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Theme Of Objectivism In Anthem, By Ayn Rand

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Ayn Rand once wrote that “Man is a being with free will; therefore, each man is potentially good or evil, and it is up to him and only him to decide which he wants to be”(Rand). This quote is the central idea of objectivism, that everyone is entitled to their own free will. Objectivism is a philosophy developed in the 20th century by Ayn Rand. Rand is a novelist who would often share her beliefs through the novels she wrote. She rose to fame with her popular book Fountainhead. With this newfound fame, her set of beliefs were recognized and began to gain popularity. Eventually, people recognized it as a philosophy and called it objectivism. This philosophy tends to vary drastically when compared to others, such as mine; however, there are also some similarities between the two. One of the major components of objectivism that differs when compared to my philosophy is …show more content…

This includes our beliefs on freedom. From an objective standpoint, the government should have no power over individual freedoms. In Ayn Rand’s book Anthem, which is based on objectivism, the main character says, “To be free, a man must be free of his brothers. That is freedom,” (47). This is an example that shows the objectivist view on how to obtain freedom. They say that one must be free of everyone, such as the government, to have true freedom. I also think that the government should not be able to take away rights from the citizens, and if they are, then the people are not completely free. Objectivism also states that “the right to liberty is the right to be free and act as one chooses”(Thomas). This means that humans should have free will to do as they choose no matter what. Some decisions are morally wrong, but humans should have the right to choose. This is something that I agree with too. Everyone deserves to be given the opportunity to make their own decisions, and nothing should hinder

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In this society, one of the major rules in this book made by the council is you are not allowed to go anywhere unless told to by the society. Equality finds a subway tunnel from the unmentionable times this is a crime in their society. He comes to this tunnel daily for 3 hours. “Sitting in the tunnel for three hours each night and studying.” (Rand 35) If he is caught going to this tunnel every night for three hours he will be sent to prison.

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The book Anthem is about a man who is born into a world where he is forced to follow in line and castigated for thing he cannot control, such as his height. The author of Anthem is named Ayn Rand. She was grew up in Russia, when the government had complete control over the citizens, later she moved to the States. After hearing about capitalism she fell in love with the idea that each person is in complete control of their life, and created her own philosophy. She named it, objectivism.

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People have three stages in their journey to individuality, and that is discovery, realization, and purpose. Ayn Rand’s goal is to warn readers about sacrificing oneself to others, and she yearns for others to go on a journey of self-discovery. Anthem is a message that warns others never

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Commonly mistaken as being an ideal way of life, Anthem, by Ayn Rand, emphasizes the negative impacts collectivism has on society. Collectivism, an oppressive concept of prioritizing a group over each individual in it, is practiced and enforced by the Council of Vocations and few citizens question it. The protagonist, Equality 7-2521, rebels against his collectivist society as he discovers individualism, the belief that “individual’s needs are more crucial than a whole society’s needs” (), and its enlightening effects. He quickly recognizes that he is different from others in terms of intelligence and that he is in fact an individual, not just a fragmented piece of a group like he was led to believe. Ayn Rand’s novella, Anthem, highlights the

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The novel “Anthem” by Ayn Rand was a short heartwarming story that was set in the future presumably after World War 3. In Anthem the society uses Collectivism; they live in groups and put the group above individuals. These people live similar to an ant colony their only purpose for existence is for the overall good of the whole. With this being said, people are not to see themselves as anything more than part of the group.

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Objectivism in Ayn Rand’s Anthem Ayn Rand established her philosophy of objectivism in order to eliminate the traditions she experienced while she was growing up under collective governments, and to emphasize the importance of the individual over the collective group. It can be defined as a philosophy for living stating that man himself is the greatest power, and man must decide what is best for himself based on reason. The four basic tenets of objectivism are reality exists as an objective absolute, reason is man’s only method of interpreting his surroundings, man must exist as an individual in order to pursue his own interests, with the ultimate goal being happiness, and the economy of an objectivist society should be laissez-faire capitalism,

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"We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever’”(Rand 19). In Ayn Rand’s dystopian novel, Anthem, the citizens are trained from birth to think only in the plural, to the point where they cannot even conceive of individuals, but only see each other as part of the whole group. Rand’s protagonist, Equality 72521, begins the novel as a street-sweeper who is devoted to the group, but begins to move towards individuality as he progresses towards pure selfishness, as Rand believes we all should. Rand uses the words “we” and “I” to represent Equality’s journey from being dependent on the group, to being utterly independent of everyone.

