“Man
cannot survive except through his mind. He comes on earth unarmed. His brain is
his only weapon. Animals obtain food by force. man had no claws, no fangs, no
horns, no great strength of muscle. He must plant his food or hunt it. To
plant, he needs a process of thought. To hunt, he needs weapons, and to make
weapons - a process of thought. From this simplest necessity to the highest
religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and
we have comes from a single attribute of man -the function of his reasoning
mind.”
― Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
― Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
Ayn Rand’s first major success as a writer came
with The Fountainhead in 1943, a romantic and philosophical novel she
wrote over a period of seven years. The novel centers upon a young man named
Howard Roark and his struggle against what Rand described as “Second-Handers”-those
who attempt to live through others, placing others above themselves. The book
was rejected by twelve publishers before one editor threatened to quit his job
if his company did not publish it. Reading The Fountainhead gives you a
feeling of frustration because no one wants to be daring and try Roark’s new
building ideas which are actually brilliant and instead want to remain stuck in
their own ways. Also he allows his “friend” to take credit for his incredible
work since it is the only way for his ideas to become public. Thankfully in the
end, after much frustration and struggle, his great abilities are finally
recognized.
“I
swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of
another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”
― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
“Who is John Galt?”
Now to my all-time favorite book; Atlas Shrugged.
Published in 1957, Atlas Shrugged is considered to be Ayn Rand’s
greatest work; her magnum opus. Rand described the theme of this novel as “the
role of the mind in man’s existence – and, as a corollary, the demonstration of
a new moral philosophy; the morality of rational self-interest.” It advocated
Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism and expresses her concept of human
achievement. The strongest characters in the book who work to maintain the
world with their inventions and great businesses go on strike, and in John Galt’s
words “stop the motor of the world”. With this strike Rand intended to
illustrate that without the efforts of the rational and productive, the economy
would collapse and society would fall apart. If you have not heard of or read
this book, I highly recommend it.
Ayn
Rand’s first interview:
My
first and second blog post:
http://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2015/04/ayn-rands-philosophy-objectivism.html
Our highest rational self-interest is to recognize, contrary to Ms. Rand, that we're all connected and should live for one another as well as for ourselves. Again, I'm not a fan. But I understand, I think, where she (and maybe you) are coming from.
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