who has specialized in moral and political theory. ... University of Texas redirects here. ...

"It should be stressed in conclusion that whether one is a fan or a detractor of Ayn Rand, the issues raised by this book are manifold and provocative. This book should force a debate of renewed vigor about what we mean by egoism, whether and how the egoism/altruism dichotomy should be applied within eudaemonistic ethical theories, and what our ethical theories imply about our political outlook. Smith provides us with a version of egoism that will need to be argued against by those who find it distasteful or misguided, rather than simply dismissed."^[96]

A 2006 conference at the University of Pittsburgh, "Concepts and Objectivity: Knowledge, Science, and Values," featured presentations by Objectivists Onkar Ghate, Allan Gotthelf, James Lennox, and Darryl Wright alongside influential non-Objectivist academics such as A.P. Martinich and Peter Railton.^[97] Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Allan Gotthelf (born Brooklyn NY, 1942) is emeritus professor of philosophy at The College of New Jersey and visiting professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he holds the Universitys Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism (since 2003). ... Peter Railton is John Stephenson Perrin Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. ...

Student activism

One of the reasons for the prominence of Ayn Rand and Objectivism in the news and popular culture relative to other philosophical theories^{[98][99][100]} may be related to the dozens of student groups dedicated to promoting and studying the philosophy of Objectivism^{[101][102][103]} spread across the U.S., Australia, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Norway.^[104] These clubs often present controversial speakers on topics such as abortion, religion, and foreign policy, often allying with controversial conservative (and sometimes liberal) organizations to organize their events. For example the NYU Objectivism Club hosted a joint panel^[105] on the Muhammad cartoons that received nationwide coverage for NYU's censorship of the cartoons.^[106] There are several dozen speakers sponsored by the Ayn Rand Institute^[107] and other organizations, who give nationwide tours each year speaking about Objectivism. The image is page three of Jyllands-Postens culture section from 2005-09-30 with the twelve drawings of Muhammad. ...

The Ayn Rand Institute has spent more than $5M on educational programs advancing Objectivism, including scholarships and clubs. These clubs often obtain educational materials and speakers from the ARI. The Objectivist Club Association and ObjectivismOnline provide free hosting and organizational resources for Ayn Rand clubs. There are also several conferences organized by various organizations, such as the Objectivist Conferences, which are attended by several hundred "new intellectuals" each summer for two weeks and feature dozens of philosophy courses and presentations of new publications and research. The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism (ARI) was established in 1985, three years after Ayn Rands death, by Leonard Peikoff, Rands legal and intellectual heir. ...

Criticism

Philosophical criticism

A notable exception to the general lack of attention paid to Rand in academic philosophy is the essay "On the Randian Argument" by Harvard University philosopher Robert Nozick, which appears in his collection, Socratic Puzzles. Nozick is sympathetic to Rand's political conclusions, but does not think her arguments justify them. In particular, his essay criticizes her foundational argument in ethics—laid out most explicitly in her book The Virtue of Selfishness—which claims that one's own life is, for each individual, the ultimate value because it makes all other values possible. Nozick says that to make this argument sound one needs to explain why someone could not rationally prefer dying and thus having no values. Thus, he argues, her attempt to defend the morality of selfishness is essentially an instance of begging the question. Nozick also argues that Rand's solution to David Hume's famous is-ought problem is unsatisfactory. Harvard redirects here. ... Robert Nozick (November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher and Pellegrino University Professor at Harvard University. ... In logic, begging the question describes a type of logical fallacy, petitio principii, in which the conclusion of an argument is implicitly or explicitly assumed in one of the premises. ... This article is about the philosopher. ... David Hume raised the is-ought problem in his Treatise of Human Nature. ...

Rand has been accused of misinterpreting the works of many of the philosophers that she criticized in her writing.^[108]

For more details on this topic, see Objectivism (Ayn Rand)#Ayn Rand on the history of philosophy.

This article is about the philosophy of Ayn Rand. ...

Literary criticism

When The Fountainhead was published, Lorine Pruette, a New York Times reviewer, wrote that Rand "has written a hymn in praise of the individual," stating that "you will not be able to read this masterful book without thinking through some of the basic concepts of our times."^[109] Yet many critics disagreed: Rand's novels, when they were first published, "received almost unanimously terrible reviews"^[19] and were derided by some critics as long and melodramatic.^[110] However, they became bestsellers due largely to word of mouth.^[19] Scholars of English and American literature have largely ignored her work, although Rand has received occasional positive reviews from the literary establishment. For example, in the Literary Encyclopedia John Lewis of Ashland University calls her works "the most intellectually challenging fiction of her generation."^[111] The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... For other uses, see Literature (disambiguation). ...

