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Ayn Rand y La Filosofía Objetivista

Ayn Rand y La Filosofía Objetivista

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November 4, 2007

Ayn Rand (1905-1982), la famosa novelista norteamericana, fundó la filosofía del Objetivismo.

<quote>Mi filosofía, en esencia, es el concepto del hombre como un ser heroico, con su propia felicidad como el propósito moral de su vida, con la productiva realización como su más noble actividad, y con la razón como su único absoluto. -Ayn Rand, Apéndice de La Rebelión de Atlas</quote>

En sus novelas El Manantial (The Fountainhead ) y La Rebelión de Atlas (Atlas Shrugged), y en trabajos de no ficción como La Virtud del Egoísmo (The Virtue of Selfishness) y El Capitalismo: el Ideal Desconocido (Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal), Ayn Rand forjó una filosofía sistemática de la razón y de la libertad.

Rand fue una individualista apasionada. Elogió en sus escritos a "los hombres de visión independiente," que viven por el juicio de sus propias mentes, sin temor a quedar solos frente a la tradición y la opinión popular.

Su filosofía del Objetivismo rechaza la ética del autosacrificio y de la renunciación. Ella instaba a los hombres a dominarse a sí mismos y a sus vidas como sus valores superiores, y a vivir bajo el código del individuo libre con independencia, integridad, racionalidad, y esfuerzo productivo.

El Objetivismo exalta el poder de la mente del hombre, sosteniendo la razón y la ciencia contra toda forma de irracionalidad. Provee una base intelectual para los standars objetivos de la verdad y el valor. Estimula el uso de la razón para transformar la naturaleza y crear riqueza, ennobleciendo al hombre de negocios y al banquero, no menos que al filósofo y al artista, como creadores y como benefactores de la humanidad.

Ayn Rand fue una promovedora de los derechos individuales, que protegen la soberanía del individuo como un fin en sí mismo, y argumentaba que el capitalismo es el único sistema social moralmente aceptable, porque es en único sistema social que permite a la gente vivir en paz, por medio de intercambios voluntarios, como iguales independiente.

Millones de lectores han sido inspirados por la visión de vida que describió Ayn Rand en sus novelas. Académicos están explorando los caminos que ella abrió en la filosofía y otras esferas. Su defensa del capitalismo por principio ha atraído numerosos nuevos aficionados a la lucha para la libertad económica y política.

David Kelley Ph.D
About the author:
David Kelley Ph.D

David Kelley founded The Atlas Society (TAS) in 1990 and served as Executive Director through 2016. In addition, as Chief Intellectual Officer, he was responsible for overseeing the content produced by the organization: articles, videos, talks at conferences, etc.. Retired from TAS in 2018, he remains active in TAS projects and continues to serve on the Board of Trustees.

Kelley is a professional philosopher, teacher, and writer. After earning a Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1975, he joined the philosophy department of Vassar College, where he taught a wide variety of courses at all levels. He has also taught philosophy at Brandeis University and lectured frequently on other campuses.

Kelley's philosophical writings include original works in ethics, epistemology, and politics, many of them developing Objectivist ideas in new depth and new directions. He is the author of The Evidence of the Senses, a treatise in epistemology; Truth and Toleration in Objectivism, on issues in the Objectivist movement; Unrugged Individualism: The Selfish Basis of Benevolence; and The Art of Reasoning, a widely used textbook for introductory logic, now in its 5th edition.

Kelley has lectured and published on a wide range of political and cultural topics. His articles on social issues and public policy have appeared in Harpers, The Sciences, Reason, Harvard Business Review, The Freeman, On Principle, and elsewhere. During the 1980s, he wrote frequently for Barrons Financial and Business Magazine on such issues as egalitarianism, immigration, minimum wage laws, and Social Security.

His book A Life of One’s Own: Individual Rights and the Welfare State is a critique of the moral premises of the welfare state and defense of private alternatives that preserve individual autonomy, responsibility, and dignity. His appearance on John Stossel’s ABC/TV special "Greed" in 1998 stirred a national debate on the ethics of capitalism.

An internationally-recognized expert on Objectivism, he has lectured widely on Ayn Rand, her ideas, and her works. He was a consultant to the film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged, and editor of Atlas Shrugged: The Novel, the Films, the Philosophy.

 

Major Work (selected):

Concepts and Natures: A Commentary on The Realist Turn (by Douglas B. Rasmussen and Douglas J. Den Uyl),” Reason Papers 42, no. 1, (Summer 2021); This review of a recent book includes a deep dive into the ontology and epistemology of concepts.

The Foundations of Knowledge. Six lectures on the Objectivist epistemology.

The Primacy of Existence” and “The Epistemology of Perception,” The Jefferson School, San Diego, July 1985

Universals and Induction,” two lectures at GKRH conferences, Dallas and Ann Arbor, March 1989

Skepticism,” York University, Toronto, 1987

The Nature of Free Will,” two lectures at The Portland Institute, October 1986

The Party of Modernity,” Cato Policy Report, May/June 2003;and Navigator, Nov 2003; A widely cited article on the cultural divisions among pre-modern, modern (Enlightenment) and postmodern views.

"I Don't Have To" (IOS Journal, Volume 6, Number 1, April 1996) and “I Can and I Will” (The New Individualist, Fall/Winter 2011); Companion pieces on making real the control we have over our lives as individuals.

Objectivism