As a long time enthusiast of Ayn Rand’s novels and non-fiction work, I continue to be intrigued by the media’s insistence of limiting the conversation about her contributions to philosophy to two issues; her support for Capitalism and her advocacy for selfishness.
This phenomenon is baffling given that many advocates of her philosophy would agree that those issues are secondary aspects of what her philosophy was actually focused on. If you read Rand’s work closely, the ultimate goal of her philosophy was not to define her ideal government, or to teach people how to become perfectly selfish Capitalists, but to provide a framework for living a moral life on earth as a means to achieving happiness. So why is it that articles about Ayn Rand are almost always focused on her politics?
Sure, it’s true that Rand advocated rational self-interest and she believed in free market Capitalism, but those were just the means to an end, which is achieving happiness. Her message was always about the importance of being happy here on earth.
Oh course, there is more to Rand’s philosophy than just “fighting for your happiness,” but it is important to clarify that her views on happiness deserve as much—or maybe more—attention as her advocacy for Capitalism. Although, of course, proponents of her philosophy would agree that a free market is imperative for individuals to be able to pursue their values and therefore, be more likely to achieve happiness.
But what kind of happiness--what did she mean by happiness?
Spoiler alert: her concept of happiness did not include taking advantage of people for your own gain or indulging your every whim without thinking of its repercussions, as many of Rand’s critics might want to to think.
On the contrary, Rand’s concept of happiness respects the rights of other people and it pushes you to obtain actual values that can provide real, long-term happiness, instead mindlessly indulging in every passing desire you might have.
Rand best summarizes her view on happiness in this quote from Atlas Shrugged:
“Happiness is the successful state of life, pain is an agent of death. Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values. A morality that dares to tell you to find happiness in the renunciation of your happiness—to value the failure of your values—is an insolent negation of morality. A doctrine that gives you, as an ideal, the role of a sacrificial animal seeking slaughter on the altars of others, is giving you death as your standard. By the grace of reality and the nature of life, man—every man—is an end in himself, he exists for his own sake, and the achievement of his own happiness is his highest moral purpose.”(1)
In this brief except, Rand emphasizes what makes her philosophy so different from other philosophies, doctrines or religions.
Objectivist philosophy states that your happiness should be the most important thing for you and that your life is your own—that you exist for your own sake, which radically contrasts with what many of us are taught growing up.
For instance, if you’re religious, you are told that the only way to be happy is by dedicating your life to a God. The purpose of your life is not to live it, but to worship your God. And even conventional morality teaches you not to live for yourself but to live for others, which can come in many forms; for instance people are discouraged to pursue a career they love because their family doesn’t like it, or they feel forced to stay in an unhappy, loveless marriage for the sake of the other person.
Plus, conventional morality and religion tend to get people to do things by using fear as the motivation. “Worship God or you will go to hell,” “don’t go to college and stay and work in the family business or your family will hate you,” “pay taxes and we’ll throw you in jail.” Objectivism challenges that view, because really, who wants to live like that? Who wants to do things out of fear?
Objectivism, instead, advocates “motivation by love.” “Pursue the career you love even if others don’t like it because it will make you happy,” “Help your spouse pay for college because you can afford it and you love them and you want them to be happy—and not because they blackmailing you or guilt tripping you into helping them.”
Isn’t that a much better way to go about things? To be motivated by love instead of fear? And that’s what Ayn Rand was trying to get people to understand with her philosophy. How could anyone grasp this about Objectivism and say “well, that’s just evil! Live your life for your own? Outrageous!” “Not Sacrifice your life to God and society? Unspeakable!”
But, as mentioned earlier, real happiness requires work—happiness is not about indulging in your whims. Here’s what Rand says on the subject in the second part of the above-mentioned quote from Atlas Shrugged:
“But neither life nor happiness can be achieved by the pursuit of irrational whims. Just as man is free to attempt to survive in any random manner, but will perish unless he lives as his nature requires, so he is free to seek his happiness in any mindless fraud, but the torture of frustration is all he will find, unless he seeks the happiness proper to man. The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live.”(2)
Also, I must clarify that just because I regard the focus on happiness as one of the most important aspects of Objectivism, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t other aspect of the philosophy that are also worthy of your attention; for instance the Objectivist emphasis on reason, metaphysics and self-esteem.
But hopefully, this can help you understand Ayn Rand’s contribution to philosophy a little bit better, even if all you encounter are articles attempting to dismiss her on the basis of her politics. There truly is so much more that she was about.
References:
¹ Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
² Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
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