[Lecture Fifteen] Advanced Seminars on Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand
by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
Total Time: 1 hour, 32 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: After discussing the nature of capitalism as the only moral system, Dr. Peikoff elaborates on the epistemological underpinnings of capitalism and the opposition to it.
Q&A Guide
Below is a list of questions from the audience taken from this lecture, along with (approximate) time stamps.
| 26:58 | Is the statement “individualism and independence rise and fall together” the same as the statement “when you violate the rights of one man, you’ve violated the rights of all”? |
| 28:56 | Is it always true that “production is profit”? |
| 31:22 | Have you accurately worded what happens to capitalists in relation to a monopolistic situation? |
| 34:43 | Have you changed your mind on your earlier view that there’s a danger in the Objectivist movement of erring on the side of rationalism? |
| 36:30 | Are there any serious unanswered questions left in the world? |
| 40:25 | Can you explain in principle how Germany has managed to recover so successfully since WWII in the apparent absence of any improvement in the popular epistemology that led to the destruction, as you’ve shown? |
| 55:00 | In the context of the circle between the subjectivist intellectual and the political leader, you say that this kind of vicious circle extends far beyond. Can you say something about that? |
| 58:56 | Do you oppose the tenure system in universities? |
| 1:02:02 | In a free market, would debased products such as rock bands be able to profit as they do now? Would this represent virtue? |
| 1:16:32 | If somebody closes their mind to reason, do they become more determined in their actions? |
| 1:17:46 | Why did such an important topic as “principle” come up only under “the good” rather than where it belongs in epistemology? |
| 1:20:00 | Who will have the most difficulty reading your book: the rationalist who is cut off from reality, or the empiricist? |
| 1:21:05 | What would you say is the philosophically objective value of the book? |
| 1:22:40 | What is your next long-range project? |