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Epictetus, the stoic philosopher had a passion for the ideology of freedom. His teachings were based on internal and external desires and how one’s response toward the situation trigged the consequences. Epictetus asserted that human beings had a fundamental choice to understand the difference between what can be controlled and what cannot; also, to pay attention to concerns that truly deserved recognition. He pointed out some various aspects that pertained to happiness and liberty for example, Epictetus claimed some things that we have individual control of is our judgments and desires; however, things beyond our control consist of materialistic values. “When something happens, the only thing in your power is your attitude toward it; you can either accept or resent it” (reading from Epictetus excerpt).

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Judging the morals in life regarding different societies expectations quickly became the focus of Equality’s thoughts, exactly as Ayn Rand had made it the importance of her own efforts. Objectivism is different from what many people live by, but it worked for Equality by the end of Anthem. It is important to realize everybody needs different things, which leads to thinking diversely. Some need self-respect to be able to give respect, and others live their life following instead of leading. It is impossible however, to say objectivism needs to vanish when it never has before, more so, the world would be unbalanced with only equal thoughts from all; there would be no innovation if all thoughts were for the same narrow concept.

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Libertarians believe that each person owns his own life and property and has the right to make his own choices as to how he lives his life and uses his property – as long as he simply respects the equal right of others to do the same.” (theadvocates.org). Libertarians believe in three policies, no paternalism, no morals legislation, and no redistribution of income or wealth (Sandel,59). No paternalism, is against the laws that protect individuals from harm, so essentially it’s saying that if an individual decides to partake in reckless behavior and no one but the individual performing the risky behavior is harmed or affected, there should be no laws preventing the individual from performing that behavior (for example, not wearing a seatbelt). No

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Primarily, the personal liberties of the individuals. With having a primary emphasis on personal liberties, libertarianism believes in as little government interaction as possible because of the belief that a strong government will result in a loss of the personal liberties of the people. As said by Sharon Harris, the President of Advocates for Self-Government, “Libertarians believe that each person owns his own life and property and has the right to make his own choices as to how he lives his life and uses his property – as long as he simply respects the equal right of others to do the same” (theadvocates.org). In short, each person has the sole control of how they choose to live their live and control their property, as long as the basic rights of man are respected, there is no need for interference from the government. The primary followers of libertarianism are individuals who believe that the government has become too strong and too involved in the lives of the people.

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Libertarianism is a political philosophy that said that the state should interfere as little as possible with people. Utilitarians, differ from Libertarianism, because are primarily concerned with the advocating for human provision of a minimal level of well being and social support for legal resident and citizens. They maintained that society ought to be systematically arranged in whatever way that would best reached this end potentially defend the vase and achieve greater social equality for the needy. Utilitarians think that the right thing to do is whatever produces the greatest amount of happiness.

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I will also answer this with approaches of two philosophers with different perceptions of freedom. One of them is Holbach which is a hard determinist and the other one is Jean-Paul Sartre who an existentialist and argues that humans are radically free. Througouht my essay I will expand to what I said in my thesis and give arguments to support it, explains how the two philoshopers percieve freedom,

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Freedom is classified into three main subtitles. The three subtitles of freedom are determinism, indeterminism and libertarianism. To begin, determinism negates “the possibility of freedom, hence the possibility of personal responsibility” (Palmer, p226). Determinists believe that everything that happens is a necessity.

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Freedom means the power or right to act, speak, or think without restraint, and the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. Freedom is the correction to do what he/she wants, live life, and eat what he/she wants. How do we live free? We live free by not judging other people’s freedom rights. Everyone has their own rights.

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