# Objectivism The philosophical system developed by novelist-philosopher [[Ayn Rand]] (1905–1982), built on four linked commitments: **metaphysical realism** (reality exists independent of consciousness), **reason** as the only valid means of knowledge, **rational self-interest** ("rational egoism") as the proper moral purpose of a human life, and **laissez-faire capitalism** as the only moral social system. Rand dramatized the system in her novels *[[The Fountainhead]]* (1943) and *[[Atlas Shrugged]]* (1957) and formalized it through essays and the institutions that outlived her (the [[Ayn Rand Institute]]). ## Core Claims Objectivism holds that each individual exists as an end in himself, that the pursuit of one's own rational self-interest and happiness is the highest moral purpose, and that **altruism** — the doctrine that one must place others above self — is not a virtue but a moral error that licenses sacrifice and collectivism. Politically, this yields a strict defense of individual rights, private property, and free markets, and a deep hostility to taxation (framed as legalized expropriation), the welfare state, and government economic intervention. The famous question of *Atlas Shrugged* — "Who is John Galt?" — became a libertarian rallying cry, and the novel's plot, in which the "men of the mind" withdraw their labor and let a parasite-ridden civilization collapse, is the *ur*-narrative of producer-vs-parasite politics. ## Influence on the American Right Objectivism is the deepest **tap root of the [[Makers and Takers]] narrative**. Its sharp division between heroic "producers" and parasitic "looters" and "moochers," its moralization of wealth, and its contempt for redistribution supply much of the emotional and rhetorical architecture of the modern right's economic individualism. Rand's influence runs through libertarianism (with which Objectivism overlaps but from which it also feuds — Rand disdained the libertarian movement and anarcho-capitalism), through supply-side and anti-tax politics, and into the Silicon Valley "builder/founder" ethos that frames entrepreneurs as society's prime movers. Figures from Alan Greenspan (a member of Rand's inner circle, the "Collective") to later tech and political elites have cited her influence. ## Why It Matters Here Objectivism matters in this KB as an **upstream ideological source** rather than a mass movement. Relatively few people are doctrinaire Objectivists, but the structure of thought Rand crystallized — productive individuals owe nothing to society; taxation is theft; the successful are morally superior to the dependent — is diffused throughout right-wing economic discourse, especially the [[Makers and Takers]] frame and the libertarian wing of the fusionist coalition. (See [[Ayn Rand]] and [[Makers and Takers]].) ## See Also - [[Ayn Rand]] — Founder of the system - [[Makers and Takers]] — The narrative Objectivism most directly underwrites - [[Libertarianism]] — Overlapping but distinct (and historically antagonistic) tradition