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Freedom Of Will In Ayn Rand's Anthem

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Ayn Rand Essay Philosophical thinkers argue that freedom of will is what separates humans from animals. The debate of ethical egoism versus ethical altruism deals with the question of whether humans should use their individual freedom purely to benefit themselves or devote it to benefitting others. While the knee-jerk answer of many people would be to put others before themselves, the extremes of ethical altruism have produced political ideologies such as communism. Acclaimed right-wing novelist Ayn Rand experienced communism first hand during the Russian Revolution, and after leaving her home country she went on to write several novels such as Anthem, warning her readers against having their individuality revoked by the government. Anthem, light years ahead of its time in terms of its dystopian content, displayed the three main disadvantages of living under communism; selective education (or even blatantly false propaganda), limited career opportunities, and a stifled sense of self. Though the story greatly exaggerated …show more content…

This allowed the government to erase history and rewrite it as they saw fit. It also caused valuable knowledge to be destroyed, and set all technological and scientific progress so far back that their society believed the earth to be flat. Their education system frowned upon learning beyond what was taught and questions were met with punishment. In this way, the rampant ignorance within their society was not only accepted but encouraged and reinforced. On top of this, anyone older than 40 was implied to be executed, so they had no real sense of a past as a society or “sage wisdom” to reflect on. Because generations only lasted 40 years, their brainwashing and ignorance had the opportunity to spread more quickly as older generations were erased and replaced with new

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