Word for the Wise

February 02, 2009 Broadcast

Topic: Ayn Rand

A woman who called herself a novelist-philosopher was born Alisa Rosenbaum in Russia on this date in 1905. At age 21, having promised the Soviet authorities her visit to the United States would be brief, she arrived in Hollywood and sought work as a screenwriter. She never returned. Her new name was Ayn Rand. And yes, that /ine/ pronunciation is the one she preferred; the origin of Ayn is not known, although it may have some association with a Finnish name. The surname Rand is believed to have originated in the abbreviation of the Cyrillic spelling of Rosenbaum. 

Ayn Rand achieved fame and fortune for her writings, particularly The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, each of which has sold more than six million copies. She established various institutes and groups designed to bring her philosophy—which she described as Objectivism—to the world. Objectivism has a number of philosophical interpretations, so we'll instead take a look at another Randian phrase: egoism, or ethical egoism. 

As Rand used it, egoism refers to the ethical doctrine that individual self-interest is the valid end of all action; ethical egoism contrasts with altruism. When altruism is considered as part of an ethical doctrine, it names the uncalculated consideration of, regard for, or devotion to others' interests in accordance with an ethical principle. According to Rand, however, altruism consists of placing others above oneself, as opposed to the usual understanding of altruism as devotion to the welfare of others.

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