The most famous review of Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged was written by the conservative author Whittaker Chambers and appeared in National Review in 1957. It was unrelentingly scathing. Chambers called the book "sophomoric"; and "remarkably silly," and said it "can be called a novel only by devaluing the term." He described the tone of the book as "shrillness without reprieve". Chambers accused Rand of supporting the same godless system as the Soviets, claiming "From almost any page of Atlas Shrugged, a voice can be heard, from painful necessity, commanding: 'To the gas chambers—go!'"^[112] Five decades later, The Intellectual Activist published a reply, arguing that Chambers had not actually read the book, as he misspelled the names of two major characters and used no quotations from the novel in his critique.^[113] Whittaker Chambers, 1948 Jay Vivian (David Whittaker) Chambers (April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer, editor, Communist party member and spy for the Soviet Union who defected and became an outspoken opponent of communism. ... National Review (NR) is a biweekly magazine of political opinion, founded by author William F. Buckley, Jr. ... The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow was demolished by Soviet authorities in 1931 to make way for the Palace of Soviets. ...

Another critic, Mimi Gladstein (author of The New Ayn Rand Companion), called Rand's characters flat and uninteresting, and her heroes implausibly wealthy, intelligent, physically attractive and free of doubt while arrayed against antagonists who are weak, pathetic, full of uncertainty, and lacking in imagination and talent.^[114]

Rand's aesthetic views differed substantially from those of the academic mainstream. She explained in a 1963 essay titled "The Goal of My Writing" that the goal of her fiction was to project her vision of an ideal man: not man as he is, but man as he might be and ought to be. Rand presented her theory of aesthetics more fully in her 1969 book, The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature.

Cult criticism

Murray Rothbard (who helped define modern libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism),^[115] Jeff Walker,^[116] and Michael Shermer (founder of The Skeptics Society),^[117] have accused Objectivism of being a cult, claiming that it exhibited typical cult traits, including slavish adherence to unprovable doctrine and extreme adulation of the founder. Murray Newton Rothbard (March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an influential American economist, historian and natural law theorist belonging to the Austrian School of Economics who helped define modern libertarianism. ... This article is about the political philosophy based on private property rights. ... Anarcho-capitalism refers to an anti-statist philosophy that embraces capitalism as one of its foundational principles. ... Michael Shermer Michael Shermer (born September 8, 1954 in Glendale, California) is a science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and editor of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating and debunking pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. ... The Skeptics Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting scientific skepticism and resisting the spread of pseudoscience, superstition, and irrational beliefs. ...

In response to one fan who offered her cult-like allegiance, Rand declared, "A blind follower is precisely what my philosophy condemns and what I reject. Objectivism is not a mystic cult".^[118] Her close associate, Mary Ann Sures, remarked:^[119]

"Some critics have tried to turn her certainty into a desire on her part to be an authority in the bad sense, and they accuse her of be­ing dogmatic, of demand­ing unques­tion­ing agreement and blind loyalty. They have tried, but none successfully, to make her into the leader of a cult, and followers of her phi­los­o­phy into cultists who accept without think­ing everyth­ing she says. This is a most unjust accusa­tion; it’s real­ly perverse. Unques­tion­ing agreement is precise­ly what Ayn Rand did not want. She wanted you to think and act independently, not to accept conclusions because she said so, but because you reached them by us­ing your mind in an independent and firsthand manner. She was adamant about it: your conclusions should result from your observa­tions of reality and your think­ing, not hers. Now, she could help you along in that process, and, as we all know, she did. But she never wanted you to substitute her mind for yours."

Bibliography

Fiction

• Night of January 16th (1934) ISBN 0-452-26486-3
• We the Living (1936) ISBN 0-451-18784-9
• Anthem (1938) ISBN 0-451-19113-7
• The Fountainhead (1943) ISBN 0-451-19115-3
• Atlas Shrugged (1957) ISBN 0-451-19114-5

Night of January 16 was a play written by Ayn Rand, inspired by the death of the Match King, Ivar Kreuger. ... We the Living is Ayn Rands first novel. ... Anthem (ISBN 0451191137), first published in 1938, is a science_fiction novella by Ayn Rand. ... For the film, see The Fountainhead (film). ... For the film, see Atlas Shrugged (film). ...

