Ayn Rand
The virtue of selfishness
Rational self-interest as a moral code.
Heterodox ObjectivistOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Objectivist hall →- Role
- Novelist & philosopher
- Era
- 1905–1982
- Region
- Russia / US
- Social band
- Heterodox
- Placement
- +55 · −92 · +25
§ Where Ayn Rand stands
3 axesRand held laissez-faire capitalism to be the only moral social system, because it alone recognises the individual's right to the product of his mind. Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966) attacked antitrust law, regulation and the welfare state, and Atlas Shrugged (1957) dramatised a mixed economy collapsing under controls. Her defence was moral rather than technical, resting on property rights more than on economic theory.
Rand wanted government reduced to its single proper function, protecting individual rights through police, courts and the military. Her essay The Nature of Government (1963) rejected both the welfare state and anarchism, and she opposed the military draft and proposed financing government by voluntary means instead of taxation. Few political thinkers of her era drew the state's boundaries more tightly.
Socially Rand was a militant atheist and rationalist who rejected religion, tradition and self-sacrifice alike. She defended abortion rights in Of Living Death (1968), her attack on the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae, and condemned racism as the most primitive form of collectivism. The progressive lean was modest: she called homosexuality immoral, dismissed feminism and despised the counterculture of the 1960s.
How close are you to Ayn Rand?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
HistoricalAyn Rand (1905–1982), born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum in St Petersburg, saw the Bolsheviks confiscate her father's pharmacy before she left Soviet Russia for the United States in 1926. She worked in Hollywood as a junior screenwriter for Cecil B. DeMille, married the actor Frank O'Connor in 1929 and published her first novel, We the Living, in 1936. Fame came with The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957), after which she turned to essays and lectures setting out her philosophy, Objectivism.
Rand's significance is that she gave American capitalism a moral, not merely economic, defence, arguing that rational self-interest is a virtue and altruism a destructive creed. Her novels have sold in the millions and shaped politicians, entrepreneurs and activists on the libertarian and conservative right, though she rejected both movements. Academic philosophers largely dismissed her, critics charged her circle with cult-like conformity, especially after her 1968 break with Nathaniel Branden, and her remarks disparaging homosexuality and denying Native Americans' rights to their land remain contentious.
Notable for
- 01'Atlas Shrugged'
- 02'The Fountainhead'
- 03Founded Objectivism
Key works & moments
- 1926Leaves Soviet Russia for the United States, soon working in Hollywood for Cecil B. DeMille.
- 1943Publishes The Fountainhead, which becomes a bestseller largely through word of mouth.
- 1947Testifies as a friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee on Hollywood communism.
- 1957Publishes Atlas Shrugged, her final novel and the fullest statement of her philosophy.
- 1964Publishes The Virtue of Selfishness, essays defending rational egoism.
- 1968Breaks with Nathaniel Branden, splitting the Objectivist movement.
In their own words
“Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism.”
§ Minds closest to Ayn Rand
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§ Also in the Objectivist hall
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§ Common questions
4 answersWhat was Ayn Rand's political ideology?
Ayn Rand was the founder of Objectivism, a philosophy of reason, rational self-interest and laissez-faire capitalism: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Heterodox Objectivist. Economically she sat clearly on the market side (+55), calling capitalism the only moral system. On governance she was strongly anti-statist (−92), wanting a government limited to police, courts and defence, and socially she leaned mildly progressive (+25), an atheist who backed abortion rights while holding conservative views on sexuality and feminism.
Was Ayn Rand left-wing or right-wing?
Right-wing on economics, but at odds with the conservative right on much else. Her defence of laissez-faire capitalism and hostility to the welfare state made her a lasting influence on the American right. Yet she was an atheist who defended abortion rights and opposed the draft, and she argued in Conservatism: An Obituary (1960) that defending capitalism by faith or tradition was doomed. She also rejected the libertarian label, so she is best seen as a radical individualist of her own school.
Was Ayn Rand a libertarian?
Not by her own account, though libertarians claim her as an inspiration. Rand shared the libertarian goals of free markets, minimal government and individual rights, and her novels recruited many people to the movement. But she denounced the libertarian movement of the 1970s, accusing it of plagiarising her ideas while rejecting their philosophical basis, and she rejected anarcho-capitalism outright, insisting on a government with a monopoly of retaliatory force. Objectivism is usually treated as a distinct school that overlaps with libertarianism.
Which minds are closest to Ayn Rand?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Ayn Rand are John Galt (97% alike), Nathaniel Branden (97% alike) and Yaron Brook (96% alike). The furthest is Pol Pot (1% alike).