Ayn Rand Objectivism

Ayn Rand is amazing because of her philosophy of objectivism and the fact that she is both a novelist and a philosopher. She has one of the most interesting life. Objectivism's central tenets are that reality exists independently of consciousness, that human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception, that one can attain objective knowledge from perception through the process of concept formation. She described its essence 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." Ayn Rand wrote 32 novels. Some are fiction, some are stories that she has encountered over her lifetime. Some of those novels are We The Living and the famous one Atlas Shrugged. One of

Ayn Rand's greatest achievements is creating a whole different philosophy. “I am interested in philosophical principles,” she wrote, “only as they affect the actual existence of men; and in men, only as they reflect philosophical principles.”

Ayn Rand was born on February 2, 1905 in St. Petersburg, Russia. She grew up with 2 sisters. She was the oldest of the three. Her dad's name was Zinovy Zakharovich Rosenbaum and the mother's name was Anna Borisovna. Ayn Rand's dad Was a successful pharmacist and businessman, He eventually owned his own pharmacy. Ayn Rand was extraordinarily smart. She was smartest in her class and complained that the school didn't challenge her intelligence. She then begun to right intricate playwrights at the age of eight and at the age of 10 she was writing novels. If one was to go back in time they would be about to see a young Ayn Rand attending political debates. One not be surprised to see her even argue or have input in most debates. She went to these debates with her friend Olga Nabokov. At age twelve the February Revolution of 1917. In the revolution she favored Alexander Kerensky over Tsar Nicholas the second. During the october revolution Vladimir Lenin destroyed her family. Her family soon fled to the Crimean Peninsula. While in highschool she found that she was an atheist. After graduating from high school at age 16 the family returned to their home in St. Petersburg where she face desperate conditions and nearly starving a bunch of times. That same year Ayn Rand at the age sixteen she applied for college. She was among one of the first group of girls to go to college since the revolution. During college she began her studies in the department of social pedagogy, where she majored in history. While in college she was introduced into the studies of aristotle and plato. She later implies that Aristotle and Plato were her two biggest influences. Another philosopher who influenced her was Friedrich Nietzsche. Along with other women, Rand was forced out from the college right before graduation. After complaints they were all let back in. Rand then completed her studies in october of 1924. She would then go to State Technicum and study screen arts. One of any rand's first published work was from this university. It was an essay named Pola negri. Pola negri was a famous polish actress that ayn rand looked up to.

In the Fall of 1925, Ayn Rand was given a visa to the United States. She left January 17, 1926 and then arrived on February 19, 1926 in New York City. If one could see her when she entered the city, they would see her looking up at the skyline. She once said that she cried looking up at the Manhattan skyline. she later called it “tears of splendor”. She Intends to stay in the United States so she become a screenwriter. Rand lived with her relatives in Chicago. One of her relatives owned a movie theater and let her watch countless movies for free. She then later set out for Hollywood.

Right away, Rand struggled to find good paying jobs in hollywood. She took weird jobs to pay for her daily expenses, like food rent and water. Ayn Rand later got a chance to meet a famous director. His name was Cecil B. Demille and he offered Rand a job as an extra for his film the king of kings. She also served a part as a junior screenwriter. As Ayn Rand worked on the set of the movie she met an inspiring young actor, Frank O’Connor. The two got married on April 15, 1929. Know one's really sure if she got married for love or if it was because her visa was expiring, But none the less she became a permanent U.S. resident in july 1929 and finished it with becoming a U.S. citizen on March 3, 1931. She then went back to taking various jobs to support her writing. At one point you could see a mid-aged Ayn Rand working in the costume department at the RKO Studios. Ayn Rand spent a considerable amount of time trying to get the rest of her brothers, sisters and parents into the United States, but she was unable to due to the lack of permission. Needless to say Ayn rand's time in Hollywood wasn't like the rest of the stories of success, but she did get her name out as a decent writer.

Rand had a lot of successful writing in her day but her very first was successful literary piece came with the sale of her screenplay Red Pawn the Universal Studios in 1932, it was never produced. Earlier that year another playwright was produced. It was a courtroom drama called Night of January 16th. It was first produced by E.E. Clive in Hollywood in 1934. It was then successfully reopened on Broadway in 1935. The story goes, each night the “jury” was chosen from the audience, and one of the two ending would be performed based on what the jury selects. In 1941, Paramount Pictures produced a movie similar to the play and Ayn Rand did not take part in the production of this movie.

Ayn Rand’s first published novel was We the Living. It was published to the public in 1934. The setting of the book was in the soviet union. It was mainly about the struggle between the individual and the state. Ayn Rand said “ We the Living is as near to an autobiography in the literal, but only in the intellectual sense. The plot is invented, the background is not.” At first the book sales were low and it took awhile but eventually sales went up. In 1942 her novel was made into two italian films, “Noi Vivi and Addio” without her consent. Later discovered in the 1960’s the films were re-edited into a version Ayn rand herself liked. The film's name is We the Living.

Throughout the 60’s and 70’s, Ayn Rand developed her Objectivist philosophy through her non-fiction work and giving speeches to students at colleges like Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, and MIT.

She received an honorary doctorate from Lewis & Clark College. She also began delivering annual lectures at the Ford Hall Forum, responding afterward to questions from the audience. During these speeches and question and answer sessions, she often took controversial stances on political and social issues of the day. These included supporting abortion rights, opposing the Vietnam War and the military draft (but condemning many draft dodgers as "bums"), supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War Of 1973 against a the alliance of Arab nations as "civilized men fighting savages",saying European colonists had the right to develop land taken from American Indians, and calling homosexuality "immoral" and "disgusting", while also advocating the repeal of all laws about it. She also pushed several Republican candidates for President of the United States, most strongly Barry Goldwater in 1964, whose candidacy she promoted in several articles for The Objectivist

Newsletter.

Rand underwent surgery for lung cancer in 1974 after decades of heavy smoking. In 1976, she retired from writing her newsletter and, despite her initial objections, allowed Evva Pryor, a social worker from her attorney's office, to enroll her in Social Security and Medicare. During the late 1970s her activities within the Objectivist movement declined, especially after the death of her husband on November 9, 1979. One of her final projects was worked on a never-completed television adaptation of Atlas Shrugged.

In conclusion, Ayn Rand left her mark on history. She created a new philosophy called objectivism. She was a world renowned novelist. With 32 novels written. Most of her novels being non-fiction, but she did write some fictional books that were very successful. Ayn rand traveled around the U.S. to do major speeches to make a group to follow her beliefs. Fueled by her vision of man as a heroic being and by the original philosophy behind it, more and more people, from all walks of life, from businessmen to students to professors to athletes to artists, are saying the same thing: "Ayn Rand's writings changed my life." Ayn Rand died March 6, 1982 at age 77.