Fountainhead and The open boat
In today’s world there are many kinds of people that do things at their own free will. In the novel “The Fountainhead” it is shown that people made their own decisions to go where they wanted to go in their own free will. In the story “The Open Boat” men have shown to open to their own instincts and follow their own path for survival. Both stories show many forms of determinism, objectivism, naturalism, collectivism, realism, etc. All to be shown at their own free will
Ayn Rand was young when she was exposed to many forms of society. She spent most of her childhood growing up in Russia. She learned the ways of capitalisms and it flaws. She detested capitalism and objectivism. She has written many novels that expose society for what it is and how wrong it can be. Ayn exposed much more in the story of The Fountainhead.
In “The Fountainhead” Ayn Rand shows her own views on free will. She belligerently shows how the world has come to collectivism to live their lives. ““Fine.” Said Mrs. Keating, “Go to the Beaux-Arts. It’s a grand place. A whole ocean away from your home. Of course, if you go, Mr. Francon will take somebody else. People will talk about that. Everybody knows that Mr. Francon picks out the best boy from Stanton every year for his office. I wonder how it’ll look if some other boy gets the job? But I guess that doesn’t matter.”” (P.35). this quote shows collectivism by showing how “emotional” one can be about not being better than his/her peers around them. Ayn’s point of view on free will in this quote shown telling of how Peter Keating had a choice on whether to take Guy Francons job offer or go to the Beaux-Arts academy for architecture, even though his mother was pressuring him into tak...
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...human life by using nature and the environment around said person, in “The Open Boat”. They both use irony, naturalism, objectivism, determinism, etc. to evince the, modern, human nature.
Free will is something that every man/women possess that only they have control over. Every day we make choices that positively or negatively affect us. I have seen people give up their own free will, only to take off the pressure of society, encompassing them and making the “second-handers” (Rand) free will is now loosely expresses and the true definition of the terminology is long lost. But, definitions are opinions and my opinion of free will is we as humans have a choice and it is up to us to utilize what we have available, we have the free will to do what we want. It is important to be free. It is important to make your own choices. And it is most important to be different.
One being the fact that this book is a collection of her essay and speeches. But the main one is how this book discusses her own Philosophy. She first explains the importance of philosophy and how it used in the real world unknowingly today, but she then says the philosophy most people follow today, Altruism, as irrational. “Altruism is the rationalization for the mass slaughter in Soviet Russia – for the legalized looting in the welfare state – for the power-lust of politicians seeking to serve the common good” (Rand 27) Altruism is basically the thought of having selfless actions and to serve others. This completely contradicts Ayn Rand’s philosophy of living, Objectivism. This is where the book becomes different form other books and even the entire world. Many people and religions are taught to help others. This follows Altruism in the fact that we are serving others and being selfless. Objectivism has many different layers to it but one of the most important parts to it is the concept that man should be self-serving. That we should be selfish and live for ourselves only under the condition that it doesn’t harm others. This is extremely different from everything we are taught since we were
In Ayn Rand’s famous, or in some circles, infamous, story Anthem, the differing ideologies of objectivism and collectivism are pit against each other. With objectivism being so tight knit and different from the society in the book, it seems that it would be almost impossible to truly follow in its entirety. However, Anthem, as a whole, doesn’t violate the ideals of Rand’s philosophy of objectivism.
Human beings always believe that what they want to do is ‘up to them,' and on this account, they take the assumption that they have free will. Perhaps that is the case, but people should investigate the situation and find a real case. Most of the intuitions may be correct, but still many of them can be incorrect. There are those who are sceptical and believe that free will is a false illusion and that it only exists in the back of people’s minds, but society should be able to distinguish feelings from beliefs in order to arrive at reality and truth.
Howard Roark’s speech in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead displays the author's personal philosophy of objectivism. Objectivism is an idea that Ayn Rand had developed and promoted in her works of literature. Objectivism advocated for the rights of individual freedoms such as someone being able to do whatever that person desires with their own creations. In this case, Ayn Rand’s character Howard Roark; who had dynamited his own building . Through Rand’s persuading diction, immense detail, and powerful organization, Ayn Rand takes a stand through a fictional character to promote the idea that an individual should be able to live freely without society or the government scrutinizing him.
