Opposing Philosophies
Relativism
A theory that truth and moral values are not absolute but relative to the people or groups defining them.
Objectivism
Continental Philosophies
Continental philosophies are the schools of modern philosophical thought which developed on the continent of Europe, primarily France and Germany. analytic philosophy, often associated with “deconstruction” and linear approaches, is associated with the United Kingdom and the United States. The two major approaches to philosophy diverged with the rise of phenomenology, founded in Germany by Edmund Husserl. Phenomenology attempts to describe the structures of consciousness in the constitution of reality.
Continental schools of philosophy tend to move beyond the natural sciences. Modern continental thinkers moved into metaphysical studies and theories of experience. Phenomenology led to the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger. Other continental thinkers were influenced by linguistics and the post-structuralism of Derrida. Continental philosophy is central to the very issues of language, communication, meaning, and reference which currently dominate analytic philosophy, ironically.
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was born in 1905, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 1926, Rand immigrated to the U.S., where she found work work as a screenwriter. Rand, like Sartre, was motivated more by politics than philosophy. However, while the French existentialists embraced socialism and the communist utopia, Rand was closer to anarchy. Her novels express a philosophy of self-interest that counters the modern welfare state.
While politically at odds with the Sartre, the icon of existentialism and left-wing politics, Rand shared the existential view that life is difficult and men must accept the consequences of decisions.
Rand’s political views were considered naive among the artistic elite. Like George Orwell, Rand believed that communism could not work because men are inherently interested only in their own well-being. As leaders take power in any community, they wish to retain that power. Rand died in 1982.
From World Book Online:
Rand, Ayn (I’n / eye-n) (1905–1982), was an American author and social critic. Her books serve mainly as a means of expressing her philosophies. Literary critics tend to see them as marred by a tendency to instruct the reader.
Rand’s best-known novels are The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957). Both present a moral and economic philosophy, called Objectivism, based on individualism and self-interest. These novels express the belief that original ideas are the main force in the world and that creative individuals deserve to profit from their ideas. The heroes represent disciplined, rational people of action who reject organized religion. In The Fountainhead, an architect destroys a housing project in which his ideas had been altered. In Atlas Shrugged, one of the central characters calls a mind strike, during which all creative people withhold their ideas from the rest of the world. The strike reveals that society cannot exist without creative genius.
Rand was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. She moved to the United States in 1926 and became a U.S. citizen in 1931. Her novels We the Living (1936) and Anthem (1938) reflect her early life in Russia. Both novels express her revolt against socialist forms of government. Rand also wrote about her philosophies in such works of nonfiction as For the New Intellectual (1961), The Virtue of Selfishness (1964), and Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal (1966).
Contributor: Arthur M. Saltzman, Ph.D., Professor of English, Missouri Southern State College.
Works
- The Fountainhead, Novel: 1943
- Atlas Shrugged, Novel: 1957
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