Karl Marx

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reason as his only absolute”. Ayn Rand’s philosophy emphasized mainly on individual rights and believed laissez-faire capitalism was the single moral system because it was the only method based upon protection of individual rights. Politically, those who believed in objectivism, promoted laissez-faire capitalism where limited government ensured the protection of each individual’s right to life, liberty, and property, forbidding anyone who initiated vigor in opposition to anyone else. Objectivism was sanguine, stating that the world was open to human achievement and true happiness; each person having within them the capability to live a gratifying, independent life. The optimistic message overspread Rand’s prominent novels with idiosyncratic and inspirational ideas.

The philosophies of both Karl Marx and Ayn Rand have great similarities on their theories and beliefs. Karl Marx was extremely against the philosophy and viewpoints of capitalism. He recognized it as a disadvantage for most of humanity, opposed to many privileges for the minority of rich. He also believed that the weakness of capitalism was its division of humanity into those with wealth and those without. Capitalism creates a system in which there are diminutive amounts of people with power and the others are the workforce who continue without their personage power and control over their own lives. Karl Marx’s philosophy of Communism in his novel Communist Manifesto reflected an egalitarian, classless society based upon common ownership and control of production and property. As for Ayn Rand, she was extremely against absolute monarchies, fascism, communism, and dictatorship. Although they disagreed with each other’s theories, they both had similarities. For example, both Marx and Rand were hypothesizing a Utopian society which was impossible to create. A Utopian society is a society in which a society acquires the ideal social, political, and legal system. Marx and Rand both agreed that human happiness was a superior thing, although each had their own explanation of

what happiness consisted of. The viewpoints of Marxism and Objectivism are fundamentally different but both agree that a productive life is a positive item.

Two major philosophers of the nineteenth century included Karl Marx and Ayn Rand. Karl Marx believed in socialism and disagreed with capitalism, whereas Ayn Rand believed in economics. Marx’s philosophies provided the basis for totalitarianism in many countries, whereas objectivism holds that the government should be firmly limited, and individuals should be free to pursue happiness. Karl Marx was noted for his critical views of the dehumanizing aspects of capitalism and advocating socialism. His theory of communism he proposed was grand; everyone working together to benefit one another. He proposed society with an important new perspective and theory few people would create, making Karl Marx an irreplaceable philosopher. As for Rand, her promotion of reason, self interest, individualism and individual rights, and capitalism made her the most controversial and the main significant philosopher of the nineteenth to early twentieth century.

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