Metaphysics

Taken together, these axioms tell us that existence has primacy over consciousness. The things we observe with our senses are real and primary; the contents of our minds -- ideas and emotions -- are secondary, and have no independent validity unless they correspond to the facts of the outside world.

Epistemology

In essence, Ayn Rand held that concepts are the human method of grasping existence. The units subsumed under a concept such as "chair" include all the chairs that were, are, and ever will be. Such a cognitive feat would not be possible on the perceptual level, due to the finite nature of man's mind. But by integrating all these concretes into one mental unit, the concretes can be treated as essentially similiar, thus allowing man to extend the range of his knowledge far beyond the perceptual level. Animals can only know what trees they have seen in their lifetime; because of concepts, man can reach basic conclusions about all trees -- including those he has never seen.

Rand thus presented a rational alternative to the two major theories of knowledge dominating philosophy: the intrinsicist view, which holds that concepts exist independent of consciousness, and the subjectivist view, which holds that concepts are arbitrary creations of consciousness. Rand was the first to recognize that concepts are objective, i.e., that they are existence as understood by human consciousness.

Continuing in this vein, Rand solved the long-standing "problem of induction" in philosophy, which asks how induction alone can provide certain knowledge about the world. Rand's answer was: it can't. Induction is merely one half of the process of thought; true knowledge must not only be based on the observed facts of reality, it must integrate in a non-contradictory manner with all one's other knowledge. Because existence exists and has identity, no knowledge must contradict any other knowledge. But man's mind is finite; he cannot hold all the facts of reality in his mind at one time; he needs a method of integrating new knowledge with old. This method is logic, which Ayn Rand defined as "the art of non-contradictory identification."

Both halves of this process are essential if one wishes to know anything. Without observation, ideas are mere fantasies with no basis in reality; without integration, they are speculative conjectures unsupported by any relevant facts.

Ethics

"Value," Rand said, "is that which one acts to gain and/or keep." Valuing is solely an attribute of animate matter. Inanimate matter cannot act, because it has nothing to act for; although its form can change, matter itself cannot be destroyed, i.e., go out of existence. Animate matter must act; without such necessities as food and shelter, it ceases to exist. Values are thus the means to sustaining life: that which furthers life is a value, and is the good; that which harms or destroys life is a disvalue, and is bad or evil.

Each type of living being has a different identity, and therefore different needs and different means of fulfilling them. Man is no exception. Born without any automatic means of knowledge, each man must use and apply his own faculty of reason to the problem of his own survival. Accepting blindly the conclusions propounded by others rules out any chance of successful living; one has no means of understanding what one is following -- and no means of knowing whether one is following a hero or a villian, a Jefferson or a Hitler. Thus selfishness -- using one's own reason to further one's own life -- is the only moral theory compatible with man's life as the standard of value. Selfishness entails several virtues, or principles of moral action, the most basic of which is rationality.

Human values are thus objective. They are neither handed down from God as dogmatic absolutes nor invented as a matter of subjective "taste"; they are human judgments based on the relevant facts of reality. While individual value-choices -- such as type of career or favorite foods -- vary from individual to individual, the basic ethical principles governing all human action do not: they are a part of each man's metaphysical nature, and must be practiced on a daily basis -- if one's goal is the preservation of one's own life.

Politics

Ayn Rand's answer lies in the concept of individual rights. "A 'right' is a moral principle defining and sanctioning man's freedom to action in a social context." Due to man's moral autonomy, no man can have a positive claim on the life of another; rights serve as a negative obligation, stating that a man must be left free to live his own life by his own mind, so long as he leaves others free to do the same. The most fundamental right is the right to life, and the right to property is its practical implementation.

The only way one may violate a man's rights is by the initiation of physical force. By harming his person or berefting him of property, force severs a man's ideas from his actions, rendering his sole means of survival useless. To protect rights from force, men establish governments, which have a sole legitimate function: to use retaliatory force against anyone who initiates its use. A proper government can never initiate force against its citizens in any form -- whether by seizing their property, or regulating their business affairs with "fair play" laws like Antitrust, or imprisoning them for so-called "political crimes." Every citizen must be left alone ot flourish and prosper in the best manner he sees fit.

Ayn Rand identified this political-economic system as capitalism, and identified its essential attribute as freedom. To emphasize the immense efficacy and benevolence of capitalism, Rand constantly held up the example of 19th-century America -- which, despite significant government involvement in the economy, saw the most phenomenal growth in the general quality of life in the history of mankind.

Unfortunately, the statist premises inherent in this incomplete capitalism have spread unchecked. The idea that man is not an independent being, but an organ of society, has led to the slow liquidation of individual rights. Violations of the right to free speech, fair trials, and voluntary trade are common; and ever day, more and more taxpayer money disappears down the throat of the welfare state -- all in the name of an undefined "public good." To paraphrase John Galt, the hero of Atlas Shrugged, men do not need to return to capitalism, but to discover it -- and this includes discovering the moral base of rational selfishness upon which it rests.

Esthetics

Art, held Ayn Rand, is the ideal medium for accomplishing this. "Art is a selective recreation of reality according to the artist's metaphysical value-judgments." It allows the artist to take those elements of reality that he considers metaphysically important, and meld them into a single perceptual concrete, allowing the viewer to experience his fundamental philosophic values in one emotional burst. Michelangelo's David, for instance, conveys a sense of man's efficacy and heroism by isolating the attributes of strength and masculinity -- whereas a literary work like Shakespeare's Hamlet focuses on man's failures, conveying a sense that doom and despair haunt even the most heroic.

Thus the type of art most consistent with man's nature is romantic realism. This school emphasizes the fact that man is a volitional being, capable of setting values and striving to achieve them. The best representatives of this school include Victor Hugo and Edmond Rostand. In contrast, most modern literature allies itself with the school of naturalism, which paints a picture of man "as he is" in the current concrete moment. Such work lacks any trace of long-range thinking, and thus always depicts man as somehow metaphysically doomed. Good examples include the writings of Sinclair Lewis and the subjects (though not the style) of the paintings of Vermeer.

Artistic values, like ethical values, are objective. While individual "tastes" will vary depending on individual context, there are standards determining what art is and is not a value to a rational man. Without such standards, one cannot even tell what art is, leaving one defenseless against those who say that art is a canvas full of soup cans or a crucifix in a bottle of urine. Something so crucial to man's survival as art, held Rand, should never be left so open to attack.

Summary

"I am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism; and I am not primarily an advocate of egoism, but of reason. If one recognizes the supremacy of reason and applies it consistently, all the rest follows. This -- the supremacy of reason -- was, is and will be the primary concern of my work, and the essence of Objectivism." (The Objectivist, September 1971)