[Lecture Eleven] Objectivism Through Induction
by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
Total Time: 1 hour, 24 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: This lecture deals with the idea of the arbitrary as neither true nor false. It reviews the types of claims and how they can be categorized as well as reviewing how one should treat these claims.
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 do we have to start our understanding of the arbitrary with the generalized observation that some ideas have a basis? What does this mean about the concept? |
| Provide three original examples of statements with a basis and three without. |
| Why is it not self-evident that a claim is baseless? |
| When does a series of statements become a basis for believing a claim? What factors would apply? |
| Why is it not actually possible to refute an arbitrary claim? |
| What part of someone making an arbitrary claim can be reasoned about? |
| Explain the difference between being unable to think about a specific topic and mental paralysis as a result of arbitrary claims. |
| How is rejecting the arbitrary without thought actually protecting your need to think? |
| Why is simply asking someone “why” they are asking a question a method to determine whether it is arbitrary or not? |
Q&A Guide
Below is a list of questions from the audience taken from this lecture, along with (approximate) time stamps.
| 50:39 | Could you tell the story you mentioned involving Ayn Rand and the arbitrary? |