Ayn Rand
''The is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.''
Early life of Ayn Rand
High School Life
Her Personal Philosophy
Objectivism, begins by embracing the basic fact that existence exists. Reality is, and in the quest to live we must discover reality’s nature and learn to act successfully in it. To exist is to be something, to possess a specific identity. This is the Law of Identity: A is A. Facts are facts, independent of any consciousness. No amount of passionate wishing, desperate longing or hopeful pleading can alter the facts. Nor will ignoring or evading the facts erase them: the facts remain, immutable. In Rand’s philosophy, reality is not to be rewritten or escaped, but, solemnly and proudly, faced. One of her favorite sayings is Francis Bacon’s: “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.”
Reality — that which exists — has no alternatives, no competitors, nothing “transcending” it. To embrace existence is to reject all notions of the supernatural and the mystical, including God.
Major Life Events
- 1911 teaches herself to read.
- Witnesses first shots of February revolution
- Graduates from Yevpatoria High School #4 (June 30) Family returns to Petrograd Enrolls in Petrograd State University (circa August 24) Discovers the works of Nietzsche (1921–22)
- Becomes U.S. citizen (March 13)
- Makes first entry in philosophic journal (April 9) WritesIdeal. First play, Woman on Trial, opens in Hollywood (October 2) Moves to New York City (November)
- Receives last communication from parents in USSR (circa January)
- Delivers last Ford Hall Forum lecture, “The Age of Mediocrity” (April 26) Delivers last public lecture, “The Sanction of the Victims,” in New Orleans (November 21)
- Writes her last page of “Atlas Shrugged” teleplay (January 1) Dies in New York City (March 6)