[Lecture Six] Objectivism: The State of the Art
by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
Total Time: 1 hour, 27 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: 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.
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.
| What is the difference between compromises of details and principles? Give a unique example of each. |
| Why does the issue of compromise reveal that a principle is always the guide to action? |
| Why is there no “no man’s land” between contrary principles? |
| If the evil is ultimately powerless, why does it have the “upper hand” in its interaction with the good? |
| What does it mean that values are not values if obtained by fraud? |
| Using an original example, explain why a single lie becomes progressive and totalizing. |
| Why were the ancient Greeks correct to say that “virtue is one”? |
| If a liar is never found out, why is it still not in his interest to do so? |
| What is the flaw in the trade-off view of virtue? |
| When attempting to use the trade-off approach, what are the two ways of accounting for value? |
| Why do both methods for accounting for value in this approach ultimately prevent a proper evaluation of the value? |
| Why does the value-balancing approach necessitate emotionalism? |
| When is it proper to use a trade-off approach? |
| How does irrational action detach a goal from the realm of evaluation? |
| How does the principled approach answer the idea that the end justifies the means? |
| When can one say that there is one end that determines the means? |
| What is a contextual absolute in regard to principles? |
Q&A Guide
Below is a list of questions from the audience taken from this lecture, along with (approximate) time stamps.
| 1:07:33 | Could you please repeat the statement that you made integrating irrational mental processes? |
| 1:09:34 | To what extent are you compromising if you vote for a candidate who you regard as imperfect and who has many evils? Aren’t you supporting those evils when you do? |
| 1:13:41 | To what kind of audience is your book targeted? |
| 1:15:58 | Is it possible to write two books in parallel? |
| 1:16:23 | What children’s books are you, or will you be, reading to your daughter? |
| 1:17:25 | How are sales of The Ominous Parallels going? |
| 1:18:35 | I noticed that you put a topic—certainty—on the brochure that you didn’t comment on. |
| 1:24:48 | What’s wrong with the attitude of a king or president who would say “the system will last as long as I do” and “let my successors worry about it”? |