“Anyone who fights for the future, lives in it today.”

- Ayn Rand

Black and white portrait of a woman with short hair, looking directly at the camera with a slight smile.

The Australian Centre for Objectivism was founded to advance Objectivism in Australia though educational and cultural engagement.

We promote the study and application of Ayn Rand’s philosophy through university initiatives, regular city meetups, and public events - building a lasting institutional presence for Objectivism in Australia.

Photo: © Leonard Peikoff, photograph by Talbot

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Poem: “Don’t Tell Me” by Quent Cordair
Poem: “Don’t Tell Me” by Quent Cordair

Don’t tell me whom to love or loathe,

Or whom to praise or whom to rake;

The measure of my friends and foes

Is something only I can take;

I’ll walk with whom I’ll walk today;

For good or ill, I’ll find my way.

Marx’s Labour Theory of Value
Marx’s Labour Theory of Value

On the Marxist theory, only labour produces value. The difference between the labour that pays for itself (in the form of wages, or “variable capital”) and the additional labour-value that flows to the capitalist, is the “surplus value”. Machines are a form of “constant capital” and they do not contribute to surplus value. Nor do machines, on this theory, create any new wealth – they merely “transfer” the labour-value that went into building them into the totality of the products they create throughout their use-life.

Inducing Objectivism: Three Methods
Inducing Objectivism: Three Methods

Since reality is a single, integrated whole, free of contradictions and governed by the law of identity and its derivatives, any theory that purports to describe reality from a fundamental standpoint must itself form a non-contradictory whole. Objectivism satisfies both requirements. It corresponds to reality, and it is internally coherent. It therefore describes reality and man as they are, at the most basic level, and advances a unified, non-contradictory system of ideas grounded in facts.

In the Name of the Best Within Us
In the Name of the Best Within Us

What is happening in Iran is not repression in the ordinary sense. It is a massacre carried out deliberately by a regime that knows exactly what it is doing and has decided that its theocratic project justifies any level of unspeakable, barbaric savagery.

Under the rule of Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Republic has unleashed a campaign of terror against its own population. Over the course of just a few weeks, reports indicate that more than 16,500 protesters have been killed, and the number continues to grow.

New Intellectuals Wanted!

“Who are to be the New Intellectuals? Any man or woman who is willing to think. All those who know that man's life must be guided by reason, those who value their own life and are not willing to surrender it to the cult of despair in the modern jungle of cynical impotence, just as they are not willing to surrender the world to the Dark Ages and the rule of collectivist brutes.”

Ayn Rand, For the New Intellectual

Student Membership

Explore Objectivist discussion groups in your city.

Our discussion groups focus on Ayn Rand’s ideas and their application to real life. We examine ethics, politics, culture, art, and personal development from an Objectivist perspective. Our groups are open to professionals, students, and anyone interested in engaging with Objectivist ideas, whether you are well-read in the philosophy or just beginning to explore it. We host discussion groups every 1 to 4 weeks, depending on the city. To attend, please contact your local city events organiser to be added to the next event, and save the event to your Google Calendar so you can stay up to date with future sessions.

 

Sydney

When
Third Thursday of every month, 6pm - 9pm

Where
Babylon Rooftop & Garden Bar
Level 7/188 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000

Save Sydney Events - Google Calendar

Hosted by Humairaa Tarsoo
📧 info@objectivism.au

 

Melbourne

When
Every third Monday, 6pm - 9pm

Where
Glenferrie Hotel
324 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn VIC 3122

Save Melbourne Events - Google Calendar

Hosted by Stuart Sherwood
📧 ayn.rand.melbourne@gmail.com

 

Canberra

When
Every Friday, from 27/2/26, 11am-12:30pm

Where
Rex Espresso, Australian National University, Acton ACT 2601

Save Canberra Events - Google Calendar

Hosted by Maxim Bishev
📧 maxim.bishev@objectivism.au

What is Objectivism?

Ayn Rand was once famously asked to summarise her philosophy while standing on one foot. She embraced the challenge and replied:

“Metaphysics: objective reality. Epistemology: reason. Ethics: self-interest. Politics: capitalism.”

  • Reality is an objective absolute that exists independently of anyone’s consciousness. Everything that exists has a definite identity and is a part of this reality. There is no “other” reality, universe or dimension outside of existence. All entities act in accordance with their nature. A thing cannot act against its nature (this would require it to be not what it is, which would be a contradiction).

  • Our means of perception are inerrant and function automatically, supplying the raw material from which we form all our knowledge. Reason - “the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man’s senses” - does not function automatically and must be directed by choice and in a state of focus. If one chooses to think and follows an objective method of cognition, one may achieve conceptual knowledge. Only individual minds can think - there are no collective brains. The purpose of knowledge is ultimately the advancement of one’s own life.

  • The objective requirements of every individual’s life are the source - and the standard - of all his/her values.

    Values do not exist apart from individuals; values do not come from any mystical source, such as God, nor from any social source, such as society.

    Objectivism advocates egoism - the view that each individual should be the moral beneficiary of his/her own actions. Altruism (self-sacrifice) is evil.

    Objectivism recognises that what is, in fact, to one’s own benefit can only be determined by reason - and not by fear, revelation, or emotional whim.

    Rand defined “happiness” as “the state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of values.”

    The achievement of one’s own happiness is the highest moral purpose of one’s life.

  • Capitalism is “the political-economic system based on the recognition of individual rights”. Unlike all other systems, capitalism protects individual rights by banning the initiation of force from all human relations. Under capitalism, each individual is free to act on the judgement of his/her own mind to produce values. One trades with others, who produce different values, by voluntary consent and to mutual benefit.

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