[Lecture Seven] Objectivism Through Induction
by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
Total Time: 1 hour, 31 minutes
Course summary: In this course, Dr. Peikoff demonstrates how to grasp philosophic ideas and principles in the same way that they were discovered—through induction from the facts of reality. Working through a process of generalizing from observed facts, Peikoff shows how a student can come to grasp and validate key ideas in Objectivist philosophy. Key concepts covered in the course include the idea of objectivity in both knowledge and values, egoism, reason as man’s means of survival, and the metaphysical status of sex. Read more »
In this lecture: In this lecture, Dr. Peikoff demonstrates the crucial inductive steps that Ayn Rand had to take to develop the concept of objectivity beyond what Aristotle achieved. He discusses the crucial role of measurement omission and the broader theory of concept formation in her development.
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.
| How did Ayn Rand’s modern perspective allow her to grasp more fully the role of order in knowledge as a step in understanding objectivity? |
| What role does the observation that knowledge is integrated play in the generalization about the structure of knowledge? |
| How does measurement in knowledge acquisition push forward the process? |
| Describe the inductive observations one would make to realize that consciousness has identity. |
| How did Ayn Rand approach the main questions of concept formation? |
| Explain the importance of the spiral theory of knowledge. |
| How does Ayn Rand’s theory of concept formation allow for a new perspective on the question of the objectivity of knowledge? In contrast to what other views? |
| Why does Rand’s use of “method” in place of “logic” in her definition matter? |
| What is the significance of Rand’s reformulation of objectivity? |
| How can we use the genus method here to differentiate this reformulation? |
Q&A Guide
Below is a list of questions from the audience taken from this lecture, along with (approximate) time stamps.
| 1:17:11 | I’m still trying to understand how your preliminary list of common sense values can be taken to be objectively valid. Would it be true to say that an honest valuer would necessarily choose a list based on the perceptual or emotional pleasure he has experienced or observed? |
| 1:21:54 | I want to understand whether I grasp what you said, that you don’t use induction in the process of concept formation. What about a concept like “justice”? In the lecture you got to the concept of justice, but not the principle. Would the principle be that engaging in such evaluations is important? |
| 1:24:43 | In the discussion of justice you used hypothetical instances. For instance, your discussion of good and bad children and good and bad schools. But is a hypothetical approach enough, or should we use actual instances we have observed, experienced, read about, or heard of? Is there an age factor in the answer? Do we have to get old before we get our act together? |
| 1:28:48 | A note to the questioner who claims that the Greek and early Americans were dishonest. |