Essay On Objectivism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

Ayn Rand Paul

Ayn Rand was not at all shy with her political beliefs in Anthem. Rand’s personal philosophy, Objectivism is very much centered on individuality like Anthem. In Anthem the supporters of the collectivist society had a weak defence most likely due to the author’s position. I will not be defending Anthem’s collectivism, it is labeled as a dystopian written by someone who hated the idea and therefore didn’t give true collectivism a fair shake. In this essay I will try to objectively defend collectivism and it’s potential as a societal system.

Almost all knowledge is gained from others. In a collectivist society where knowledge is valued, knowledge when discovered would be shared and expanded upon, discoveries that would take

a long time and a lot of energy would be more quickly discovered and free of greed, envy, and pride. “It took fifty years to secure the approval of all the Councils for the Candle, and to decide upon the number needed, and to re-fit the Plans so as to make candles instead of torches. This touched upon thousands and thousands of men working in scores of States. We cannot alter the Plans again so soon.” (74). This shows an example of an exaggeration and a misuse of collectivism, it demonstrates a frightening possibility under collectivism but not at all the natural progression. A more efficient use of collectivism would be everyone working together to improve the technology an individual discovered.”It is a sin to think words no others think.”(1). Collectivism in Anthem fails in part because they replace the problem of man’s individual ego with the ego of the group both are resistant to change and critique, both are considered infallible, and both always fail because of it.
Humans have a dangerous dichotomy we are naturally social animals, but we also look out for ourselves first in most cases, we are greedy and selfish. Collectivism in it’s basest form is trying to downplay the negatives of greed and emphasize the natural need to work together for a greater cause. Overcoming the regressive aspects of human nature and advancing the positives. Societies take a certain amount of time to determine what things are right and what things are wrong. In individualistic societies this takes a longer time because your thoughts and feelings are isolated. In collective societies you share everything, including ideas and feelings so you can work these things out and determine the best course of action for the individual and therefore the group. A danger of individualism is the attitude of “I don’t care, it doesn’t affect me” which can be a good and bad thing. This attitude could let people focus only on what they can control and let others live their own life, on the other hand, out of control this could hinder compassion, thinking a problem is invalid because it does not personally affect you is a very dangerous road to go down.
Collectivism is less of a societal system and more an attitude within a group.

It asks of us to be willing to temporarily sacrifice our own selfish ways for the betterment of man as a whole. Collectivism and individualism are not necessarily mutually exclusive either, you don’t have to be a robot to care about the people around you. Collectivism never says anything about not thinking for yourself, not considering yourself, or trying to fit in, it just says in the end to put others before yourself which is a pretty common sentiment in many progressive ideologies. I’m not saying collectivism is perfect it can be taken too far as shown in Anthem but everything can be taken to a dangerous extreme. The answer is a coexistence between individuality and collectivism, a society that gives people the freedom to be selfish but shows the benefits of working together and the dangers of isolation. One of the reasons the society in Anthem fails is because no matter how much you brainwash someone, no matter how much or how long you tell people something wrong is something right people will eventually see through the illusion and try for something better and if history tells us anything humans hold a certain fondness for

freedom.
In conclusion,