Transcript Ayn Rand’s “Anthem”

Ayn Rand
1905-1982
Rand was born and educated in
Soviet Russia.
She lived under totalitarian rule.
Left/escaped Russia in 1926 for
America which she saw as
exemplifying her individualistic
philosophy.
Ayn Rand’s
“Anthem”
Philosophy
Ego, Id, Superego (Freud)
 Ego: the self; the individual as aware of
himself.
 Id: instinctive energy; dominated by
the pleasure principle and impulsive
wishing
 Superego: the conscience
Value Systems
 Altruism:
Unselfish concern for the welfare
of others; opposed to egoism.
 Collectivism: socialism.
 Individualism: the leading of one’s life in
one’s own way without regard for others;
laissez-faire economics; the state exists for
the individual not vice versa.
Thinking Processes
 Reason:
To think coherently and logically;
to draw inferences or conclusions from
facts known or assumed.
 Mysticism: attaining knowledge of
spiritual truths through intuition and
mediation.
Three Antipodes
• Individualism vs.
Collectivism
• Egoism vs. Altruism
• Reason vs. Mysticism
Heroes
 Heroic characters risking their lives for ideals:
triumph of individual spirit, triumph of those who
reject the power of the collective.
 Anthem isn’t specifically anti-Russian.
Intellectuals in America in the 1930’s were
intoxicated by communism.
Questions Raised by Anthem
 If we could design a society, what would we
design?
 What is the moral and just society?
 Does my life belong to the group?
 Can a society without freedom be productive?
 Do I have the right to pursue my own happiness?
Prometheus
 -name means




“forethought”
- Story of
Promethus
stood throughout
centuries as a
great rebel against
injustice &
authority &
power, bringing
light and reason.
Thomas Edison
was called the
Prometheus of our
time.
Frankenstein =
The New
Prometheus.
Gaea/Gaia (guy-ah or jee-ah)
 Mother Earth. Married Uranaus (brother). (Overhanging
heavens).
Themes: Utopia & Dystopia
anti-Utopia
Creativity
Themes: Individualism vs. Collectivism
 Collectivism = subjugation of individual
to group. Worth determined by service to
the group.
 Individualism = each person is
independent
 Individualism doesn’t mean doing
whatever you feel like. It means each
person has the same rights.
 Look for Rand’s definition of “self” in
Anthem
Individualism continued
 Not every person can be as happy as the next. Forced
brotherhood will only deplete the spirits of the
successful.
 Individual happiness is the culmination of patience,
work, and physical or material expenditure.
 “Group think” – our society seems to look down on
people who like to be alone, who don’t want to follow
a group or be with a group.
Themes: Egoism: “concern for one’s own interests”
 ambition
 wanting things for oneself
 loving someone
 thinking for oneself
 egoism is not god in the religious sense. Ego is the
highest value. The source of what is good.
 Rand said she wrote the book for people who
consider EGO immoral.
Themes: Egoism continued
 those who allow self-interest to dominate
are called greedy, selfish, evil. But
without selfishness, we lose our advanced
mind
 self-love as one of the primary aspects of
freedom and self-governance.
 COMPASSION not the antithesis of
SELFISHNESS.
 Work for rational self-interest---not
sacrifice self to others or ask others to
sacrifice self to us. Rejection of altruism.
Themes: Free Will
 We have CHOICE.
 Free will = choice to think or not. We aren’t doomed to a life of
despair and defeat.
 We are all responsible for our own behavior – not society,
heredity, or past.
 (Choice Theory: We cannot necessarily change
forces but can change our behavior, thinking,
emotions, and reactions. Success identity: we have
strength, responsibility, and self-discipline.)
Theme: Reason
 This is what is preeminent in humans. The mind/conceptual faculty.
This leads to emotions (the ability to make value judgments).
Reason possesses volition – ability to make choices).
 Reason is the property of the individual brain. No such thing
as collective brain. We choose to use reason. We can choose
not to reason (not to decide is to decide).
 That which you do not know is not a charge against
you; that which you refuse to know is immoral.
Objectivism
• Wishing won’t make it so.
• Only source of knowledge is reason. Only
guide to action.
• Humanity: each person is an end to
him/herself. Cannot sacrifice self to others or
others to self.
• Ideal political/economic system = laissez faire
capitalism.
• Anarchy = irresponsible, irrational, antiintellectual
After reading Anthem…
 What laws do we have today that Rand would agree
and disagree with? What programs, parts of our
lives are collectivist?
 How would Rand stand on issues such as abortion,
death penalty, welfare, income taxes, draft, drug
use, environmental protection, capitalism, bail outs,
farm subsidies, “Buy American” programs,
affirmative action, prayer in school, the space
program?
 Compare the idea of equality in the Declaration of
Independence vs. Anthem
 What message does Rand have for young people
today?