Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist and philosopher who developed Objectivism — a system based on reason as the only valid source of knowledge, rational self-interest as the proper moral ideal, and laissez-faire capitalism as the only just social system.

Rand's novels — The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged — embedded her philosophical ideas in narratives of heroic individualism. Though largely ignored by academic philosophy, Objectivism has had significant cultural and political influence, particularly in libertarian and conservative thought in the United States.