Libertarian or Libertine?
After reading this critique of Ayn Rand by First Things' Joe Carter, I'm reminded of a deservingly popular video game called Bioshock.
Game designer Ken Levine has explicitly identified Ayn Rand as the philosophical inspiration for his masterful psychological thriller. Bioshock is set in an underwater city, the amazing creation of an industrial visionary named Andrew Ryan. The game's introduction includes this video prepared by Ryan to welcome newcomers to his hidden city:
Here is a transcript:
I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question.
Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? "No," says the man in Washington, "it belongs to the poor." "No," says the man in the Vatican, "it belongs to God." "No," says the man in Moscow, "it belongs to everyone."
I rejected those answers. Instead I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose Rapture!
A city where the artist would not fear the censor... where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality... where the great would not be constrained by the small. With the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well.
As you can see from the video, Rapture looks like a utopia from the outside. It was constructed in the middle of the ocean so that it could exist entirely independent of all other societies and cultures.
Inside, it is a city of hopeless madmen preying on each other like animals and manipulated by two great tyrannical forces: Andrew Ryan and a ruthless black marketeer who gives the people the self-destructive drugs they so rabidly desire... the drugs Ryan cared nothing about until he realized their power of social disruption and ability to undermine his own leadership.
I haven't read Atlas Shrugged or any other work by Ayn Rand. I only know that her work is popular among self-labelled Libertarians and many other Americans hoping to scale government back as drastically as possible. In light of Joe Carter's article, I'm forced to wonder.
What is the significance of this renewed appreciation for Rand's works? Are her views as extreme and ugly as Carter and Levine present them (self-focus to the point of libertinism)? Does the Right want to be associated with the philosophies promoted in Atlas Shrugged?
Respect for individual freedom is admirable, but any good can be corrupted. Self-determination is not absolute. Did Rand acknowledge that reality?
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Jun '10
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
She didn't, because she was as much an absolutist as a person could be. Her works were reflections of that belief and attempts to showcase Objectivism in a format more easily accessible to non-academics.
Before reading her novels, particularly Atlas Shrugged, it helps to have an understanding of the religious and philosophical movements current in the 30's and 40's, and particularly the impact and power of folks like Father Coughlin, the Protestant fundamentalists on radio, and the New Deal apologists. A lot of religious conservatives are put off by Rand's dismissal and contempt of religion, but as with everything else one has to understand the context: she was a strident anti-Communist since fleeing Russia at the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution and a serious student of philosophy, and knew that the Progressives, Fascists, Socialists, and Communists all got their ideas from the same sources. Anthem, Atlas Shrugged, and The Fountainhead were all responses to what she perceived as the soft fascism draped in religious cloth taking hold in America.
She's worth reading, if for no other reason than to better understand libertarians and the like-minded. You'll find yourself nodding along. Promise.
Jun '10
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
Her warnings about the threat of socialism/collectivism and how it enslaves mankind are spot on. Her delivery of that message is typically unflinching and at times abrasive. She is often excoriated and discounted as a serious voice to consider by believers for her staunch atheism. I would recommend that you listen to her interview with Mike Wallace in its entirety (I think it's in 4 parts on YouTube) to get a sense of how her mind works. It's no secret that her personal life was a mess and she thought quite a bit about herself and her own intellectual prowess. She was a force to deal with and influential in the conservative movement. If you notice how her eyes dart back and forth in the Wallace interview one almost gets a sense that she's light years ahead of him in anticipating his questions...like a savvy grandmaster chess player.
Her novels for the most part aren't considered great works of literature but rather prophetic political polemics...and Atlas Shrugged and Fountain Head have sold millions of copies since their first publishing. So, she's worth reading to understand why her ideas continue to resonate.
Oct '10
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
If John Stuart Mill is on the left end of libertarianism, Ayn Rand would be the ultra-right. In my experience, very few libertarians are as extreme as she is, though most admire her writings. I don't think hard-core Objectivists still exist (even in conservative circles calling someone an Objectivist can be an insult) but her books are well-read (I've never read any myself, however).
Aug '10
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
Just to give a counterexample: according to those political identification quizzes, I'm "hardcore libertarian", and "admire" isn't the right word for my feelings towards the lady. Nor do I find myself alone as a libertarian.
I can appreciate Rand's books -- the ones I've read, at least -- for certain things. I'd call them less good in themselves than useful -- for example, they're useful for shattering certain smiley-faced illusions about collectivism that one might have absorbed, say, in one's public schooling. (As Casey says, you'll be nodding along.) But I don't take her seriously enough to admire her.
To my mind, she is less pro-anything than she is anti-collectivist. Being against collectivism is important, but is by itself not enough.
Anyhow, the libertarian in me finds the likes of our own Richard Epstein and Molly Hemingway, Hayek, Milton and David Friedman, etc, far more admirable.