Nonfiction

• For the New Intellectual (1961) ISBN 0-451-16308-7
• The Virtue of Selfishness (with Nathaniel Branden) (1964) ISBN 0-451-16393-1
• Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (with Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, and Robert Hessen) (1966) ISBN 0-451-14795-2
• Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (1967) ISBN 0-452-01030-6 (expanded second edition)
• The Romantic Manifesto (1969) ISBN 0-451-14916-5
• The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution (1971) ISBN 0-452-01184-1
• Philosophy: Who Needs It posthumously edited by Leonard Peikoff (1982) ISBN 0-451-13893-7

For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand is a 1961 book by Ayn Rand. ... The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism is a 1964 collection of essays and papers by Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden. ... Nathaniel Branden (b. ... Nathaniel Branden (b. ... Squalltoonix (born March 6, 1926 in New York City) is an American economist and was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. ... Robert Hessen, a Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, is a historian specializing in American economic and business history. ... Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, published in 1967, was Ayn Rands attempt to summarize the Objectivist theory of concepts, and to submit her solution to the problem of universals. ... The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature is Ayn Rands non-fiction work, a collection of essays regarding the nature of art. ...

Posthumous works

• The Early Ayn Rand (edited and with commentary by Leonard Peikoff) (1984)
• The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought (edited by Leonard Peikoff; additional essays by Leonard Peikoff and Peter Schwartz) (1989)
• Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology second edition (edited by Harry Binswanger; additional material by Leonard Peikoff) (1990)
• Letters of Ayn Rand (edited by Michael S. Berliner) (1995)
• Journals of Ayn Rand (edited by David Harriman) (1997)
• Ayn Rand's Marginalia: Her Critical Comments on the Writings of over Twenty Authors (edited by Robert Mayhew) (1998)
• The Ayn Rand Column: Written for the Los Angeles Times (edited by Peter Schwartz) (1998)
• Russian Writings on Hollywood (edited by Michael S. Berliner) (1999)
• Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution (expanded edition of The New Left; edited and with additional essays by Peter Schwartz) (1999)
• The Art of Fiction (edited by Tore Boeckmann) (2000)
• The Art of Nonfiction (edited by Robert Mayhew) (2001)
• The Objectivism Research CD-ROM (collection of most of Rand's works in CD-ROM format) (2001)
• Three Plays (2005)
• Ayn Rand Answers (edited by Robert Mayhew) (2005)

The Early Ayn Rand is a collection of unpublished early short stories, plays, and excerpts from We The Living and The Fountainhead, written by Ayn Rand and published after her death in 1984. ... Leonard Peikoff circa 1970 Leonard Peikoff (born 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. ... The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought is a collection of essays by Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff, and Peter Schwartz, and edited by Leonard Peikoff. ... Leonard Peikoff circa 1970 Leonard Peikoff (born 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. ... Leonard Peikoff circa 1970 Leonard Peikoff (born 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. ... Peter Schwartz is a writer and journalist who follows the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand. ... Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, published in 1967, was Ayn Rands attempt to summarize the Objectivist theory of concepts, and to submit her solution to the problem of universals. ... Harry Binswanger (born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1944) is a philosopher and writer. ... Leonard Peikoff circa 1970 Leonard Peikoff (born 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. ... The Ayn Rand Column: Written for the Los Angeles Times is a collection of the newspaper columns that Ayn Rand wrote for the Los Angeles Times, as well as other essays by Rand. ... Peter Schwartz is a writer and journalist who follows the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand. ... Peter Schwartz is a writer and journalist who follows the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand. ... The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers is a nonfiction book by Ayn Rand, published posthumously. ...

Film adaptations

Without Rand's knowledge or permission, We the Living was made into a pair of films, Noi vivi and Addio, Kira in 1942 by Scalara Films, Rome. They were nearly censored by the Italian government under Benito Mussolini, but they were permitted because the novel upon which they were based was anti-Soviet. The films were successful, and the public easily realized that they were as much against Fascism as Communism. These films were re-edited into a new version which was approved by Rand and re-released as We the Living in 1986. We the Living is Ayn Rands first novel. ... For other uses, see Rome (disambiguation). ... Mussolini redirects here. ...

The Fountainhead^[120] was a Hollywood film (1949, Warner Bros.) starring Gary Cooper, for which Rand wrote the screen-play. Rand initially insisted that Frank Lloyd Wright design the architectural models used in the film, but relented when his fee was too high.^[121] The Fountainhead is a film made in 1949 based on the book of the same name by Ayn Rand. ... ... Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor of English heritage. ... Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer, educator, and philosopher from Oak Park, Illinois. ...

