Objectivism 3-2-1: Interview with Ayn Rand about Philosophy in Her Novels

I watched an interview of Ayn Rand conducted by Mike Wallace in 1959. Ayn Rand is the mother of objectivism and the author of both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Rand’s philosophy according to her is: A philosophy based on objective reality and “the concept that reality exists as an absolute, that man’s mind is his means of perceiving it and that man needs a rational morality”. Listening to her views, I came away with a number of points that she stressed and even more questions regarding objectivism.

1 America needs a new code of morality that is not based on emotion or faith, but logic instead. Objectivism finds that logically, “the highest moral purpose [of man] is his own happiness.”

2 She believes that moral altruism will lead to socialism, dictatorship and financial disaster. Rand says that forcing people to act in an altruistic way or to pay taxes is morally wrong. Everything should be privatized and no one should be bullied into helping others.

3 A complete free market economy separated from government is the only way to save our country from financial ruin.

1 If everyone relies on money to survive and state and social benefits for people in need are taken away, won’t the people in need revolt, protest or become violent? Won’t crime rates soar if people are unable to gain access to what they need to survive and won’t this lead to a lower quality of life for everyone?

2 How can Rand assert that a completely unhindered free market would be a good thing if it has never been tested? I’d like to know how she would explain the poverty and death that could result from relying on those who stand to gain from helping others who have nothing would manifest? Why would people acting in their own best interest have to gain from helping people who need it? If nothing, then what is to come of all the people at the bottom of this economic structure?

Question: Would you want to live in a world where selfishness is stressed and anyone in need would be on their own? Do you think Rand’s philosophy will lead to a better society as she claims or that it would lower our quality of life as a whole?