What IS Objectivism?

Metaphysics (Objective Reality) – Ayn Rand held that there are 3 basic self-evident truths that one must accept:

Existence – The bedrock of all other knowledge. essentially if something exists than it does in fact exist. Your mere existence is tied into your identity. To exist means that “an entity of a specific nature made of specific attributes.” If something does not have a nature or attributes than it does not exist. Essentially, Existence is the law to distinguish something for nothing.
Consciousness – The utility in which we perceive existence. Ayn Rand said that “to be conscious is to be conscious of something” and that the consciousness itself is actually not conscious of itself and that it is only aware of something. In short the mind does not create reality, but rather, it is a means of discovering reality.
Identity – According to Rand, it is entities that act, and every action is the action of an entity. The way entities act is caused by the specific nature (or “identity”) of those entities; if they were different they would act differently.

Epistemology (Reason) -According to Objectivism all human knowledge is reached through reason. The human senses of what we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch help guide our mental faculty to understand the world abstractly and logically. Ayn Rand was hugely influenced by the Greek philosopher Aristotle who called man “the rational animal.” He called man this because of mans ability to use reason which separates us from other animals. However, humans are not automatically using reason. Thus, humans are creatures of free will and are fallible. The role of Epistemology is to teach humans how to use reason to gain knowledge.

Ethics (Self-interest) – The role of ethics in Objectivism is to act as a self severing role. Ayn Rand had a saying that “You cannot say ‘I love you’ if you cannot say the ‘I.'” Objectivism teaches that a person’s own life and happiness is the ultimate good. To achieve happiness requires a morality of rational selfishness, one that does not give undeserved rewards to others and that does not ask them for oneself.

Politics (Individual Rights and Capitalism) – when it comes to Objectivism and politics there are four main points of interest:

Individual Rights – Each person can live and flourish through the independent exercise of his rational mind. Objectivists see humans as material beings, and as such humans need as much freedom as possible to keep the fruits of our labor and use or dispose of them as we see fit; that is the right to property. And we live as ourselves, for ourselves, so we have a right to pursue our own happiness.
Limited Government – Objectivism therefore advocates a strictly limited form of government: a republican system that has only those powers and takes only those actions required to secure our rights to freedom from force. There must be a military force for defense against external enemies. There must be a system of legislation and law courts to establish the law and to adjudicate disputes in which force might be used. And there must be a system of enforcement of the law such as the police, to make sure the law is a social rule, not empty words.
Objective Law – The laws must be clearly expressed in terms of essential principles. The highly detailed, programmatic laws so common today violate this principle, as do the vague standards under which many regulations are issued. The law must be intelligible to the people on whom it is enforced. The law courts must be structured so that objectivity and impartiality are the hallmarks of any legal decision. And the law must always be grounded in principles of rights.
Capitalism – Objectivists argue for capitalism in its purest form. This is because capitalism is in a since a social system characterized by individual freedom, diversity, and dynamism. It is a system that treats people as individuals, with no ethnic, religious, or other collective principle enshrined in the law. It is the system under which each of us makes his own choices and must take responsibility for his own life and happiness.