Edited on Jun 9, 2011 at 7:51amAug '10
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
From a purely Christian perspective, I think Rand's screeds against "helping others" are also worth a read. No, I'm not crazy. Hear me out!
Rand doesn't understand Christian love, but she understands all too well some of the evil that uses the pretense of such love as a cover. Her outlandish caricatures of folks who say they're all about "helping others", but are really after power, dominance, or gratifying an empty sense of vanity are salutary: a colorful reminder to the Christian to examine his own charitable motives and strive to not be like that.
She also understands, as Casey mentions, how soft despotism tries to sneak in under the hem of Jesus's cloak. Anyone who's attended services at a Liberal Protestant church for any length of time -- or who's investigated Huckabee's more Statist pronouncements -- knows what that's like.
Christianity will lose its soul if it allows itself to become the mere tool Rand thought it was.
Edited on Jun 9, 2011 at 8:05amAug '10
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
Like many "big thinkers", it's sometimes difficult to fully understand what Rand "really believed" because she changed the way she expressed her opinions over the course of her life.
On the one hand, she's known for her extreme disdain of altruism, going so far as saying that people shouldn't "help others" at all. But if you watch the clips on YouTube from when Phil Donahue interviewed her, she clarifies that by saying that Society (and especially the government) should not PROMOTE the concept of altruism. If a person CHOOSES to be altruistic, that is their choice. But, according to Rand, it is not healthy for the government or society to PROMOTE (and/or legislate) altruism as a requirement for being a citizen.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ayn+rand+donahue&aq=0&oq=ayn+rand+dona
Edited on Jun 9, 2011 at 10:07amDec '10
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
Read Atlas Shrugged, decide for yourself.
And for the record, I would not be insulted if someone called me an Objectivist to my face.
Be prepared to be weirded out over how well Atlas tracks with the current course of the country.
If you're a hard core Christian, and that base forms your world view, you probably won't understand where she's coming from entirely, but that's OK. If you want to get down to the very base of her arguments there are many other (and shorter) books by her and her acolyte Leonard Peikoff that spell out the whole philosophy in great detail.
I don't think she was right on every single thing she wrote about, but by far the majority of her work is spot on. She has a funky style of thought and speech that some people don't ever seem to grasp, but if/when you finally wrap your arms around it, the whole thing makes a lot of sense.
One thing to bear in mind, when she's talking about greed/selfishness, she's not talking about the same thing or collection of actions that your Pastor is, so don't confuse the two.
Her idea of selfishness is to pursue your highest value. If for you that means being the best figure skater in the world, then that should be your highest aim. If for you that means giving every penny you ever make to someone less fortunate so as to assist them or give them comfort, that that should be your highest aim.
Her main driving point was that you should live your life for you, not as a slave for someone else. You are entirely free to choose to serve someone else, but it must be your choice, freely made.
EDIT: Ha! Misthiocracy beat me to the punch.
Edited on Jun 9, 2011 at 10:44amApr '11
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
Read Atlas Shrugged; its significance vis. current events will become readily apparent.
Jan '11
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
I'm a minarchist who finds some of her views too extreme for my tastes. The only thing I read of hers was The Virtue of Selfishness which I felt came down too hard on religion [mysticism is her preferred word choice] and altruism [even the real kind where you reach into your own pocket/make self-sacrifice for others you care about].
However, I would very much like to live in a world where her ideas gained a much wider currency; a world where I would be considered the big government statist as I debated and argued politics with the majority of others.
Edited on Jun 9, 2011 at 10:37amFeb '11
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
"From almost any page of Atlas Shrugged, a voice can be heard, from painful necessity, commanding: 'To a gas chamber — go!'"--Whitaker Chambers
Jul '10
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
"Don't set out to raze all shrines — you'll frighten men. Enshrine mediocrity — and the shrines are razed . . . Kill by laughter. Laughter is an instrument of human joy. Learn to use it as a weapon of destruction. Turn it into a sneer. It's simple. Tell them to laugh at virtue. Don't let anything remain sacred in a man's soul — and his soul won't be sacred to him. Kill reverence and you've killed the hero in man"
Ellsworth Toohey - The Fountain Head
I think Mr. Toohey is very useful as a warning. I would read the fountain head.
Rand's rejection of God gets filled up in some very predictable ways IMHO. Im no Rand expert. Iam however a BioShock expert. I don't think Levine gets Rand because BioShock's more of an inditement than a celebration of her thinking. Again IMHO.
Interesting post Aaron.
Jan '11
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
Aaron Miller:
What is the significance of this renewed appreciation for Rand's works? Are her views as extreme and ugly as Carter and Levine present them (self-focus to the point of libertinism)? Does the Right want to be associated with the philosophies promoted in Atlas Shrugged?
Respect for individual freedom is admirable, but any good can be corrupted. Self-determination is not absolute. Did Rand acknowledge that reality? ·
No, but that's because Rand had the subtlety of a sledgehammer and the humility of an award-winning peacock.
