The Philosphy of Ayn Rand

I just finished reading For the New Intellectual by Ayn Rand which is a summary of her views on a number of themes. The majority of them revolve around capitalism as opposed to collectivism. She has to be the hardest proponent of unbridled capitalism I have read to date.

The book starts with a long essay on her developing philosophy known as Objectivism in which she goes on to say that the following excerpts from her four novels will elucidate in more or less totality. Some of the text is quite challenging to get through especially John Galt’s speech which is almost 100 pages in length and gets to be quite repetitive at many points. Behind the repetition and over the top verbiage are a number of thought provoking ideas.

Some of these include the idea of making money as opposed to its being traded, looted, or mooched. This stems from her belief that all money today has to come from somewhere and that it is the human mind that it comes from. This is meant in the case of the inventor or industrialist that creates and produces. After money is made you can then use it as currency that holds value. Much of the book turns on the relationship between the thinking man and what he produces.

Some other themes touched on in the book are sexual desire, free trade, personal liberty, and the role of government. It also goes into great depth on the relationship between working for society or working for personal gain. In the end, many people can easily chalk this book up to extreme radical capitalism and dismiss the underlying ideas. I often feel that looking at an extreme case can reveal some thing valuable. This book is definitely thought provoking and seems, at least in me, to touch some ideas that stand out as absolutely true.

I might go as far as saying this is a book that could impact the future way I choose to live my life.