Courses
These eighteen courses were conducted and recorded over a thirty-year span, from 1970 to 2002. Across over 300 hours of freely accessible audio, Dr. Peikoff elucidates Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, the history of philosophy, logic and thinking, writing and communication, esthetics, and many other topics.
Most courses include study guides to aid students in their digestion of Dr. Peikoff’s work. You might also take advantage of suggested courses of study, which aim to help students sequence their study of Dr. Peikoff’s courses, lectures, and written works.
In this course, Dr. Peikoff presented material from his then-new book, Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. The manuscript had its earliest roots in Peikoff’s comprehensive 1976 lecture course on Objectivism. As he worked on the material for publication, he discovered new connections and implications of major ideas in the philosophy as well as new insights on its integrated, hierarchical structure. Peikoff used these seminars to discuss what he learned in the process and to demonstrate how it would allow students of Objectivism to gain a new understanding of the philosophy. 15 lectures, 26 hours.
In this course Dr. Peikoff explains what happens in the mind when one thinks and offers a structure for how to get better at thinking. He applies the key principles of Objectivist epistemology to everyday thinking. The course explains the mental process of changing one’s mind, the role of integration and essentialization in proper thinking, and the application of thinking in principle and what certainty means. 8 lectures, 14 hours.
In this course, Dr. Leonard Peikoff selects eight great plays from Western literature to analyze. He examines the literary and philosophic qualities of each play and indicates how the drama concretizes certain ideas from a variety of philosophies. Peikoff masterfully situates each play in its historical period, both from the world events and philosophic context, as he discusses them. Peikoff builds the whole course around a demonstration of how to arrive at objective esthetic judgments about art. 9 lectures, 18 hours.
Presented as two complementary twelve-lecture courses—Founders of Western Philosophy: Thales to Hume and Modern Philosophy: Kant to the Present—The History of Philosophy covers the whole of western philosophy from its discovery in Ancient Greece to the twentieth century, including Objectivism. Dr. Peikoff argues that philosophy is the means by which we can understand any human culture and, more broadly, the history and changing course of a civilization. He analyzes the characteristic approaches and issues in major philosophical schools throughout history and identifies how Objectivism answers the main questions raised by historical thinkers. 24 lectures, 72 hours.
This course features Dr. Peikoff’s presentation of his solution to the problem of induction. He discusses the axioms of induction and the role of measurement omission and relates them to the process of forming generalizations. By comparing these features to the process of concept formation, Peikoff indicates the parallels in logic that give rise to new insights about the relationship between induction and deduction. Special attention is given to the similarities between physics and philosophy. 7 lectures, 13 hours.
This course by Dr. Leonard Peikoff provides a comprehensive introduction and overview of the study of logic. Through exercises provided to the reader and discussion of answers, the course covers definitions, syllogisms, fallacies, and the rules of generalization. It is equivalent to a university level course in logic. 10 lectures, 27 hours.
This two-lecture mini-course features a discussion of how to apply the process of evaluative judgment in difficult practical cases. Dr. Peikoff examines both how one can judge without being too quick to condemn and how one can avoid being too reluctant to pronounce judgment. He also reviews the role of emotions in judgment as well as an exhaustive discussion of the nature of evil. 2 lectures, 4 hours.
This course features an extended discussion of three issues in moral virtue that Dr. Leonard Peikoff learned about in writing his treatise on Objectivism. He reviews the virtues of justice and independence as well as the chief vice, the initiation of force, and applies new insights about their derivation, validation, and application. 4 lectures, 7 hours.
In this course, Dr. Leonard Peikoff explores the nature of intellectual communication. The course blends student work and examples with Peikoff’s own commentary to elicit the principles of effective communication in writing, speaking, and arguing. In these lectures, he identifies the essential issues unique to the nature of each method of presenting ideas and offers guidance about how to craft one’s thinking around the specific way one will deliver it to an audience. 10 lectures, 25 hours.
In preparing the material for his treatise, Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, Dr. Leonard Peikoff confronted unique problems and challenges in how to properly systematize the material. Based on his earlier comprehensive course on Objectivism in 1976, Dr. Peikoff had to question whether he had developed the content to the most precise and accurate formulations. In completing this process, he arrived at new insights that allowed him to present the material more clearly and to demonstrate the proofs for them. He reviews this material in this course. 8 lectures, 12 hours.
In this course, Dr. Peikoff demonstrates how to grasp philosophic ideas and principles in the same way that they were discovered—through induction from the facts of reality. Working through a process of generalizing from observed facts, Peikoff shows how a student can come to grasp and validate key ideas in Objectivist philosophy. Key concepts covered in the course include the idea of objectivity in both knowledge and values, egoism, reason as man’s means of survival, and the metaphysical status of sex. 12 lectures, 18 hours.
In this lecture series, Dr. Leonard Peikoff explores the nature of education, why contemporary schools do not achieve it, and what the proper basis is. In it, he discusses why education must be conceptual, the principles of proper instruction, and the essential content of a proper education. 6 lectures, 8 hours.
This twelve lecture course presents the entire theoretical structure and key ideas of Objectivism. It covers all the major branches of philosophy and how Objectivism answers the essential questions in those areas. Ayn Rand attended the lectures and participated in a majority of the question and answer sessions after the lectures. Peikoff later used this material as the basis of his definitive book on Objectivism. 12 lectures, 32 hours.
In this two-lecture series, Dr. Leonard Peikoff discusses the value of poetry as an esthetic enhancement to one’s life. He uses examples from some of his favorite poetry—read aloud in the lecture—to demonstrate how to analyze and understand great poems. Peikoff also discusses the nature of poetry and provides a definition. 2 lectures, 3 hours.
In this course, Dr. Peikoff explores the epistemological roots of the science of grammar. In it, he illustrates how an understanding of the basic methods of combining words into sentences is essential to clear thinking and writing. Each lecture contains student exercises that should be completed prior to the end of the lecture. 8 lectures, 19 hours.
In this course, Dr. Peikoff explores the proper methodology for understanding Objectivism, and philosophy more generally. The end goal in grasping any complex set of ideas, he notes, is to keep them tied to reality. This course features lecture material by Dr. Peikoff as well as exercises and demonstrations from the live audience. 11 lectures, 26 hours.
In these four lectures, Dr. Peikoff explores the role of unity in the Objectivist philosophy. He explores how the perspective of unity helps to further illuminate different elements in the philosophy that might otherwise seem unconnected. He considers the connections between history and philosophy, the role of simultaneous differing definitions, and the virtue of integrity as an illustration of unity in human character. 4 lectures, 7 hours.
In this two-lecture mini-course, Dr. Leonard Peikoff discusses six essential elements of good writing—selectivity, structure, tone, context, motivation, and condensation. Using exercises provided for the audience, he conducts detailed analysis of writing with extensive interactive questions and answers from the audience. 2 lectures, 4 hours.