Arkhangelskaya, I. B. Marshall McLuhan and Ayn Rand: American Philosophers of the 20th Century

Abstract: The article is devoted to the ideas of Marshall McLuhan and Ayn Rand. The author of the article studies their fundamental works and the influence they made on their contemporaries and succeeding generations of Americans. Both Marshall McLuhan and Ayn Rand were intellectual stars of their times who managed to attract not only the academic audience, researchers and analysts but also the general public. They had good contacts with mass media, managed information and were media personas in general. They managed to create the cult out of their names and teachings and attracted followers including American elite. Each of them had their own original views on the social progress and vision of the future. Gradually their ideas were spread beyond the USA and became popular all over the world. The author of the present article carried out a comparative analysis of works created by these North American philosophers with reference to the American philosophy. The style and content of their fundamental works, peculiarities of the target audience of both philosophers trends in philosophy created by both Marshal McLuhan and Ayn Rand were studied. This is the first article to compare the ideas and personalities of the two brightest American philosophers of the 20th century. Based on the results of the research, the author concludes that Marshall McLuhan’s technological determinism was continued in creative work of David Cronenberg and the Wachowski Brothers, works written by Manuel Castells and searches of modern leaders of IT-industry. Ayn Rand’s philosophy of objectivism can be found in political and economic theories of many American conservatives including the right wing of the Republican Party (the Tea Party movement). Both Marshal McLuhan’s and Ayn Rand’s ideas created the grounds for the Californian ideology and new philosophy of the American ‘geeks’ of Silicon Valley.

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