Objectivist and Wars

Objectivism presents a different view and philosophical foundations for understanding the world. Objectivist philosophy neither adheres to liberalism nor conservatism; it rejects both alternatives and offers a unique worldview. It is a philosophy that is secular and absolutist in its orientation. In the book, The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought, Leonard Peikoff put forth Rand's philosophy of objectivism. When asked to present the essence of her philosophy while standing on one foot, she did as follows: Metaphysics: Objective Reality, Epistemology: Reason, Ethics: Self-interest, and Politics: Capitalism.

The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought, Ayn Rand analyzes capitalism and tries to delve into its philosophical understanding to comprehend how war evolves and how pure, laissez-faire capitalism will prevent future wars. In the book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Rand argued, "Men, who are free to produce, have no incentive to loot; they have nothing to gain from war and a great deal to lose."

Capitalism is the only system that promotes individual rights and opposes coercion and force. This essay analyzes the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. It studies Rand's objectivist philosophy and pure laissez-faire capitalism to ascertain the causes of this war. The aim is to curtail future wars by finding solutions and answers through objectivist philosophy. The world is renouncing the benefits it has achieved out of free trade, capitalism, and human rights. Russian aggression presents a real-time threat to the free world that has curtailed wars and brought substantial development in the past century.

Wars will be deterred through practicing and implementing an objectivist philosophy. Morality in the philosophy of objectivism is self-interest. It is the independence of thinking, productiveness, and honesty an individual exercises. Culturally, objectivism advocates for arts, industrial advancement, and objective education. Politically, it strictly adheres to capitalism. It is a social, economic, and political system based on individual rights and limited government.

In his article War: An Objectivist View, William Thomas discussed Rand's idea of capitalism as a system fundamentally opposed to war. For instance, capitalism has brought development to the developed world, and their prosperity has not arrived from wars of conquest. The objectivist philosophy believes that durable peace is possible with freedom and a laissez-faire economy. The intensity of war will increase when the world fails to protect reason, liberty, and capitalism.

The concepts of objectivism provide a philosophical system that will guide the course of the world, prescribing cures for the world's social, economic, political, and security challenges. The danger of war is reduced by associating ourselves with the ideas of objectivism. Objectivism holds that reality exists as an objective absolute – the facts are facts, independent of human emotions. Reason is the only way to perceive reality. Reason is man's source of knowledge, an action guide, and the means of survival. Man is an end in himself and not meant to sacrifice for others. The highest moral purpose of an individual life is independence and freedom to pursue his rational self-interest and happiness. Capitalism is the ideal system where relations are not based on the oppressor and oppressed or masters and slaves but based on traders. Relations in capitalism are established when traders freely and voluntarily exchange for their mutual benefits.

Ayn Rand's philosophy of capitalism is unique. Capitalism is the only system that allows economic, social, and political freedom. It opposes the centralization of resources and power. The beauty of capitalism is that it naturally opposes force. The government acts as a police and protects the rights of citizens. Pure capitalism is one where there is a complete separation of state and economics. In the book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Ayn Rand defends capitalism as a system opposed to wars. A morally self-interested man possessing individual rights and freedom has no gain from war but has a loss. War costs money in a free economy and brings loss in the income of private citizens through destruction, business dislocations, and taxes. The economic interest of a capitalist is on the side of peace.

The other side of the coin is collectivist and centralized states. Governments and regimes, having a grip on power and resources, constrain individual freedom, free market, and private property. Collectivists practice altruism, which restricts innovation, self-interest, and liberty. For them, war is the easiest way to disguise defects in their system. Take, for example, statist countries like Russia. In this country, the regime owns the wealth, and citizens have no incentives to protect by preserving peace. War gives citizens hope to have incentives from their government to fight and win the war.

Rand pointed out, “The trader and the warrior have been fundamental antagonists throughout history. Trade does not flourish on battlefields, factories do not produce under bombardments, and profits do not grow on rubble. Capitalism is a society of traders—for which it is denounced by every would-be gunman who regards trade as “selfish” and conquest as “noble.”

Individual freedom and pure capitalism allow individuals to maintain peace and enjoy property rights, economic growth, and a standard of living. Economics is a science that succeeds philosophy; it presupposes politics, and therefore, it presupposes morality, metaphysics, and epistemology. The basis of an economy is the freedom to promote economic activities. A person must be free to act on his judgment of his mind. Statist regimes stop individuals from innovating, building industries, and creating wealth- forcing them to follow collective rules and decisions. Force against one another limits individual judgment of the mind and life-promoting action. Therefore, the fundamental belief in the objectivist philosophy of capitalism is the separation of state and economics. It is the only social system where force is prohibited.

There are two perspectives related to the war: liberal and Marxist. According to liberals, capitalism brings economic liberalization and economic prosperity to all countries participating in international trade. This ideology is similar to the philosophy of capitalism advocated by Ayn Rand, yet it lacks philosophical foundations. Ayn Rand does not regard capitalism as an amoral or immoral means to some common good but as a profoundly moral social system. She wrote in Atlas Shrugged, “Capitalism is the only system geared to the life of a rational being.” The second perspective is Marxism. It states that capitalism leads to imperialism and economic crisis. Marxism lost currency in the second half of the 20th century when the world started to gain benefits through the free market, trade, and limited wars.  

