→Criticism of the subjective theory of value: but that is an important fact to note! I've changed "capitalists" to "self-identified supporters of capitalism" to eliminate any possibility of POV
[[Ayn Rand]] was critical of the [[subjective theory of value]], - which is upheld by most self-identified supporters of capitalism - because she did not view humans as irrational beings that suddenly "desire" an object thereby making it valuable. As she argued in her book [[Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal]], one may desire a [[hammer]] to drive nails into wood. The reason the hammer is valuable is because it is heavy, hard, and has a convenient handle to swing it with. So the value in the hammer is a rational decision based on intrinsic qualities of the hammer. But the value is also dependent on our assessment of how the intrinsic qualities of the object can serve our needs. To someone who never needs to hammer a nail, the hammer is worth nothing. This is why it may seem that value is subjective. But the intrinsic characteristics of the object play a part in its value too. A [[tomato]] would be unsuited to nailing, for example. Anyone trying to nail with a tomato would quickly find that it is worthless to that task.
