Jünger’s Anarch Provides a Practical Political Approach for Rand’s Objectivist

Abstract

Ernst Jünger’s Eumeswil introduces the “anarch”, a rational egoist properly concerned exclusively with pursuing self-interest. Ayn Rand’s objectivist is also a rational egoist, but while Rand developed the ethics and economics of objectivism, she provided relatively little guidance regarding the politics and general relations with actual, non-ideal government. We present Jünger’s notion of the anarch, connect it to Rand’s objectivism, and argue that the anarch provides a practical political approach for the objectivist. Broadly, the anarch views some form of imperfect government as inevitable, endurable, and even useful to his pursuit of self-interest. Unlike the anarchist and partisan, who abandon self-interest and enslave themselves to particular ideological positions, the anarch is politically flexible and largely indifferent to government unless and until its interference with his fundamental right to pursue self-interest becomes intolerable. We believe this subject is particularly timely given the seemingly inescapable politicization of many aspects of modern life.