[Lecture Three] Objectivism: The State of the Art
by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
Total Time: 1 hour, 29 minutes
Course summary: 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. Read more »
In this lecture: 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.
Study Guide
This material is designed to help you digest the lecture content. You can also download below a PDF study guide for the entire course.
| Why can everything in epistemology be reduced to the injunction “be objective”? |
| In what context does the concept of objective first arise? Why is it necessary? |
| How does a concept unite both existence and consciousness? |
| Contrast the unification of these two with the opposed views that consider concepts as arising from only one or the other. |
| Why does one’s view of concept formation determine one’s whole theory of knowledge? Explain with an example. |
| What moral and political consequences does intrinsicism lead to? Explain using real examples. |
| What moral and political consequences does subjectivism lead to? Explain using real examples. |
| What does it mean to have a non-automatic conformity to reality? |
| Under the objective approach to abstractions, what is the role of method? |
| What is the difference between objectivity and honesty? |
Q&A Guide
Below is a list of questions from the audience taken from this lecture, along with (approximate) time stamps.
| 1:16:50 | What do you think the time frame is for another Renaissance? Can you extrapolate from how long it took for Kant to take over? |
| 1:20:30 | I always thought that the libertarians are more intrinsicist in that they start with “liberty” as a given and what proceeds from that is an example of how intrinsicism leads to the primacy of consciousness. |
| 1:21:51 | Are facts explicitly held and validated by the scientific method? |
| 1:22:50 | Did Plato have some active means of approaching the world of forms? |
| 1:24:05 | Between objectivity and the mind-body dichotomy, which do you have to address first? |
| 1:25:30 | Instead of saying that religion derives from intrinsicism, could you say that religion leads to intrinsicism? |
| 1:27:38 | Can you elaborate on the statement “man is the measure of all things”? |