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Ayn Rand's View On Happiness And Success

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Ayn Rand (Alissa Rosenbaum) was a Russian-American author and philosopher. Her ideas are based on the theories of Aristotle and Friedrich Nietzsche. Her theory is influenced by the Russian Revolution, the Second World War and the different societies of Russia with its communism and the United States with their capitalism. Ayn Rand opposed individual freedom and therefore rejected conservatism, communism, socialism and collectivism. She can therefore be seen as a modern liberal thinker. How does this modern philosopher view happiness and success? Do her views reflect our current society? Does Ayn Rand think that the concepts of happiness and success are the same? In this paragraph the modern ideas of Ayn Rand, who lived in a society like ours, …show more content…

1.4.2 Ayn Rand’s view on happiness and success
Ayn Rand’s view is rather strange when you hear it for the first time. How can we become happy according to her? And why is it strange? First of all, Rand’s …show more content…

. . and pursues nothing but the gratification of the mindless whims of any immediate moment. Yet the exact meaning and dictionary definition of the word ‘selfishness’ is: concern with one’s own interests” With this view Ayn Rand gave an entirely new meaning to the concept of egoism. So, striving for your rational self-interest is to strive for your own happiness and this can only be done if everybody strives for their own interest and their own happiness. “No one’s happiness but my own is in my power to achieve or to destroy ”. By this Ayn Rand means that we should only strive for our happiness and not for anyone else’s happiness. If we do this, if everybody strives for their own happiness, in the end everybody will become happy. In addition, no one has the right to prevent me from striving for my happiness. By saying this, Rand opposes selfishness - only striving for what you want- and opposes altruism - not striving for anyone else’s happiness. According to her altruism doesn’t make men self-respecting and self-supporting. A self-respecting and a self-supporting man supports his own life

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Throughout Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem, character developments play a crucial role in establishing the overall concepts present in the novella. One of the most significant developments present takes part in the life of Liberty 5-3000, the Golden One, or Gaea, depending on what stage of life is presented. The development of this character contributes to the idea of individualism, which establishes a base for the most copious theme destruction of a collective society.

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In Andrew Guest’s, “Pursuing the Science of Happiness” he argues the complexity of happiness and the pursuit in which you follow to gain it. The ultimate objective of life for some individuals all through the world is to accomplish the condition of happiness while doing the activities they cherish the most. Each individual satisfies his or her own particular measurement of happiness in different courses, from practicing their most loved game, being with their families and companions, to making a trip to exciting puts over the planet. Guest uses rhetoric and research to carry on his argument that speaks on the idea of reference anxiety, where people change their dreams based on financial standpoint, and they define financial prosperity with their happiness, which is superficial.

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Ayn Rand believes that the moral goal of someone's life is to achieve happiness and the only way to do that is to be selfish. Ayn Rand put her own philosophy in this book in hope that the world will never get to this point. Ayn Rand showed the horrors of objectivism by making the city Equality 7-2521 how it is. She showed how a society could get if everything was equal. She showed how you shouldn't have everyone as equal for society to be a good

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To conclude my thoughts in this essay, Gretchen Rubin sees happiness in both positive and negative ways. She has discovered both sides of what can make you happy and what cannot make you happy. Although, she is a rich person herself she is a human being just like each and every one of us and I am glad she viewed both sides of this

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But what is objectivism? Ayn Rand 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" (ARCE). In short, your happiness is your own goal, not the collective, follow your head and take your feelings, or your heart, out of decisions, and if you can, strive to improve or make something of society. Ayn Rand grew up in a collective communist society. As she grew she also grew to hate being a part of the collective which is why she developed her philosophy of objectivism.

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