Jennifer Burns

Yeah, so Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand, in the biggest picture, they're both individualists and they're skeptical of collectivities and collectivism. So their unit of analysis is the individual, what's good for the individual, what works for the individual, and their understanding of society kind of flows from that.

Yeah, so Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand, in the biggest picture, they're both individualists and they're skeptical of collectivities and collectivism. So their unit of analysis is the individual, what's good for the individual, what works for the individual, and their understanding of society kind of flows from that.

Yeah, so Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand, in the biggest picture, they're both individualists and they're skeptical of collectivities and collectivism. So their unit of analysis is the individual, what's good for the individual, what works for the individual, and their understanding of society kind of flows from that.

They also both use this focus on individualism to justify and to support capitalism as a social and economic system. So we can put them in a similar category. We can call them individualists. We could call them libertarians of a sort. But they're also really different in how they approach capitalism, how they approach thinking.

They also both use this focus on individualism to justify and to support capitalism as a social and economic system. So we can put them in a similar category. We can call them individualists. We could call them libertarians of a sort. But they're also really different in how they approach capitalism, how they approach thinking.

They also both use this focus on individualism to justify and to support capitalism as a social and economic system. So we can put them in a similar category. We can call them individualists. We could call them libertarians of a sort. But they're also really different in how they approach capitalism, how they approach thinking.

Ayn Rand developed her own moral and philosophical system to justify individualism and to connect the individual to capitalism and to support capitalism as a social and economic system. Friedman struggles a bit more with how to justify capitalism, and he'll ultimately come down to freedom as his core value, like his God, as he says.

Ayn Rand developed her own moral and philosophical system to justify individualism and to connect the individual to capitalism and to support capitalism as a social and economic system. Friedman struggles a bit more with how to justify capitalism, and he'll ultimately come down to freedom as his core value, like his God, as he says.

Ayn Rand developed her own moral and philosophical system to justify individualism and to connect the individual to capitalism and to support capitalism as a social and economic system. Friedman struggles a bit more with how to justify capitalism, and he'll ultimately come down to freedom as his core value, like his God, as he says.

And so freedom does connect back to the individual, but he's not justifying capitalism for his own sake. He's justifying it for its ability to underwrite freedom in a social sense and also in the individual sense.

And so freedom does connect back to the individual, but he's not justifying capitalism for his own sake. He's justifying it for its ability to underwrite freedom in a social sense and also in the individual sense.

And so freedom does connect back to the individual, but he's not justifying capitalism for his own sake. He's justifying it for its ability to underwrite freedom in a social sense and also in the individual sense.

Yeah, for sure. So beyond this idea that Milton Friedman takes a while to come to his justification of capitalism, Morzine Rand kind of has it from the start. She really focuses on the core quality of rationalism and rationality. Rationality is the defining feature of human beings. And so she works from there, whereas Friedman, Milton Friedman eventually converges on this idea of freedom.

Yeah, for sure. So beyond this idea that Milton Friedman takes a while to come to his justification of capitalism, Morzine Rand kind of has it from the start. She really focuses on the core quality of rationalism and rationality. Rationality is the defining feature of human beings. And so she works from there, whereas Friedman, Milton Friedman eventually converges on this idea of freedom.

Yeah, for sure. So beyond this idea that Milton Friedman takes a while to come to his justification of capitalism, Morzine Rand kind of has it from the start. She really focuses on the core quality of rationalism and rationality. Rationality is the defining feature of human beings. And so she works from there, whereas Friedman, Milton Friedman eventually converges on this idea of freedom.

So that's one part of it. The other is their intellectual styles are really, really different. Their interpersonal styles are really different. So Friedman has big ideas, big principles that guide him, but he's also deeply empirical.

So that's one part of it. The other is their intellectual styles are really, really different. Their interpersonal styles are really different. So Friedman has big ideas, big principles that guide him, but he's also deeply empirical.

So that's one part of it. The other is their intellectual styles are really, really different. Their interpersonal styles are really different. So Friedman has big ideas, big principles that guide him, but he's also deeply empirical.

He spends most of his career doing historical research, economic research, pulling data from how people actually make economic decisions and live in the world and using them to test and refine his theories. Where Rand, to some degree, we could say she's empirical in that she lives through the Russian Revolution and takes a very big lesson from that.

He spends most of his career doing historical research, economic research, pulling data from how people actually make economic decisions and live in the world and using them to test and refine his theories. Where Rand, to some degree, we could say she's empirical in that she lives through the Russian Revolution and takes a very big lesson from that.