The Role Of Utilitarianism In Ayn Rand's Anthem

Utilitarianism, the belief in doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people, is often seen as a cold and harsh ideology, as shown in Ayn Rand’s Anthem. The book shows the egoistic-capitalists of former society “reborn” into a perfect utilitarian state where there is no individual or self; there is only “brother-man.” The society is led by a hierarchy of councils, which face extremely limited opposition, the only case being Equality 7-2521 evading the World Council of Scholars when the glass box was unveiled. This case of limited opposition is to be expected, as the new system of society ostensibly has no problems; there are enough resources and life sustaining necessities for everyone, but additionally, they do not realize they are oppressed. The aspects of life in Anthem’s universe provides no reason to oppose the councils. However, in order to ingrain themselves into the society of Anthem, the former society has to have implemented certain ideologies to achieve the book’s status quo. Society became extremely utilitarian, as well as egalitarian, abolishing egoism and inequality. “We are nothing. Mankind is all” (21).

In order to understand why there is no opposition to the leadership, as well as what ideologies society had to accept to achieve the book’s status quo, three key points must be analyzed: life in Anthem is ostensibly great; egoism and capitalism cannot be achieved alongside utilitarianism and egalitarianism, and finally anarcho-communism has taken hold.
It is maintained throughout the book that "[w]e must never speak of the times before the great Rebirth..." (19) Throughout the book, we understand that humankind went through the process of a "great rebirth," what seems to be revealed as a massive brainwashing that subdued egoistic ideals and those who followed them. This loss of egoism and self-decision led to a perfect utilitarian state where the implied redistribution of wealth has stopped poverty and the lack of resources seen in reality’s status quo. This ostensible utopia does not just stop at a lack of poverty, but also includes the fact that when the “Great Rebirth” occurred, it caused a pervasive paradigm-shift towards utilitarianism. With everyone seemingly “happy” with the new societal ideology in place, there is no ideological clash within the system anymore. Everyone agrees the hierarchy of councils is good and accept their roles in society. No aspect of life in Anthem creates a reason for people to oppose the system; the brainwashing which created a utilitarian mindset not only made the perfect redistribution of wealth possible through systemic egalitarianism, but also aided in people being compliant with the arguable oppression.
Our next point of analysis brings us to a more philosophical viewpoint; utilitarianism and egalitarianism cannot coincide with egoism and capitalism in a single society. Egalitarianism is simply complete equality for all, and often goes hand in hand with utilitarianism. Jeremy Bentham, a late 1700’s philosopher who greatly influenced the way we view morality and ethics in modern times, wrote An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation in which he refines the philosophical thought of utilitarianism. This refining has provided a very common but effective simplification of utilitarianism: “the greatest good for the greatest number of people.” After looking at what utilitarianism is, we must analyze egoism and capitalism. Egoism, which is most often associated with individualism (a broad branch of thought that counters a utilitarian standpoint), was first proposed by 17th century philosopher Max Stirner as “The conscious decision to only do what is in one’s self-interest and/or benefit.” (Stirner 5) Egoism by this commonly cited standard can easily be argued as the literal opposite of utilitarianism. Egoism combined with capitalism creates the exact society that the Councils got rid of with the The Great Rebirth. Capitalism is mainly cited and described as an economic ideology, as it is one; but, all economic ideologies include societal impacts, capitalism with explosive ones. Capitalism is the economic equivalent of egoism, as the bourgeois of society do only what is in their best interest, and in the process of doing so, oppress the proletarian. Because of the obvious mutual exclusiveness between the two pairs of ideologies, and since the latter was in place before “The Great Rebirth,” we see that society in Anthem’s status quo has to have accepted utilitarianism and egalitarianism through a massive paradigm shift
After analyzing a philosophical standpoint of the book’s status quo, we can look to a less abstract ideological aspect of it: the fact that the economic/governing system in the book’s main timeframe is anarcho-communist, a form of Karl Marx’s mainstream communism, but with emphasis on self-governing from the proletarian. We see in the book that it is ran by a hierarchy of councils appointed by the people, but that a construct of state/government is clearly lacking throughout the entire book. From this we can conclude that during “The Great Rebirth,” the abolition of state must have occurred, and by implementing councils ran by the people, anarcho-communism must be in place. This is proven by looking to the book’s status quo; egalitarian-utilitarians run councils and society without any official check, and furthermore, an implied redistribution of wealth and capital is obviously implied. By analyzing the book’s current system of anarcho-communism, we can further reach the conclusion that in order to get there, the massive paradigm shift that must of occurred included steps towards this specific mindset. According to Friedrich Engels, a famous philosopher who worked alongside Marx in writing the Communist Manifesto, in order to achieve communism, socialism and its aspects must be achieved as well. So, we see that in order to achieve the book’s status quo, socialism and traits of such must have been implemented and accepted by society at one point, only to be followed by the final stage of anarcho-communism.
Thus, in order to answer why there is little opposition to authority in the book’s universe, as well as what ideological thought processes had to be adopted on a widespread scale, an examination of three points must be conducted, including how life in Anthem is seemingly great, as the newly found ideologies provide no faults within the system; that utilitarianism and egalitarianism cannot coincide with egoistic-capitalism, as the two pairs are mutually exclusive; and, finally, how anarcho-communism has effectively implemented self-governing ideals and socialist reforms throughout society. After analyzing these three crucial points, the aforementioned questions become easily answered; the ideologies implemented provide no reason to counter the self-appointed authority, and anarcho-communism (as well as the egalitarian-utilitarian standpoints that follow) had to become pervasive throughout society.