# What contribution, if any, did Ayn Rand make to philosophy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 21, 2002, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contribution-if-any-did-ayn-rand-make-to-philosophy/120084 "2002-07-21T13:07:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 41
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contribution-if-any-did-ayn-rand-make-to-philosophy/120084/41 "2002-07-22T12:55:01Z")
> [@](#): > > She is the only popular political philosopher that could be considered a libertarian, so her point of view is unique to many first-time readers. She called libertarians “hippies of the right” and “anarchists”. See “Brief Summary,” The Objectivist, September 1971 and “What Can One Do?” _Philosophy: Who Needs It_, both by Ayn Rand. Also, see “Libertarianism: The Perversion of Liberty,” by Peter Schwartz in the Ayn Rand collection, _The Voice of Reason_. Her principle living disciple, Harry Binswanger, with whom I’ve corresponded on more than one occasion, said: > [@](#): > > The “libertarians”…plagiarize Ayn Rand’s principle that no man may initiate the use of physical force, and treat it as a mystically revealed, out-of-context absolute… In the philosophical battle for a free society, the one crucial connection to be upheld is that between capitalism and reason. The religious conservatives are seeking to tie capitalism to mysticism; the “libertarians” are tying capitalism to the whim-worshipping subjectivism and chaos of anarchy. To cooperate with either group is to betray capitalism, reason, and one’s own future. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-contribution-if-any-did-ayn-rand-make-to-philosophy/120084)._