For the New Intellectual

This is Ayn Rand's challenge to the prevalent philosophical doctrines of our time, and the "atmosphere of guilt, of panic, of despair, of boredom, and of all-pervasive evasion" that they create. One of the most controversial figures on the intellectual scene, Ayn Rand was a proponent of a moral philosophy called Objectivism-and ethic of rational self-interest-that stands in sharp opposition to the ethics of altruism and self-sacrifice. The fundamentals of this morality-"a philosophy for living on earth-are here vibrantly set forth by the spokeswoman for a new kind of intellectual.