objectivism
See also: Objectivism
English
Etymology
Etymology tree
From objectiv(e) + -ism. First attested in 1854.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /əbˈd͡ʒɛk.tɪ.vɪ.zəm/
Audio (US): (file)
Noun
objectivism (countable and uncountable, plural objectivisms)
- The state of being objective; objectivity.
- Moral objectivism.
- (philosophy) Any of several doctrines that holds that all of reality is objective and exists outside of the mind.
- Coordinate term: positivism
- 1980, George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, chapter 25, in Metaphors We Live By:
- Objectivism and subjectivism need each other to exist. Each defines itself in opposition to the other and sees the other as the enemy. Objectivism takes as its allies scientific truth, rationality, precision, fairness, and impartiality.
- (often capitalized) The specific objectivist philosophy created by novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, endorsing logical reasoning and self-interest. [from late 1950s]
- 1959 February 25, “Interview with Ayn Rand” (02:04 from the start), in The Mike Wallace Interview[1] (16mm; television production), spoken by Ayn Rand, via NTA Film Network, HRC_WAL0141, archived from the original on 8 October 2019:
- First of all, I do not call it Randism; and I don’t like that name. I call it Objectivism, meaning a philosophy based on objective reality. Now let me explain it as briefly as I can.
- 1964 November 5, Murray Seeger, quoting Ayn Rand, “Hope Still Found For Conservatism”, in The New York Times[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 December 2024:
- Ayn Rand, the guiding spirit of the philosophy of Objectivism and an advocate of “laissez faire capitalism,” endorsed Senator Goldwater as [“]the best of what is available.”
- 2008 September 15, Tom Kuntz, “Fantasy and Philosophy”, in The New York Times[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 4 January 2022:
- Into philosophy but not computer games? Then you probably missed Ayn Rand’s objectivism in BioShock (where the villain builds an undersea city out of the reach of government).
- 2017 April 10, Jonathan Freedland, “The new age of Ayn Rand: how she won over Trump and Silicon Valley”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian[4], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 October 2026:
- But for some, objectivism stuck. Perhaps her most significant early follower was Alan Greenspan, later to serve as chairman of the US Federal Reserve for 19 years.
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
moral objectivism — see moral objectivism
doctrine that holds that reality is objective
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