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Ayn Rand’s Axioms Essay MLA Style

Ayn Rand is one of the most widely read and studied philosophers of the twentieth century. She is an original philosopher without any framework and teachings. ayn rand novel influences the choice of the life position of many Americans. In the circle of her fans are the most famous people in America, but they also recognize that Rand is essentially a Russian thinker. Russian origins have caused the uniqueness of her writing appearance, the propensity to “overthrow the foundations” and idealism. Ayn Rand always did what she wanted.

Purposefulness was the main feature of her character, and this trait was intertwined with extreme intolerance of what she considered unfaithful. Another of the main features of Ayn Rand’s creative personality is contempt or condescension towards others not resembling her.  Her characters are energetic and full of desire for victory. It is unacceptable to be like everyone, dependent on the opinions of others, from society, that is, to be “secondary.”  Ayn Rand speaks in his books against any help to a person, against any social programs, and of course, it can shock, amaze and anger. Reasonable selfishness is opposed to collectivism in her views. Personal life is the only value. Someone accepts the philosophy of Rand, someone categorically denies and cannot read her books at all, but according to a poll carried out in 1991 Americans considered the novel “Atlas Shrugged” as the second most important in the literature after the Bible. The first response of critics was very unkind. Later responses were not so negative; there were references to the artistic merits of the book, about the philosophical ideology and the unusual character of the characters. Despite the success, the writer was considered an outsider in literature. Ayn Rand is exceptionally different. Her personality, however, is unshakable and unquestionable. Other novels, essays and philosophical works by Ayn Rand are also published in millions of copies in most languages of the world.

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Ayn Rand developed a holistic philosophical system. This covers all five sections of philosophy in their relationship: metaphysics as a science that studies the fundamental nature of the universe, epistemology as a science that studies the ways of cognizing the universe, ethics as a science that studies proper individual behavior, political philosophy that studies proper social behavior and aesthetics as a science that studies art. She was the only person in the 20th century to undertake such a task. The basis of Ayn Rand’s philosophical system, its cornerstone that radically distinguishes it from all other modern philosophers, is a fundamental monism, the unity of the world and language, of being and thinking. It is very difficult to understand this thesis on a non-surface level. On the other hand, once one realizes the full significance of this idea, a person completely rebuilds all his thinking. The fundamental monism of Ain Rand opens the way for the emergence of a new type of consciousness and a new type of a person.

She distinguished three basic axioms. A being exists. Any our statement is a statement about something, any of our thoughts is a thought of something, therefore, any of our thoughts imply that something exists, therefore, any of our thoughts are based on this premise. Thus, its axiomatic status is confirmed. Consciousness exists. Any thought implies that there is someone who thinks it, therefore, the preconditions for the existence of consciousness cannot be avoided, which makes it an axiom. Consciousness should be conscious of something. It can not exist without being, therefore, in a philosophical sense, a being not only necessarily exists, but is also primarily in relation to consciousness. Consciousness is only the ability to perceive being and nothing more. Being is an identity. The meaning of this axiom is that each thing is identical to itself.

Works Cited

Kostenko. “Ayn Rand and Vladimir Nabokov.” The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, vol. 15, no. 1, 2015, p. 42., doi:10.5325/jaynrandstud.15.1.0042.
“Objectivism (Ayn Rand).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Nov. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_(Ayn_Rand).
Ryan, Scott. Objectivism and the Corruption of Rationality: a Critique of Ayn Rand’s Epistemology. Writers Club Press, 2003.
Seddon. “Ayn Rand Society Philosophical Studies.” The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, 2014, p. 75., doi:10.5325/jaynrandstud.14.1.0075.
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