Philosophy

Writing in 1957, decades before Effective Altruism had a name or a giving pledge, Ayn Rand described altruism’s core demand: that need functions as “the first mortgage on your life and the moral purpose of your existence.”

In her pamphlet, Textbook of Americanism, Ayn Rand wrote that “[a]n individualist is a man who says: “I will not run anyone’s life—nor let anyone run mine. I will not rule nor be ruled. I will not be a master nor a slave. I will not sacrifice myself to anyone—nor sacrifice anyone to myself.”

Love is far too precious to be offered indiscriminately. It is above all in the area of love that egalitarianism ought to be repudiated. Love represents an exalted exchange–a spiritual exchange–between two people, for the purpose of mutual benefit.

Ayn Rand left a legacy in defense of reason and freedom that serves as a guidepost for the American spirit–especially pertinent today when America and what it stands for are under assault.

February 2nd is the birthday of Ayn Rand, the author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. Ayn Rand developed and defended Objectivism, a philosophy that advocates “rational selfishness.”

Cultural movements do not spring out of a vacuum. The woke movement is the cultural manifestation of the underlying philosophy of postmodernism.

The individual, according to the Progressive intellectuals, existed, not for his own personal happiness, but to self-sacrificially serve others.

Free will cannot be proven because it is the foundation of any proof of anything. It is determinism and not free will that is an illusion.

The Religious Virtue of Humility contrasted with The Rational Virtue of Pride

This essay will serve as the first entry in a series of essays in which I will be looking at the work of three major twentieth-century philosophers; Friederich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Ayn Rand.

We know from Atlas Shrugged, and many other Ayn Rand writings, that capitalists are egoists. They trade to make a profit, and this is morally admirable. They are wealth creators. But it is important not to forget that customers and employees are egoists too.

The worst of Christianity was the Dark Ages. Its best was the Medieval Renaissance. The worst of collectivism was Auschwitz, gulags, and 120 million civilians murdered in a century. There is no best.

The “we fallacy” is ubiquitous, especially among professors, politicians, policy wonks, and pundits. The fallacy of “we” is a form of the fallacy argumentum ad populum or “appeal to the people,” to “popular opinion.”

For the majority of people, virtuous egoism is an oxymoron: they don’t think it is possible to be virtuous and pursue self-interest at the same time.

The first part of this post’s title is a quotation from a student in my business ethics class. She had said that to her teenagers after learning about rational self-interest, or egoism, in the course and reading How to Be Profitable and Moral . More exactly, she had...

Capitalism is perfect precisely to the extent it’s the only social system consonant with human nature.

In his first interview, Ayn Rand Institute’s new CEO, Jim Brown, talked exclusively at his office in Irvine, California with Scott Holleran.

Whether you believe that acting morally costs or pays depends on your view of morality.

To make selfishness, or self-interest, unpalatable and to promote altruism instead, the majority of philosophers misrepresent self-interest as a package-deal.

How is it possible that business students—some of them with significant business experience—have never heard of the moral code of rational egoism?

Had VW executive grasped the principle of honesty and chosen to follow it, the company’s current mess–ruined reputation, a potential recall of 11 million cars, the cost of fixing them, compensating customers, potential lawsuits, paying fines—could have been avoided.

Only one value can serve as the central purpose in a person’s life: productive work.