Ayn Rand

[asterroc]

I haven't ever read Ayn Rand, and I have no intention of doing so. However, I am told that the author of the series I am currently reading, Terry Goodkind, is heavily influenced by her works, and her concepts of "objectivism" and "enlightened self interest." Anyone care to explain these concepts to me in shorter form?

Comments

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

So you see Objectivism as a "blame the victim" approach?

[sirroxton.livejournal.com]

Only in part, but yes.

The other part is, "Yes, they got burned, and it's sad. It happened because we don't have Objectivist government. And we can't use government to help them because that would take us further away from Objectivist government." It's a dangerous and naive way of looking at problems.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

It seems like something libertarians and conservatives might like.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I have a hard time differentiation between libertarians and objectivists, but some of them get really offended when you conflate their ideologies.