Dr. Zubkov

Objectivism is a modern philosophical system, created by the soviet dissident Ayn Rand in the USA during the cold war years of the 1930s-1950s in an attempt to give Capitalism a solid philosophical foundation, similar in strength and magnitude to the Marxist foundation of Communism. The results of her work continue to inspire people and spark controversy around the world long after the demise of Communism.

Objectivism is an all-encompassing philosophy that seeks to logically establish everything from morals, social norms, and aesthetics to domestic and international politics, on the basis of the premises of self-identity, existence of objective reality, supremacy of reason, and the objective (as opposed to subjective or intrinsic) values. Event the human consciousness is defined as the state of being conscious of something that exists in objective reality, rather than something that thinks, and therefore exists. Objectivist system of ethics is based on rational egoism and freedom, firmly rejecting both any moral obligations to live for the sake of others and any attempts to make others live for the sake of yourself; only fair exchange of value, accepted by choice, is possible. From this easily follows that the only social system that recognizes individual rights is pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism.

This system took almost fifty years to gain any kind of academic recognition, and its value as a valid philosophy is still debated, but Ann Rand’s books sell at the rates of half a million a year and numerous libertarian political parties and factions use Objectivist reasoning to justify parts of their programs, despite Rand’s strict all-or-nothing position on the use of her ideas. Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve of the USA from 1987 to 2006 is, perhaps, the most influential person whose actions were affected by objectivism. It is, of course, too early to chalk this system up along with the likes of Confucianism or Marxism, since no governing body has ever been explicitly based on Objectivist ideas, but the impact of this philosophy on the world’s society is undeniable.