In order to understand Ayn Rand’s theory on ethical egoism, first we need to understand her background and the era she was raised in. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia on February 2, 1905, Rand witnessed the Kerensky Revolution which she supported and the Bolshevik Revolution which she denounced. She changed her name from Alissa Rosenbaum to Ayn Rand in 1926 – around this time she also abandoned her Jewish religion and became an atheist. Her family fled Russia to escape the violence and her father’s business was confiscated. Faced with near starvation during those turbulent years, Rand’s fascination with American history began. She attended the University of Petrograd where she studied philosophy and history; however, her college experience ended badly when the school was taken over by the communist government. She moved to the United States never intending to return to her homeland ("Biography of Ayn Rand (1905-1982))".
Ayn Rand based her novel of the idea of objectivism the idea that reality exists independent of consciousness, and that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness or rational self. We see this throughout the entire novel and within all of her characters. Ayn Rand had an interesting perception of selfishness and selflessness, along with her view of objectivism. As a reader we are thinking the opposite of what the characters are thinking, and never know what is going to happen next. Roark and Keating gave new meanings to selfishness and selflessness within the world of architecture.
Ayn Rand is the author of “Anthem”. This story was written in 1938. Rand has a unique mind; her writing is different from others. The book itself was interesting to read. The story was like something I have never read before. The city in Anthem has numerous rules and controls over humanity to ensure nobody is unique.
Plato once said, “Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” By being forced to do what is not wanted, keeping the genius within oneself behind bars, and unnecessary punishments, ideas of resistance may occur in one’s mind. Ayn Rand shows opposition to collectivism through the lack of preference of jobs, human intelligence, and strong discipline.
The Russo-American author who founded the philosophical system of “Objectivism” Ayn Rand. A person who immigrated to the United States back in the late 20s. "Anthem", is a novella she wrote that was originally published in 1938 in the United Kingdom. A valuable thing this novella teaches the reader is how powerful individual thought and creativity is, how precious it is to think the way you want to and not have to abide to what others think or say. This story depicts a world in the future, a collectivist dictatorship in which Individuality and Creativity are crimes.
Rand’s exaggerated approach in writing about collectivism and individualism was necessary for the reader to gain a greater understanding of the evils of collectivism. Collectivism is “the practice or principle of giving a group priority over each individual in it” (Oxford Dictionary). In collectivism, there are no freedoms or individual rights; this means that individuality is lost. “Collectivism holds that man must be chained to collective action and collective thought for the sake of what is called “the common good.”” (Ayn Rand). Equality 7-2521 lived
Overall Any Rand is an amazing individual with an amazing philosophy for living on earth. Through every novel she wrote she put her philosophy of objectivism as the centerpiece to each one. Rand wrote so much about wanting people to be selfish but to be selfish in a way where you follow reason not faith and you work hard to achieve a meaningful life. As well as making your own happiness your main priority and to learn from others by treating them as individuals. Ayn Rand was so dedicated to her philosophy and she devoted her life to get her view across to the people that in the end all she wanted was people to know that her philosophy was the key for living on earth day in and day out.
According to Ayn Rand and her book the Anthem, Having a collectivistic society is a big problem and the world is better off with an individualistic thinking society. I disagree with Ayn Rands’ thoughts to argue that with free thinking what has ever changed? There’s always a discrepancy between freedom of speech and freedom in general but rather are the rules being made by these individualist that Ayn Rand spoke of the cause of more good than evil for the entire society.
From living in a depressed Russian society to living in the freedoms of America, Ayn Rand expresses the experiences she has had and the way she views American society. Ayn Rand was associated with the nationalist era. This era was during the French Revolution and inspired many people in Europe, including Ayn. The beginning of nationalism was in the 1900s, such as the time Ayn grew up in. Rand believed, “The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me”(Rand). This quote is very ironic because in Ayns early life she had left Russia and moved to America. While living in the United States, she pursued her dream in being a writer.
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia on February 2nd, 1905, and died on March 6th, 1982 in New York, New York, Ayn Rand is a source of inspiration for many who read her novels. She decided to become an author at the age of 9, and after her American History course in high school, she developed the idea on what she thought a free man was and opposed the Russian way of doing things (also experienced the Kerensky Revolution
Free will is generally has two similar key points that revolve around it: moral responsibility and freedom of action. Free action is generally when an agent is exercising their free will. For example, let’s say a man named mark was deciding