What was Rands view of Immanuel Kant?
Rand’s negative view of Kant is widely known and is given expression throughout her writings, although she discussed him at length in only a few essays. Her comments about him include: • “Our age is witnessing the ultimate climax, the cashing-in on a long process of destruction, at the end of the road laid out by Kant.” (“The Cashing-In: The Student ‘Rebellion'” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, p. 246) • “Kant was the first hippie in history.” (“Apollo and Dionysus” in Return of the Primitive, p. 105) • “In modern history, the philosophy of Kant is a systematic rationalization of every major psychological vice.” (“Philosophical Detection” in Philosophy: Who Needs It, p. 19) • “I did not caricature Kant. Nobody can do that. He did it himself.” (Letters of Ayn Rand, p. 503) • “[I]t is Kant that I am challenging, at his very root and base. I do not believe that modern philosophy can be discussed without reaching an understanding on Kant.” (Letters of Ayn Rand, p. 504) • “Capitalism canno
