Objections to Objectivism
A Critique of Ayn Rand's Ethics
Copyright © 2001 by John Ku

Preface

As an incoming freshman at the University of Illinois with little exposure to academic philosophy, I was rather taken with Ayn Rand's philosophy as I encountered it through the local Objectivist Club. (Objectivism for those who don't know is what Ayn Rand called her philosophy.) Before long, I had read nearly every major philosophical work she had published as well as her novels, Anthem, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. Like many Objectivists, I was disappointed to find that most academic philosophers completely disregarded her as a serious philosopher (somewhat understandably from my perspective now) as well as vice versa. As a result, there is very little criticism of Rand's philosophy available. This seems to me especially unfortunate since from my discussions with professors of philosophy, encountering students heavily influenced by Rand is a rather common experience and to my knowledge, there is no systematic critique of her ethics written with Objectivists in mind to which they can point such students. It is my hope that this site will provide the first steps in filling that niche.

In my criticism of her philosophy, I shall be concentrating almost exclusively on her ethics. This is partly because I take her ethics to be the cornerstone around which her entire philosophy is centered and partly because I'm simply not sure what to make of her supposed contributions to other major areas of philosophy. For example, in what many Objectivists consider her most philosophical work (Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology), whatever its other merits, she seems to have been utterly confused about the central concerns of epistemology, deciding instead to tackle a completely different subject matter (or rather a conglomeration of them varying from issues in metaphysics to semantics to psychology) and calling it epistemology. This should probably not come as too much of a surprise given her largely self-imposed disassociation with academic philosophy.

Those familiar with Rand's writings will realize that her arguments concerning selfishness are scattered and many, often as present in her fiction as they are in her philosophical essays. First and foremost, I shall address those that directly argue for selfishness. My general strategy after that will be to convince you that ethical egoism, the view that what is moral is that which is in your self-interest, is wrong and that to the extent Ayn Rand gets things right, she is not an ethical egoist. Since it is fairly uncontroversial and rather common sensical, at least outside Objectivist circles, that it may be in your self-interest to do things that hopefully not even the most dogmatic Objectivist would deny are clearly immoral, i.e. stealing, killing perfectly healthy adult human beings in cold blood, etc., this will consist mostly of replying to various arguments by Rand alleging to show the contrary.

Finally, as a ridiculous yet necessary disclaimer, let me add that I am merely criticizing parts of Ayn Rand's philosophy. This does not mean that I hate Ayn Rand. It does not entitle you to attribute to me a philosophy consisting of the negation of every proposition Rand ever put forth. It does not mean that I endorse being an irrational, whim-worshipping, parasitic second-hander. On the contrary, I still hold much respect for Ayn Rand. And even though I cannot agree with much else in her philosophy, I still agree largely with her aesthetics and esteem her highly as a novelist. She has had a profound impact on both my sense of life and philosophical beliefs. With that in mind, I'd like to dedicate this critique to her in hopes that by deconsecrating the nearly deific position she has gained in the eyes of so many, a more accurate assessment of her place as a novelist, intellectual and philosopher might be restored. Although this may not have been what she would have wanted, I believe this is what she deserves.