A film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged is in pre-production as of late 2007, with production possibly starting in 2008,^[122] although that may be affected by the writer's strike. In September 2007, Lions Gate Films reported that it had hired Vadim Perelman to revise Randall Wallace's script and to direct the film, with screen star Angelina Jolie cast in the rôle of Dagny Taggart.^[123] Atlas Shrugged is a film in active development by Baldwin Entertainment Group and Lions Gate Entertainment. ... Striking writers and supporters raise signs at a WGAW rally in Los Angeles Writer-actor Jeff Garlin of Curb Your Enthusiasm (foreground, right) and others at a WGAW rally outside the Fox Studios in Los Angeles The 2007 Writers Guild of America strike is a strike by the Writers Guild... Vadim Perelman is a Soviet-American film director. ... Randall Wallace is an American screenwriter, producer and director. ... Angelina Jolie (born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975) is an American film actor, a former fashion model, and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. ...

The Passion of Ayn Rand,^[124] an independent film about her life, was made in 1999, starring Helen Mirren, Eric Stoltz, Julie Delpy and Peter Fonda. The film was based on the book by Barbara Branden, one of her former associates, and won several awards for Helen Mirren, including the Emmy and the Golden Globe. The Passion of Ayn Rand is a 1999 film directed by Christopher Menaul. ... Dame Helen Mirren, DBE (born July 26, 1945), is an English stage, television and film actress. ... Eric H. Stoltz (born September 30, 1961) is a Golden Globe-nominated American actor. ... Julie Delpy (born December 21, 1969) is a French/American actress, singer and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter. ... Peter Henry Fonda (born February 23, 1940) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... Barbara Branden (born 1929, Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a writer, editor, and lecturer. ...

Screenplays

In addition to the screenplay of The Fountainhead, Rand also collaborated on screenplays of You Came Along and Love Letters both filmed in 1945. Love Letters is a 1945 film which tells the story of a World War II soldier who writes his friends love letters, but begins falling in love with the friends girlfriend. ...

References

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 81st day of the year (82nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism (ARI) was established in 1985, three years after Ayn Rands death, by Leonard Peikoff, Rands legal and intellectual heir. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 81st day of the year (82nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 81st day of the year (82nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 89th day of the year (90th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 90th day of the year (91st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Institutes stated mission is to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets, and peace by striving to achieve greater involvement... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 89th day of the year (90th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Whittaker Chambers, 1948 Jay Vivian (David Whittaker) Chambers (April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer, editor, Communist party member and spy for the Soviet Union who defected and became an outspoken opponent of communism. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... National Review (NR) is a biweekly magazine of political opinion, founded by author William F. Buckley, Jr. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 84th day of the year (85th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 100th day of the year (101st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other persons named John Locke, see John Locke (disambiguation). ... The Two Treatises of Government (or Two Treatises of Government: In the Former, The False Principles and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, And His Followers, are Detected and Overthrown. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 100th day of the year (101st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 92nd day of the year (93rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 92nd day of the year (93rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 89th day of the year (90th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Objectivist was an Objectivist magazine published from January 1966 to September 1971, as the successor to The Objectivist Newsletter. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 89th day of the year (90th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 96th day of the year (97th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 96th day of the year (97th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism (ARI) was established in the United States in 1985, three years after Ayn Rands death, by Leonard Peikoff, Rands legal heir. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 26 is the 85th day of the year (86th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 279th day of the year (280th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 90th day of the year (91st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 295th day of the year (296th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 95th day of the year (96th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 96th day of the year (97th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 113th day of the year (114th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 104th day of the year (105th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... {| style=float:right; |- | |- | |} is the 235th day of the year (236th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 104th day of the year (105th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 99th day of the year (100th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 330th day of the year (331st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Whittaker Chambers, 1948 Jay Vivian (David Whittaker) Chambers (April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer, editor, Communist party member and spy for the Soviet Union who defected and became an outspoken opponent of communism. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 90th day of the year (91st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 89th day of the year (90th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 344th day of the year (345th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Barbara Branden (born 1929, Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a writer, editor, and lecturer. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 275th day of the year (276th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Further reading

Barbara Branden (born 1929, Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a writer, editor, and lecturer. ... Nathaniel Branden (b. ... Nathaniel Branden (b. ... Barbara Branden (born 1929, Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a writer, editor, and lecturer. ... Jeff Britting (b. ... Chris Matthew Sciabarra (b. ... Stephen Ronald Craig Hicks (born 1960) is professor of philosophy at Rockford College. ... Leonard Peikoff circa 1970 Leonard Peikoff (born 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. ... Leonard Peikoff circa 1970 Leonard Peikoff (born 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. ... Murray Newton Rothbard Murray Newton Rothbard (March 2, 1926 - January 7, 1995) was an American economist and political theorist belonging to the Austrian School of Economics who helped define modern libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism. ... Chris Matthew Sciabarra (b. ... Chris Matthew Sciabarra (b. ... Michael Shermer Michael Shermer (born September 8, 1954 in Glendale, California) is a science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and editor of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating and debunking pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. ... James S. Valliant (born September 29, 1963) was a Deputy District Attorney for San Diego County for 16 years, during which time he prosecuted offenders for violent crimes. ... Leonard Peikoff circa 1970 Leonard Peikoff (born 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. ...

