Q&A: What Do You Think of Ayn Rand and Her Extreme Individualism
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
What Do You Think of Ayn Rand and Her Extreme Individualism
Question
Broadly speaking, the idea itself seems fairly logical. At the end of the day, the main thing is me and not other people, even if they are people very close to me. I believe this is a primary intuition of every person. Practically speaking, according to this logic, no one would go to war or do anything that requires sacrifice, because the individual is what matters, not the collective.
Answer
I don’t understand what distorted intuition there is in Rand’s favor. It’s egoism versus morality. That’s all.
It’s worth defining terms when dealing with Rand, and certainly not settling for the usual emotional baggage, as the commenter did when he assumed that egoism is the opposite of morality. (Morality is a code of values that guides our actions and choices, and it exists in every mentally healthy person regardless of whether we judge it to be good or bad; egoism is a type of moral choice, not something anti-moral.)
A person, in the final analysis, answers for his choices as an individual. He charts the course of his life, and his ability to understand that he is the one holding the wheel of his life is the meaning of egoism according to Rand. She does not mean that it is justified to harm others, or that there are no goals worth taking risks for. A person’s egoistic and individualistic choice, insofar as it is aimed at the longer term, includes many more aspects of goals worth fighting for.
The term sacrifice also requires definition.
To sacrifice, according to Rand, is to give up a higher value for the sake of a lower value (or an anti-value). That is the Christian method of turning the other cheek.
Recommended reading and further study:
https://www.aynrand.org.il/book-publishing
I’d be happy to organize a meeting and discussion if there’s a group that’s interested.