Sure—I'm not saying that metaphysical idealism was never a dominant or influential idea, especially in premodern philosophy. But Rand lived in 20th century, whe

Sure—I'm not saying that metaphysical idealism was never a dominant or influential idea, especially in premodern philosophy. But Rand lived in 20th century, when contemporary philosophy was overwhelmingly materialist. I'm genuinely unsure who the "everyone else" is that the original commenter was trying to contrast her with. Presumably not Augustine of Hippo.