Objectivism and the Work of Ayn Rand Objectivism is a philosophy which developed around a woman named Ayn Rand in the 50s and 60s. She came to the country from Russia in the 1920s and worked in Hollywood as an extra in pictures and as a writer. Her most famous books are actually works of fiction, WE THE LIVING, THE FOUNTAINHEAD, and ATLAS SHRUGGED. In them, she portrays her ideals of the human character-- basically she is a RATIONAL EGOIST. She believes that the self exists, and is ethically significant; in fact, that one should live by the maxim of not sacrificing yourself to anyone, nor sacrificing anyone to yourself. The basic premises of objectivism are that