Randian Objectivism

Randian Objectivism is an extreme variant of classical liberalism, created by the Jewish Ayn Rand. It has been important for the development of the (right-wing) libertarian movement more generally.

Randian Objectivism

Rand grandiosely called her system "Objectivism". In addition to the classical liberalism, the system has components such as often criticized original philosophical ideas by Rand. She saw these ideas as essential and rejected any affiliation with any other part of the libertarian movement that did not accept them.

In ethics, Rand argued for rational and ethical egoism (rational self-interest), as the guiding moral principle. She said the individual should "exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself".

Following the death of Ayn Rand in 1982, leadership passed to her hand-picked Jewish heir Leonard Peikoff, who institutionalized the system, with the creation of the Ayn Rand Institute in 1985. Peikoff has declared Objectivism a "closed system", with the ideas of Ayn Rand not open to question or revision. Both Executive Directors to date, viz. Michael Berliner (1985-2000) and Yaron Brook (2000-) are atheist Jews. A schism occurred in 1989, when the non-Jewish David Kelley was expelled from the Ayn Rand Institute for promoting a more "open" study of Randian thought. The next year Kelley founded the Institute for Objectivist Studies, later renamed The Atlas Society, in order to formalize the dissident school/sect.

Criticisms

The Occidental Observer has argued that:

"Rand’s own movement Objectivism is just as much a Jewish intellectual movement as the Frankfurt School. Although they use very different arguments, they function to produce the same result: a radical individualism that renders cohesive ethnic groups like Jews invisible to the majority, which maximizes their collective security and upward mobility, since cohesive collectives have a systematic advantage in competing with isolated individuals. (Rand called the mostly-Jewish inner circle of her movement “the collective.” It is supposed to be a joke, but the joke may be deeper than most people imagine.)"

Also see

• Alan Greenspan
• Anton LaVey - Jewish founder of the Church of Satan organization, which he described as "just Ayn Rand's philosophy, with ceremony and ritual added".
• Dark Enlightenment
• Libertarianism
• Liberalism
• Objectivism
• Relativism

External links

• Selfish Bastards: A Review of “Atlas Shrugged, Part I”
• Washington Post: The Dark Enlightenment Has Dethroned Ayn Rand
• Criticisms of Objectivism (or Ayn Rand)