Objectivism: The State of the Art
by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
- 8 lectures, 12 hours
- Recorded in 1987
In preparing the material for his treatise, Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, Dr. Leonard Peikoff confronted unique problems and challenges in how properly to 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.
Download the entire course (472 MB) to listen in the audio player of your choice—or listen online starting with Lecture One below. If listening to the course from this website, be sure to make a note of the current lecture and timestamp before leaving so that you can easily resume where you left off.
Study Guide
This course includes a study guide, featuring questions and other material designed to help you digest the course content. This material accompanies the individual lectures and is also available below as a PDF.
Lecture Guide
Summaries of the lecture content are provided below for your reference and convenience.
| Lecture 1 | This lecture examines the logical structure of Objectivism specifically with the question of how it relates to logical priority. Dr. Peikoff examines the hierarchical necessity of the parts of Objectivism. |
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| Lecture 2 | Dr. Peikoff continues the discussion of the logical structure of Objectivism through a discussion of the Objectivist metaphysics. |
| Lecture 3 | In this lecture, Dr. Peikoff begins his discussion of objectivity and its role as the central norm of all epistemology. He discusses the distinctive view that Ayn Rand brought to this concept and its connection to volition. He specifically focuses on its place in Objectivism’s structure. |
| Lecture 4 | This lecture examines the distinctive view of logic in Objectivism. Dr. Peikoff explains the insights that Ayn Rand had in regard to the basis of logic and its application to a process of reasoning. He discusses how her perspective completes the understanding of logic. |
| Lecture 5 | This lecture switches the focus from epistemology to ethics by examining the nature of principles. Dr. Peikoff contrasts the nature of what a principle is and various wrong approaches. He explains the necessity of thinking and acting on principle. |
| Lecture 6 | This lecture reviews the virtues of integrity and honesty from the perspective of how they are principles. Dr. Peikoff indicates the centrality of integrity as a part of rationality and what he learned about it. |
| Lecture 7 | A dedicated question and answer session with Dr. Peikoff. |
| Lecture 8 | A dedicated question and answer session with Dr. Peikoff. |