Ayn Rand defense against Individual Rights

Ayn Rand's concept of individual rights stems from human identity. Rights are a crucial requirement for human survival and advancement. Humans are distinguished from other creatures by the factuality of their cognition. Humans choose their lives and can take action to enhance them. Humans have the cognitive capacity to apply reason to arrive at reality. Ethically, human beings are self-interested. In pursuing their interests, they inevitably help others. According to Ayn Rand, individual rights are significant for the advancement of society. She provides a philosophical understanding of individual rights.

Ayn Rand's voice has been heard among the din of men's voices. She is a philosopher, writer, artist, and scholar who revolted against communist repression. Rand advanced a worldview shared by many in a male-dominated philosophical world. She is influenced by Aristotle's idea of discovering truth through empirical reasoning. She stresses reason and uses it to describe reality, knowledge, ethics, and politics.

Her philosophy is known as objectivism. It is founded on the belief that truth and reality exist in the world and that one can use one's mind to understand reality. She believes in an objective view of reality in which the value of an object remains inside that object; the value of water is that it quenches thirst. Everything has an objective value. The mind helps us understand the nature, traits, qualities, and composition of everything. The mind can use reason to create concepts and arrive at reality. Individual rights are pivotal to Rand because the conscious mind dictates an individual's actions, ambitions, progress, and growth in life.

Reality is absolute; everything has intrinsic values. One cannot deny reality because of one's feelings or limited knowledge. Every human being can use their thinking to come to terms with reality. To understand the universe and gain information about reality, reason—the fundamental mental faculty of humans—must be applied. Humans have free will, which includes the freedom to act, engage in thought, live a life, and employ reason. According to objectivist philosophy, morality is self-interest, which means a person is free to use his or her mind, body, life, property, and happiness as determined by his or her reason. Individuals can freely apply logic to arrive at reality and take action to effect change in their lives. People are not machines or a herd of sheep to be oppressed, governed, confined, or controlled.

The notion of human rights emerged following the end of World War II when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Some inalienable human rights, such as the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, were listed in this statement. These and other comparable rights are natural rights that each individual acquires upon becoming a member of the human race. According to Ayn Rand, it is not permissible for an individual to impose collective rules and laws that limit individual freedom and choice. Ayn Rand's notion of individual rights stresses one fundamental right: life. She maintains that all other rights flow from the right to life.

In a collectivist system, individual rights are surrendered for the general good of society. In such a culture, an individual loses touch with the substance of his or her life. Rights are disregarded, suppressed, or sacrificed for group rights. Individuals are forced to observe laws, traditions, rituals, and beliefs that infringe on their right to think, conscience, and religion under the pretext of collective moral and social growth. Collectivism undermines individual rights and stifles society's progress.

The safeguarding of personal rights is vital within objectivist philosophy. Individuals only enjoy their rights when they freely act in their best interests. It is to enjoy one's life, accomplishments, and independence. Only laissez-faire capitalism offers the ability to pursue one's own interests. Capitalism is a system that upholds and protects individual rights. Everyone has a distinct personality. Each person has distinctive neurological, psychological, cultural, and personal characteristics, which entail varied rights. Ayn Rand's individual rights protect individual social, political, and economic lives.

Individual rights promote human progress, wealth, and advancement. If the world had not established human rights and upheld liberty and freedom, overcoming wars, conflicts, poverty, and famine would have been difficult. There is a clear distinction between nations that protect individual rights and nations that deny individual rights in the name of the collective good. Their adherence to individual rights is the foundation of free-world progress and development. Statist nations, where collective rights trump individual liberties, struggle on many fronts.

Individual rights lead to social, political, and economic progress. They serve as the propellers of human prosperity. According to Ayn Rand, people are rational beings and come to terms with reality using their intellect. When allowed to use their ideas freely, people arrive at a reality based on verifiable facts. Individual rights provide independence and liberties to live, prosper, and enjoy life by strengthening the human capacity to apply reason to reach reality.

Individuals have inalienable rights, and their rights are necessary conditions for the individual and collective progress of societies. Ayn Rand aptly said, “The source of man's rights is not divine or congressional law, but the law of identity. A is A, and man is man. Rights are conditions of existence required by man's nature for proper survival. If a man is to live on earth, it is right for him to use his mind, it is right to act on his own free judgment, and it is right to work for his values and to keep the product of his work. If life on earth is his purpose, he has a right to live as a rational being: nature forbids him the irrational.”