Philosopher Report: Ayn Rand - Essay Example

One of the philosophers that has made a significant contribution to this discipline is Ayn Rand. She explored various principles with the most outstanding being the issue of objectivism. It is against this background that this paper provides an informative review about her life and works. To enhance coherence and objectivity, the paper provides a critique of her views. Ayn Rand hails from Rosenbaum in Russia. She was born in 1905 and specifically on the 2nd date of February to Anna Rosenbaum and Fronz.

Historical evidence indicates that during the initial years of her life, she lived a very affluent life. Her father was a pharmacist and owned his own shop. This ensured that his children were provided with all the essential needs that they required. Her mother on the other hand had a subscription to wide ranging children’s literary magazines. Ayn Rand was an avid reader of these magazines from which she derived great inspiration. As a result, she began drafting and writing her own stories hardly when she was ten years.

Specifically, Hyman and Moore (1997) cite that she became a proficient young writer at the age of nine years. In 1917, the family was affected by the Russian revolution and from there hence forth, they lived in poverty. At sixteen years of age, she got enrolled at the Petrograd State University. In her second year, she was expelled from the institution, although later reinstated after the foreign governments protested against this move. Upon completion of her university education, she further enrolled at State Technicum for Screen Arts and pursued screen writing.

It is at this point that she realized that her personal philosophy was inconsistent with the Russian philosophy. For this reason, she understood that she had to leave Russia in order to ensure her personal safety as well as explore her philosophy exhaustively. She left Russia for Chicago in 1926 and never returned. During her tender years, Hyman and Moore (1997) note that she was greatly influenced by the works of other writers including Hugo, Nietzsche and Friedrich. From these, she derived intellect especially considering the fact that the respective writers were independent protagonists.

Most importantly, the writers acted as her role models and guided her into exploring the art of writing complex stories with various characters. With their guidance, she was also informed about the important principles of heroism and individualism. Notably, she did not agree with the entire concepts but used the inherent insight to broaden her way of thinking. Upon arrival in Chicago, she changed her name and proceeded to Hollywood to look for a job as a screen writer. She got the job and worked as a co editor of Cecil DeMille’s films.

Her writing career was officially launched in 1932. In this year, she successfully sold her first screen play to the then renowned Universal Studios. After this, she proceeded to write The Night of January 16th, a play that was later produced on Broadway in the year 1934. Then, she wrote her very first novel entitled We The Living in 1936. In this, she explored life in Russia after communism. She wrote several other works and her peak was The Fountainhead that was published in 1943 and her Atlas Shrugged of 1957 which were her masterpieces.

In her works, she explored the theme of