Ayn Rand & Objectivism

“Who sets the tone of a culture?,” asked Ayn Rand. “A small handful of men: the philosophers.” According to Robert Tracinski, many of Rand’s followers have taken this to mean that efforts toward a better future should focus on university humanities departments. But, in his latest book, Tracinski argues that this is only part of the story.

Welcome to the Fall 2022 issue of The Objective Standard, packed with articles building on the foundation of rational philosophy identified by Ayn Rand.

Art is like a lantern that we use to illuminate and clarify, spotlighting what’s important in life. Romantic Realism is a particular way of using that light, to see both what is and what could be. I now realize it is far more than just a theory of art—it is a whole approach to life.

Isabel Paterson considered herself the last survivor of a golden age. But she helped bequeath to us a vision of that free world—and not just a vision, but something more precious: a rational intellectual argument for it.

Organizations supported by Prometheus Foundation are advancing Ayn Rand’s ideas in Europe and around the world. I am delighted to be part of these efforts.

Ayn Rand’s case for capitalism stands in marked contrast to what might be termed the classical defense of capitalism. “The classical economists attempted a tribal justification of capitalism on the ground that it provides the best ‘allocation’ of a community’s ‘resources,’” she wrote.

Because Dominique is The Fountainhead's heroine and second most important character, we will not fully understand the book (arguably one of the greatest novels in literature) if we do not comprehend her character.

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Duncan Scott is preparing a newly restored high-definition edition of the 1942 movie of Ayn Rand's novel, We the Living. Set during the Russian Revolution—a period that Rand witnessed firsthand—We the Living shows how a totalitarian state makes human life impossible.

Onkar Ghate and Harry Binswanger of the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) have published a long article attacking Carl Barney and me in relation to the 2018 agreement between The Objective Standard (TOS) and ARI, which ARI unilaterally breached. I am sharing here a link to my response to Onkar and Harry’s attack.

This article takes for granted that Atlas Shrugged is a bad book and that Aaron Rodgers’s behavior exemplifies its content—without providing a single shred of evidence to support either conclusion.