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What did Ayn Rand think of Nietzsche?
In Rand’s words, Nietzsche had “a magnificent feeling for man’s greatness, expressed in emotional, not intellectual, terms” and was able in certain passages to sum up “the emotional consequences for which The Fountainhead provides the rational, philosophical base.”
What is the Ayn Rand philosophy?
The core of Rand’s philosophy — which also constitutes the overarching theme of her novels — is that unfettered self-interest is good and altruism is destructive. This, she believed, is the ultimate expression of human nature, the guiding principle by which one ought to live one’s life.
Is Nietzsche Objectivist?
However, Nietzsche was “not an individualist” and “certainly not an upholder of reason.” To judge his philosophy one must begin by judging its fundamentals, particularly its metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. She adds: “Objectivism not only differs from Nietzsche but is its opposite.”
Did Ayn Rand read Nietzsche?
Rand first read Nietzsche in 1920, at the age of fifteen, when a cousin told her that Nietzsche had beaten her to her ideas. “Naturally,” Rand recalled in a 1961 interview, “I was very curious to read him. As she learned more about philosophy and about Nietzsche’s ideas, she became increasingly disillusioned.
Did Nietzsche study philosophy?
After graduation in September 1864, Nietzsche began studying theology and classical philology at the University of Bonn in the hope of becoming a minister.
What is Ayn Rand’s argument against altruism?
Ayn Rand rejected altruism, the idea that self-sacrifice and helping others less advantaged is the ideal of morality. She believed in capitalism versus communism. She believed that government should play as little of a role in people’s lives as possible, in order to grant them more individual freedoms and rights.
What is the theory of subjectivism?
Subjectivism is the doctrine that “our own mental activity is the only unquestionable fact of our experience”, instead of shared or communal, and that there is no external or objective truth. Subjectivism accords primacy to subjective experience as fundamental of all measure and law.