Ayn Rand Biography

In 1957, she published her best-known work, the novel "Atlas Shrugged". Afterward, she turned to non-fiction to promote her philosophy, publishing her own magazines and releasing several collections of essays until her death in 1982. Rand advocated reason as the only means of acquiring knowledge, and rejected faith and religion. She supported rational and ethical egoism, and rejected altruism. In politics, she condemned the initiation of force as immoral, and opposed collectivism and statism as well as anarchism, and instead supported laissez-faire capitalism, which she defined as the system based on recognizing individual rights. In art, Rand promoted romantic realism. She was sharply critical of most philosophers and philosophical traditions known to her, except for Aristotle and some Aristotelians, and classical liberals.

Literary critics received Rand's fiction with mixed reviews, and academia generally ignored or rejected her philosophy, though academic interest has increased in recent decades. The Objectivist movement attempts to spread her ideas, both to the public and in academic settings. She has been a significant influence among libertarians and American conservatives.

Selected works:

Novels:

• 1936 We the Living
• 1943 The Fountainhead
• 1957 Atlas Shrugged

Other fiction:

• 1934 Night of January 16th
• 1938 Anthem
• 2015 Ideal

Non-fiction:

• 1961 For the New Intellectual
• 1964 The Virtue of Selfishness
• 1966 Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
• 1969 The Romantic Manifesto
• 1971 The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution
• 1979 Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology
• 1982 Philosophy: Who Needs It