Philosophy deals with every aspect of life; studying war through philosophy is missing in the literature of great philosophers. Ayn Rand defended capitalism as the only social, political, and economic system that thwarts wars. The reason is that in the philosophy of objectivism, Ayn Rand built a whole philosophy of life based on rationality, morality, reality, and the social system best fit for human life.

Objectivist philosophy supports man's rationality, self-interest, and freedom. Man is a rational being and can think and have beliefs. Man chooses war based on cognition, and war is thrust upon him through invasion or conscription. He has free will and directs his thoughts and efforts. War, metaphysically, is the solo voluntary action where an individual complies and defends values in a group. A group does not think or initiate war; it is always a choice made by an individual. Peace is not an effort to alter beliefs, culture, faith, and traditions; it is to change a man's thinking regarding the metaphysical status of his own choice: man is free to choose; therefore, he is free to choose war. 

Objectivism advocates critical rational thinking and a pure laissez-faire system in which the use of physical force is renounced in favor of voluntary actions and contracts, which compels an individual to learn and think for himself. People should be free to make their own choices as they see fit, as long as they do not use physical force against others.

The group notion of identity holds that the individual should lose a sense of self if collective action is needed; leaders, presidents, and parliaments perceive individuals as pawns to deploy in political games. Ary Rand strongly opposes group identity; group identity violates individual freedom, economic choices, morality, and self-interest. In wars, people blindly accept authority, become puppets, and fail to differentiate themselves from the masses around them. People are easily exploited and deployed by those in command for their vested interests because individuals lack rational thinking and freedom.  

A world where there is a lack of rational beings is an obvious danger to the free world. The free world flourishes because of its plurality, individualism, self-interest, and emphasis on reason. The arguments on the causes of war are multidimensional, and the analyses of war are not the task of subjects like international relations, political science, economics, and history alone; the roots of war and its causes are a task for philosophy. According to the philosophy of objectivism, the fundamental root cause of war is the statist ideology. Statist regimes wage war not only on their citizens but also wage war on other nations. They need war to maintain power and control individual freedom. In the article The Roots of War, Ayn Rand aptly said, "When a statist ruler exhausts his country's economy, he attacks his neighbors. It is his only means of postponing internal collapse and prolonging his rule.” Rand's philosophy challenges statist ideology; it holds that capitalism, free trade, individual freedom, reason, and art have the power to maintain peace in the world.   

The other puzzle prevailing in the world is the growing peace movements. The world is advocating for the abandonment of nuclear weapons, and war should be outlawed in the name of humanity. The problem is not a race for nuclear weapons or armed forces; the problem lies in statism or collectivism. The objectivist philosophy promotes individual freedom, capitalism, and trade. It differs from collectivism because dictators have plundered, starved, slaughtered, and dehumanized masses. Peace movements resist the use of coercion by one nation against another and do not oppose the force of a government against its citizens.    

Objectivist philosophy offers a new way to see the world and life. Human problems have been addressed since the last century when the world realized and practiced rational thinking, individual freedom, free trade, and limited government. Wars have been discouraged and limited when economic and social benefits have grown from globalization, internationalism, free trade, and diplomacy. Those countries that had enthusiastically embraced liberal values are now reverting to primitive ideologies. The burgeoning government intervention in their economy and politics means that individual freedom, free-market, spontaneous order, and capitalism are in peril. The sustaining and advancing statism in the world is another threat to the free world. Russia, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Iran are blatantly designing alternative political philosophies. Their statist policies deny rationality, individualism, free market, and self-interest; they enable altruism, collectivism, statism, centralization, and command economy. The specter of war is hanging over the world like a sword of Damocles. The panacea lies in what Ayn Rand suggested in her book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, “When I say “capitalism,” I mean a full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism—with a separation of state and economics, in the same way, and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church. Capitalism demands the best of every man—his rationality—and rewards him accordingly. It leaves every man free to choose the work he likes, specialize in it, trade his product for the products of others, and go as far on the road of achievement as his ability and ambition will carry him. Statism needs war; a free country does not. Statism survives by looting; a free country survives by production.``  

References:

1. Biddle, C. (2014, February 5). What Is Objectivism? The Objective Standard. https://theobjectivestandard.com/what-is-objectivism/

2. Coulomb, F., & Fontanel, J. (n.d.). War and Capitalism. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203130742

3. Moseley, A. (2002). Philosophy of war. Algora Pub.

4. Rand A. Branden N. Greenspan A. & Hessen R. (1967). Capitalism: the unknown ideal. Signet.

5. Rand A. Peikoff L. & Schwartz P. (1988). The voice of reason; essays in objectivist thought. New American Library.

6. Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Plume, 1999.

7. War: An Objectivist View, The Atlas Society | Ayn Rand, Objectivism, Atlas Shrugged. (n.d.). Www.atlassociety.org. Retrieved September 10, 2022, from https://www.atlassociety.org/post/war-an-objectivist-view