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Question: Do you detect similarities between Randi-an and Nietzsche-an thoughts!?
Im attempting to learn about the thoughts and views of Ayn Rand!.
While reading an excerpt of Rands' Virtues of Selfishness in which Rand attacks religion and "altruists for making man into a sacrificial animal" I detected a distinctly nietzschean quality to her argument!. I then recalled Rands' mention of her " ideal man" which seems reminiscent of Nietzsches superman!.
In order to help me develop objective insight, I want you to consider these questions, or simply lend your thoughts!.!.
1) Is there a commonality between Randian and Nietzschean thought, and where are they same/different!?
2) Is Rands' philosophy one of economic self interests!? How is it, and how is it not!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
If I recall Chris Sciabarra's "Ayn Rand: the Russian Radical" correctly, Rand was interested in Nietzche when she was younger (around the time she came to America)!. Although she later moved away from him philosophically, he certainly influenced her work!.
I won't go into all the similarities and differences between the two; I think that treating such a subject fairly could easily fill an entire book!. It also depends at which point in her life that you view!. For example, in a section later removed from her first novel, "We the Living," she argued that it was alright to sacrifice the many to the few, if those few are the people who keep the world moving!. This was written in her 20s, and she removed the statement from the 25th anniversary edition onward!. Later in life, she criticized what she considered the "Neitzchean ideal" in her essay, 'Apollo and Dionysus' (I think that the essay can be found in "The Anti-Industrial Revolution," but not 100% sure of that off-hand)!. That essay was written while she was in her 60s!.
Both of them certainly reject altruism, albeit for different reasons!. Neitzche saw this as the "slave morality" that had overtaken the "masters!." He felt we should move towards a life in which we sort of invent our own mortality to serve ourselves!. Rand saw altruism as a sacrifice of the self, and she rejected self-sacrifice in its entirely!. She held the self as the purpose and object of morality, but argued that morality is not grounded in the self, but grounded in the objective requirements for our existence!.
As for your second question, I don't know necessarily what you mean by "economic self interests!." It is certainly based on self-interest, and she unequivocally advocated an economy that was driven by each person having his/her own interests at heart!. Her essay collections in "The Virtue of Selfishness" and "Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal" address these issues!.
However, I'm not entirely sure if that's what you were asking!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
For Nietzsche it isn't just about self-interest!. The will to power is much deeper than that!. Nietzsche thought that we can become 'free spirits' and 'become who we are', inventing our own morality and doing as we will!.
Rand is just prescribing an arbitrary system of morality which she calls 'objective'!. Nietzsche never told anybody what to do or what to act, only how to think for yourself!.
Rand's philosophy is entirely materialistic and is indeed largely an economic and political philosophy rather than an ethical or metaphysical philosophy!. It makes no sense outside of a capitalist, materialist, selfish and greedy society like the one Rand wants us all to live in!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
similarities between Randi-an and Nietzsche-an thoughts!?
well to tell you!i don't know them so,i cant really see weither there is a thing to be able to get compared by one or another!.1-i don't see your point!.2-still i don't know what is exactly are you trying to say!. Www@QuestionHome@Com