What (the Heck) is Objectivism?

This month’s Atheist Lounge will feature a guest presentation by Charlie Painter, who supplied the following background material on his topic.

Philosopher, artist, and writer Ayn Rand held that philosophy moves the world. Her conviction was strong enough to discover and develop a rational, revolutionary philosophy, previously thought impossible. She called this philosophy “Objectivism”.

Objectivism asserts that reality exists as an objective absolute, that man’s senses are his only means of perceiving it, and reason is his only guide to knowledge, his only means of survival. Rand demonstrates this throughout her “Romantic Realism” novels, most notably The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Objectivism is an integrated philosophy, providing a rational basis for understanding the five branches of philosophy. Let’s briefly explore the Objectivist position on these five areas.

Metaphysics is the study of existence, AKA the “what”. Rand draws from Aristotle’s law of identity (A=A) the conclusion that “existence exists”. This means that a thing is what it is and only that, and causation is the law of identity applied to action; things act according to their nature, and it can’t be otherwise. Due to this fact, contradictions are not possible. Objectivism holds a “primacy of existence” metaphysics, versus a “primacy of consciousness”. In other words, consciousness comes out of existence and is contingent upon existence, whereas existence is not contingent upon consciousness; that is, it can exist without any conscious entities.

Epistemology is the science devoted to the discovery of the proper methods of acquiring and validating knowledge, AKA the “how” do we know what we know? Rand’s answer to this is logic, which she defines as “the art of non-contradictory identification. Logic has a single law, the law of identity and its various corollaries. If logic has nothing to do with reality, it means that the law of identity is inapplicable to reality; A. Things are not what they are. B. Things can be and not be at the same time, in the same respect.... Reality is made up of contradictions.” She also wrote “Logic is man’s method of reaching conclusions objectively by deriving them without contradiction from the facts of reality — ultimately, from the evidence provided by man’s senses.”

The third branch of philosophy is Ethics. Rand defined ethics or morality as “a code of values to guide man’s choices and actions — the choices and actions that determine the purpose and the course of his life. Ethics, as a science, deals with discovering and defining such a code.” Rand starts ethics not by asking “what particular code of values should man accept?” but rather “Does man need values at all — and why?” “The standard of value in Objectivist ethics — by which one judges what is good or evil — is man’s life, or, that which is required for man’s survival qua man. Since reason is man’s basic means of survival, that which is proper to the life of a rational being is the good; that which negates, opposes, or destroys it is evil. Since everything man needs has to be discovered by his own mind, and produced by his own effort, the two essentials of the method of survival proper to a rational being are: thinking and productive work.” In other words, if you’re all alone on a desert island, ethics still exists because ethics is primarily about your life first. Rand called Objectivist morality “(rational) egoism”.

Politics is the fourth branch of philosophy, and because Objectivism is a systematic and integrated philosophy, it is built upon the first three branches; Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Ethics, much like consecutive floors of a building. “Politics”, wrote Rand’s intellectual heir Leonard Peikoff, “is what defines the principles of a proper social system.” Objectivism holds that free-market laissez faire capitalism is the most rational, moral social system because it is “based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned. The recognition of individual rights entails the banishment of physical force from human relationships: basically, rights can be violated only by means of physical force. In a capitalist society, no man or group may initiate the use of physical force against others. The only function of the government, in such a society, is the task of protecting man’s rights, i.e., the task of protecting him from physical force; the government acts as the agent of man’s right of self-defense, and may use force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use; thus the government is the means of placing the retaliatory use of force under objective control.” Capitalism proper means a total separation of government from economics, education, science, and health (excluding extremes like bioterrorism/warfare). Disclaimer: Ayn Rand and Objectivists are not Libertarians, as Libertarians are “anti-state” qua state and many are “anarcho-capitalists” who believe in a free market on the use of violence, such as private, competing police and security forces. In the Objectivist conception of capitalism the government is only in charge of police, prisons, military, and the courts.

Aesthetics is the fifth and final branch of philosophy. Aesthetics is the study of art, which is based on Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Ethics. Rand held that objective standards in art are possible because “art is not a subjective luxury, but rather a critical need of human life, not a material need, but a need of man’s rational mind.” Rand believed art has “an indispensable function in man’s life, the objective source of man’s deeply personal, emotional response to art, and how an artist’s fundamental, often unstated view of man and of the world shapes creation.” She elaborates on her distinctive theory of literature and identifies principles by which to judge an artwork objectively. She sheds new light on Romanticism (life as it could and should be) under which she classifies her own work. In later essays she explains how contemporary art reveals the debased intellectual state of our culture. But, as to her own fiction writing, she sees its goal as a projection of the ideal man — an end in itself — and explains that she originated her philosophy as a means to this end. (For more insight into Rand’s writing check “The Art of Fiction”, published posthumously, and “The Art of Nonfiction”, published in 1969.)

Conclusion: Rand called Objectivism “a philosophy for living on earth”, which means it’s for anyone who values life, and the point of life is living. This involves using reason (Epistemology) to choose rational values (Ethics) in order to produce and consume for one’s own pleasure (Egoism) and being able to do so free of force or coercion (Capitalism), while enjoying beauty and Art along the way that reflects those values (Aesthetics). If it’s true that philosophy shapes the world and if Objectivism is true, then it has the potential to revolutionize the world.

This will be a virtual meeting conducted via Zoom. A link will be sent out at 6 PM on the day of the event to people who’ve RSVPed.