[Lecture Eleven] Advanced Seminars on Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand
by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
Total Time: 1 hour, 27 minutes
Course summary: 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. Read more »
In this lecture: This lecture features Dr. Peikoff’s discussion of the nature of the good in human life and the crucial bridge between epistemology and ethics. He highlights the reason why life is the standard of value and why man’s life is the standard of morality.
Q&A Guide
Below is a list of questions from the audience taken from this lecture, along with (approximate) time stamps.
| 44:58 | Could or should the consideration be not just your lifespan, but the lifespan of those you value, like your children? |
| 47:58 | Why did Miss Rand choose the wording “to act” in the definition of value rather than what one deserves or wishes? |
| 51:24 | Why do you say “any code of values must hold life as the ultimate value” rather than “any rational code of values”? |
| 53:19 | Once you say that life is the ultimate goal and that life is self-sustaining action, why make a point about egoism? Isn’t that already there? |
| 1:02:12 | What is the validation of the claim that it is not to your self-interest to sacrifice others to yourself? |
| 1:08:52 | What is the difference between a normative and an evaluative subject? |
| 1:16:39 | Why did you say “according to Objectivism” these are the basic questions? |
| 1:19:58 | You said “remaining alive is the goal of all proper action” and then you said that suicide is okay. How can you reconcile that? |
| 1:24:18 | Is selfishness a corollary of egoism? |
| 1:26:17 | Can you elaborate on some of the values you decided to pursue and those you decided to give up on? [Defers his answer until later] |