Nathaniel Branden - Objectivist Movement

Objectivist Movement

After reading The Fountainhead and exchanging letters and phone calls with Ayn Rand, Branden and his then girlfriend Barbara Weidman visited Rand and her husband Frank O'Connor at their Los Angeles home in 1950, and the four became close friends, with Branden and Rand in particular sharing a vivid interest in philosophical exploration and development. After the publication of Rand's most explicitly philosophical novel, Atlas Shrugged, and sensing an interest on the part of Rand’s readers in further philosophic education, Branden created in 1958 the Nathaniel Branden Institute (NBI) to disseminate Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, by offering live and taped lecture courses by Rand, Branden, and a variety of other Objectivist intellectuals (including Alan Greenspan, whom Branden had brought into Rand's fold). During this time Branden also contributed articles to Rand's newsletters on subjects ranging from economics to politics to psychology.

NBI expanded considerably over the course of its existence, ultimately offering courses in 80 cities and establishing an office in the Empire State Building.]]. In 1968, Rand publicly broke with Branden and published an article denouncing him and accusing him of a variety of perceived offenses, such as philosophic irrationality and unresolved psychological problems. In response, Branden sent out a letter to the NBI mailing list denying Rand's accusations and suggesting that the actual cause of Rand's denunciation of him was his unwillingness to engage in a romantic relationship with her. (Branden later explained in his memoir that he and Rand had in fact been romantically intimate for a period of time in the late 1950s; see personal life.)

After the break, Branden went on to publish The Psychology of Self-Esteem (many chapters of which he had published originally in Rand’s newsletter), and then to develop his theory and mode of therapy more independently of Rand’s influence. Though he remained supportive of the broad essentials of Rand’s philosophy, he eventually offered criticisms of aspects of her work, naming as problems her tendency to encourage emotional repression and moralizing, her failure to understand psychology beyond its cognitive aspects, and her failure to appreciate adequately the importance of kindness in human relationships. He also apologized in an interview to "every student of Objectivism" for "perpetuating the Ayn Rand mystique" and for "contributing to that dreadful atmosphere of intellectual repressiveness that pervades the Objectivist movement."