Objectivism
To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and ruling values of his life: Reason—Purpose—Self-esteem. Reason, as his only tool of knowledge—Purpose, as his choice of the happiness which that tool must proceed to achieve—Self-esteem, as his inviolate certainty that his mind is competent to think and his person is worthy of happiness, which means: is worthy of living (Rand, For the New Individual, 128).
This quote by author Ayn Rand, founder of objectivism, begins the conversation for the exhibit, The Pursuit of Happiness. Objectivism, named from the concept that human knowledge and values are objective, is centered around the idea of man as a heroic being who is entitled to the pursuit of happiness. Rand believed that the selfish pursuit of happiness was the only moral purpose of a person's life, and through reason, man could become conscious of independent truths existent in nature and reality. Along with the initial Rand quote, there will be the definitions of two words written on the front of a dividing wall: happiness and reason. Ironically, two subjective terms are what largely form the basis of objectivism and they will guide the viewers' to evaluate that disparity throughout the exhibit. The exhibition is intended to test the objectivist framework by raising questions about how happiness is defined, obtained, and measured, and what those questions ultimately mean for the viewer. Upon entering a circular gallery through double doors, the viewer first encounters a long, pastel yellow dividing wall, which allows for passage into the exhibit on either end. Yellow is generally associated with happiness and energy, like the sun; it will serve as both a preview and a reminder of the exhibit's basic ties to the theme. The wall will contain the aforementioned quotes as well as one from the 14th Dalai Lama's acceptance speech of the Nobel peace prize in 1989: People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or
This quote by author Ayn Rand, founder of objectivism, begins the conversation for the exhibit, The Pursuit of Happiness. Objectivism, named from the concept that human knowledge and values are objective, is centered around the idea of man as a heroic being who is entitled to the pursuit of happiness. Rand believed that the selfish pursuit of happiness was the only moral purpose of a person's life, and through reason, man could become conscious of independent truths existent in nature and reality. Along with the initial Rand quote, there will be the definitions of two words written on the front of a dividing wall: happiness and reason. Ironically, two subjective terms are what largely form the basis of objectivism and they will guide the viewers' to evaluate that disparity throughout the exhibit. The exhibition is intended to test the objectivist framework by raising questions about how happiness is defined, obtained, and measured, and what those questions ultimately mean for the viewer. Upon entering a circular gallery through double doors, the viewer first encounters a long, pastel yellow dividing wall, which allows for passage into the exhibit on either end. Yellow is generally associated with happiness and energy, like the sun; it will serve as both a preview and a reminder of the exhibit's basic ties to the theme. The wall will contain the aforementioned quotes as well as one from the 14th Dalai Lama's acceptance speech of the Nobel peace prize in 1989: People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or