[Lecture Seven] The Art of Thinking

by Dr. Leonard Peikoff

Total Time: 1 hour, 53 minutes

Course summary: In this course Dr. Peikoff explains what happens in the mind when one thinks and offers a structure for how to get better at thinking. He applies the key principles of Objectivist epistemology to everyday thinking. The course explains the mental process of changing one’s mind, the role of integration and essentialization in proper thinking, and the application of thinking in principle and what certainty means. Read more »

In this lecture: Dr. Peikoff reviews the differences between the thinking tools he described in earlier lectures and the issues that arise in writing. He highlights eight issues that arise only when one is writing and not just thinking about a topic. Using examples submitted by students in the course, he concretizes the application of his guidance to real letters to the editor.

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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.

Using a piece of your own writing, work through the tips and guidance that Dr. Peikoff highlights.

Q&A Guide

Below is a list of questions from the audience taken from this lecture, along with (approximate) time stamps.

1:47:45	In meeting and talking to people about how they got into Objectivism, I’ve encountered many cases where the person read Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead and said to himself “wow, I never realized there were others who thought that way.” These people from an early age had certain positive values and very often these were not held by their family or teachers or taught to them. Can you explain this phenomenon?
1:49:01	Should you edit your own work as if someone else wrote it? How do you edit someone else’s writing?
1:50:17	What’s the difference between an “essence” and a “fundamental”?
1:50:30	Could you, by going to essentials, describe how to respond to someone who says that Objectivism sounds like a cult?
1:52:14	Do you have any suggestions on how to get essentials across to readers and still have enough substance in short written pieces such as op-eds and letters to the editor?