Objectivism through Ayn Rand’s Fiction | 2024

Ayn Rand’s novels, We the Living, Anthem, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged, are self-consciously philosophical novels, containing abstract themes, characters driven by opposing moral principles, and conflicts rooted in clashing worldviews. And more than that, many of Rand’s fictional heroes discover and embody new philosophical ideas, original to Rand. To begin to understand Rand’s distinctive worldview and to learn her new philosophy, Objectivism, there is no better place to start than with careful consideration of the content and meaning of her novels, which contain rich treatments of a number of central principles of Objectivism. The course provides a powerful corrective to a tendency among students of Objectivism to neglect Rand’s fiction in their study of her philosophy.