That said, few people have been more effective articulating ideas of individuality, personal dignity, and self-improvement than she. And while those are hardly everything there is to a conservative philosophy, it's hard to imagine one without them.
As for Carter's comments, his main objection is Rand's claim -- explicit and implicit -- to have devised a total philosophy of life. Personally, I roll my eyes at that kind of arrogance and move on, but I understand why many Christians take umbrage at the idea and shut down.
As for reading her books, I found The Fountainhead much more enjoyable than Atlas, though it's also less timely.
Edited on Jun 9, 2011 at 11:16amApr '11
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
It was an idiotic declaration then, and it is an idiotic quote now.
But, of course, Mr. Chambers could not have known, in his 1957 review, how prescient Ms. Rand's novel would seem in 2009.
Mar '11
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
Rand, in "Fountain Head" and "Atlas Shrugged", wrote a dystopian warning about the direction in which we were headed. They were similar in style and intent to Huxley's "Brave New World" and Orwell's "1984". Only after she received much attention and acolytes did she come up with "Objectivism". I believe that her attempts at philosophy were disjointed, written to provide an income and prominence. Ya gotta feed meat to your fans to keep them.
Jun '10
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
If you haven't read Ayn Rand before, read The Fountainhead. It is shorter than than Atlas Shrugged and, consequently, the best of a bad lot. Atlas Shrugged is for masochists in periodic need of a dominatrix with a collection of whips, chains, and knives. Believe me, after reading Atlas Shrugged, you will have the scars to show for it.
May '10
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
Thanks. It sounds like Atlas Shrugged and The Fountain Head are similar to 1984 and well worth reading.
I don't hold Rand's hatred of religion against her. She was a product of the Soviet Union. Everything I've read about modern Russia suggests that communism gutted the culture of all hope, meaning and appreciation for life. That's not to say all Russians are lifeless and apathetic, of course, but that nihilism seems to have been made the norm by brutish and all-encompassing authoritarianism.
It must be very difficult for someone raised in such an environment to understand trust and love. It reminds me of persons whose parents rejected and abused them as children. Somewhere between those two situations is Thomas Sowell's point regarding urban American blacks (their difficulties aren't caused by poverty).
Anyway, it sounds like Rand, like Solzhenitsyn, is useful for understanding tyranny.
Oh, I forgot to mention that the black marketeer in Bioshock is named Atlas.
I might write a post next year about Bioshock 3, which (judging from previews) also seems relevant to Ricochet.
Jun '10
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
Or you could just read John Galt's speech from Atlas Shrugged as a starter and then determine whether you want to brave the rest of the book.
Feb '11
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
Aaron, you will probably find yourself nodding along to much of Atlas Shrugged. There are limits, however. In my opinion her philosophy is remarkably apt when applied at a high level, but it falls apart quickly as it approaches the personal level; once the personal falls apart then society isn't far behind. I think that Whittaker Chambers, in his famous critique of Atlas Shrugged, was right when he said:
"The rub is that the pursuit of happiness, as an end in itself, tends automatically, and widely, to be replaced by the pursuit of pleasure, with a consequent general softening of the fibers of will, intelligence, spirit. No doubt, Miss Rand has brooded upon that little rub. Hence in part, I presume, her insistence on man as a heroic being" With productive achievement as his noblest activity." For, if Man's heroism" (some will prefer to say: human dignity") no longer derives from God, or is not a function of that godless integrity which was a root of Nietzsche's anguish, then Man becomes merely the most consuming of animals, with glut as the condition of his happiness and its replenishment his foremost activity."
May '10
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
I read Atlas Shrugged and enjoyed it. I think there is something to conservatives presenting the left for what they are, looters. Barack Obama wants to increase taxes on the rich, and he has been clear about this. He thinks that is "fair". This is looting pure and simple.
Also, look at what happened with Boeing recently. This is basically predicted by Altas Shrugged.
Finally, Rand in Atlas portrays the socialists as squabbling increasingly over fewer and fewer resources. Sound anything like Steyn's "managing decline" quote he uses in so many articles?
What Rand gets right is that we are not in a zero sum game. By providing "value for value" and maximizing one's potential, mankind gets better. That is what conservatives need to be for.
Where Rand goes wrong is she leaves no room for, nor possibility of, grace. Christianity, when rightly taught, is not a cover for self gain or bilking your brother for all you can get in the name of religion. There a place in the world for grace, for helping others, for giving with no expectation of getting anything in return.
Conservatives should incorporate parts of her message but leave room for grace.
May '10
Re: Libertarian or Libertine?
In Bioshock, Andrew Ryan makes frequent references to "the parasites" who don't pull their weight.
If anyone is interested, here is an interview with Bioshock creator Ken Levine as well as the president of the Ayn Rand Institute, Yaron Brook.