Rand in Retrospect:

Ayn Rand stated in an interview that the fundamental intuition guiding her work was one that she first had when she was two years of age. Not incidentally, it is a frequent observation in the treatment of Narcissistic Abuse Syndrome that sociopathic manipulators retain the conscientiousness of two-year-olds, and it is precisely the concept of conscience, as well as ethics in general, that comes under attack in both Rand’s philosophy and the waves of criticism deriding it.

In short, Rand’s philosophy might be regarded as the most elaborate and systematic rationalization of the narcissistic ego, far less charming than Nietzsche and more modern than Machiavelli and his contemporary inheritors. Readers of Rand who have actually been victims of manipulation and con artistry will find in her work invaluable insights into the subtleties and self-satisfying cleverness of master deceivers and tyrants, as well as relief from the burden of being the ones to have to explain why so many of their personal belongings and relationships are now in shambles (and how this is “their own fault).

It’s not that she is as quintessential as she purports herself to be, however, even though in her “three A’s” she lists her name among the most foundational ethical thinkers such as Aristotle and Aquinas. (I guess she never got around to the B’s.) Rand’s line of thought is expressed far more poetically in the prose of Claudius, King Richard II, and Iago, (from Shakespeare’s catalogue, in case her fans are unfamiliar with these examples) far more artfully in the music of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and with far more relatability and genius in Bryan Cranston’s performance in Breaking Bad. Evil takes many forms, both in life and literature, and the egoist continues to dazzle us* by his means of rationalizing the devastation in his wake by pretending that “altruism” is a fantastic construction of an Evil State and that those who bewail the egoist’s behaviour do so as the expression of an inferior egoism.

Tentative students of moral theory that become sympathetic to Rand may have yet to learn that there are healthier and less inflated means by which to assert themselves in their own judgements, freedoms, and needs. Lifelong supporters of Rand would do well to admit that, in the absence of a “liberal agenda” that exists only to restrict their personal flights of fancy, the world would look a lot more like BioShock.

 

[({R.G.)}]

 

*hopefully, from a distance, though not too far for us to do something about it.