External links

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General information

• Ayn Rand FAQ
• The Objectivism Wiki
• Frequently Asked Questions on Ayn Rand
• "Ayn Rand" entry from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• American Writers: Ayn Rand C-SPAN 2002 RTSP videos.
• Ayn Rand at Find A Grave

This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), developed by the IETF and created in 1998 as RFC 2326, is a protocol for use in streaming media systems which allows a client to remotely control a streaming media server, issuing VCR-like commands such as play and pause, and allowing time-based... Find A Grave is an online database of seventeen million cemeteries and burial records. ...

Rand's writing and speeches

• Anthem — The complete text of the novel, which has fallen into the public domain
• Atlas Shrugged — Book outline
• The Fountainhead — Book outline
• We The Living — Book outline
• "Philosophy: Who Needs It?" — Address To The Graduating Class Of The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York - March 6, 1974
• Rand's HUAC testimony — Transcript
• We the Living — Video outline
• Works by Ayn Rand at Project Gutenberg
• Rand's papers at The Library of Congress

is the 65th day of the year (66th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive and distribute cultural works. ...

Films

• Ayn Rand at the Internet Movie Database

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ...

Organizations promoting Ayn Rand's philosophy

• The Ayn Rand Institute — Information on Ayn Rand and her philosophy. Founded by Leonard Peikoff, Ayn Rand’s heir.
• The Center for the Advancement of Capitalism
• The Atlas Society and The Objectivist Center

Leonard Peikoff circa 1970 Leonard Peikoff (born 1933) is an Objectivist philosopher and author. ...

Popular influence

• Celebrity Ayn Rand Fans — Cites Rand's influence on newsworthy figures
• BioShock - A Next Generation video game influenced by the work of Ayn Rand

Critical views

• The Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult by Murray N. Rothbard
• Big Sister is Watching You by Whittaker Chambers, originally from the National Review
• A Half-Century-Old Attack on Ayn Rand Reminds Us of the Dark Side of Conservatism by Robert Tracinski, rebutting Chambers's review
• The Concerned Novelist by Alper Ecer, (originally published in the Turkish academic magazine "Liberal Thought" of Association of Liberal Thinking)
• Mysticism of the Market Why wise libertarians should reject Ayn Rand, from the Prometheus Institute

Murray Newton Rothbard Murray Newton Rothbard (March 2, 1926 - January 7, 1995) was an American economist and political theorist belonging to the Austrian School of Economics who helped define modern libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism. ... Whittaker Chambers, 1948 Jay Vivian (David Whittaker) Chambers (April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer, editor, Communist party member and spy for the Soviet Union who defected and became an outspoken opponent of communism. ... National Review (NR) is a biweekly magazine of political opinion, founded by author William F. Buckley, Jr. ...

Audio and video

• 1982, 1985 audio interviews with Leonard Peikoff about Ayn Rand by Don Swaim at Wired for Books.
• 1961 interview with Ayn Rand
• Ayn Rand Phil Donahue Interview Part 1 of 5

Don Swaim is an American journalist, writer, and broadcaster. ... Wired for Books <http://wiredforbooks. ... Night of January 16 was a play written by Ayn Rand, inspired by the death of the Match King, Ivar Kreuger. ... We the Living is Ayn Rands first novel. ... Anthem is a dystopian, science-fiction novella by philosopher Ayn Rand, first published in 1938. ... For the film, see The Fountainhead (film). ... For the film, see Atlas Shrugged (film). ... For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand is a 1961 book by Ayn Rand. ... The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism is a 1964 collection of essays and papers by Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden. ... Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, published in 1967, was Ayn Rands attempt to summarize the Objectivist theory of concepts, and to submit her solution to the problem of universals. ... The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature is Ayn Rands non-fiction work, a collection of essays regarding the nature of art. ... The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought is a collection of essays by Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff, and Peter Schwartz, and edited by Leonard Peikoff. ... is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1905 (disambiguation). ... Saint Petersburg  listen (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of... is the 65th day of the year (66th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...