Editing Objectivism (section)

{{Short description|Philosophical system developed by Ayn Rand}}
{{Redirect|Objectivist philosophy|objectivity in philosophy|Objectivity (philosophy)|other uses|Objectivism (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Objectivist movement}}
'''Objectivism''' is a [[philosophical system]] named and developed by [[Russian Americans|Russian-American]] writer and philosopher [[Ayn Rand]]. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute".<ref name="auto">"About the Author" in {{harvnb|Rand|1992|pp=1170–1171}}</ref>

Rand first expressed Objectivism in her fiction, most notably ''[[The Fountainhead]]'' (1943) and ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'' (1957), and later in non-fiction essays and books.<ref name="Badhwar 2010">{{harvnb|Badhwar|Long|2020}}</ref> [[Leonard Peikoff]], a professional philosopher and Rand's designated intellectual heir,<ref>''Contemporary Authors Online'', s.v. "Leonard Peikoff". Accessed March 2, 2008.</ref><ref name="McLemee">{{cite journal |last=McLemee |first=Scott |url=http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/9909/rand.html |title=The Heirs Of Ayn Rand: Has Objectivism Gone Subjective? |journal=[[Lingua Franca (magazine)|Lingua Franca]] |date=September 1999 |volume=9 |issue=6 |pages=45–55}}</ref> later gave it a more formal structure.  Peikoff characterizes Objectivism as a "closed system" insofar as its "fundamental principles" were set out by Rand and are not subject to change. However, he stated that "new implications, applications and integrations can always be discovered".<ref name="Fact and Value" />

Objectivism's main tenets are that [[reality]] exists independently of [[consciousness]], that human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception (see [[direct and indirect realism]]), that one can attain objective knowledge from perception through the process of [[concept]] formation and [[inductive logic]], that the proper [[Morality|moral]] purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness (see [[rational egoism]]), that the only [[social system]] consistent with this morality is one that displays full respect for [[Individual and group rights|individual rights]] embodied in ''[[laissez-faire]]'' [[capitalism]], and that the role of [[art]] in human life is to transform humans' [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]] ideas by selective reproduction of reality into a physical form—a work of art—that one can comprehend and to which one can respond emotionally.

Academic philosophers have generally paid little attention to or dismissed Rand's philosophy,<ref name="academic">{{harvnb|Sciabarra|2013|p=[https://archive.org/details/aynrandrussianra0000scia_q9g2/page/1 1]}}; {{harvnb|Badhwar|Long|2020}}; {{harvnb|Gotthelf|2000|p=[https://archive.org/details/onaynrand0000gott/page/1 1]}}; {{harvnb|Machan|2000|p=[https://archive.org/details/aynrand0005mach/page/9 9]}}; {{harvnb|Heyl|1995|p=223}}; {{harvnb|Burns|2020|p=259}}; {{harvnb|Cocks|2020|p=11}}</ref> although a smaller number of academics do support it.<ref>{{harvnb|Sciabarra|2013|p=[https://archive.org/details/aynrandrussianra0000scia_q9g2/page/2 2]}}; Salmieri, Gregory. "An Introduction to the Study of Ayn Rand". In {{harvnb|Gotthelf|Salmieri|2016|p=5}}</ref> Nonetheless, Objectivism has been a persistent influence among [[Right-libertarianism|right-libertarians]] and [[Conservatism in the United States|American conservatives]].<ref name="politicalinfluence">{{harvnb|Burns|2009|p=4}}; {{harvnb|Gladstein|2009|pp=107–108, 124}}</ref> The [[Objectivist movement]], which Rand founded, attempts to spread her ideas to the public and in academic settings.<ref>{{harvnb|Sciabarra|1995|pp=1–2}}</ref>