Philosophy and the Real World Out There
by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
Total Time: 1 hour, 29 minutes
In this indictment of modern philosophy, Dr. Leonard Peikoff contrasts the nature and purpose of rational philosophy—grasping and understanding “the world out there”—with the mental manipulation, language games, and irrationalism of modern philosophy.
Study Guide
This material is designed to help you digest the lecture content. You can also download a printable PDF version below.
| What is the state of philosophy today? |
| Why does contemporary philosophy reject reason and reality? |
| What is the primary approach of Kantian philosophy? |
| What is the difference between medieval versus Kantian skepticism? |
| Why did Kant create a complacent approach to the problem of reality? |
| What is the state of modern science relative to philosophy? |
| How is deconstructionism the logical end of modern philosophy? |
| What areas has this approach infected? |
| Why does this approach lead to pressure group politics? |
| How does pragmatism naturally result? |
Q&A Guide
Below is a list of questions from the audience taken from this lecture, along with (approximate) time stamps.
| 58:20 | What would be the proper response of President Bush to Saddam’s proposal to release the hostages in exchange for the withdrawal of American troops? |
| 1:08:50 | Isn’t the benevolent universe premise you closed your talk with a quaint illusion of the sort you railed against in your section on psychology? |
| 1:09:47 | Did the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane possibly portend the Rashidization of America that you spoke about two years earlier, and do you expect to see a spate of assassinations for pro-Israel viewpoints or maybe even abortion viewpoints? |
| 1:10:44 | I’ve been told that there’s growing interest in Realism and Aristotelianism in philosophy and that there’s a vital movement with Austrian economics that seems to be growing, that there are a number of books that denounce deconstructionism and the humanities departments in general. So aren’t these signs that positive is in fact occurring in addition to the destruction? |
| 1:11:40 | About two years ago in Pittsburgh, Vartan Gregorian, who was then (and is perhaps still now) the president of Brown University, was asked what he thought about the solution to the education problem. And his answer to this woman was “I’m not interested in causes. You can argue over causes. This is a national phenomenon and about the only thing I can see to be done is what people are doing now (this and that) and that’s all I can hope for.” Would you care to comment on that? Is that attitude common in education? |
| 1:14:37 | I want to know what the Objectivist viewpoint is on mandatory jury duty, and should there be a voluntary one, and would it work in large cities? And, if not, what is the alternative? |
| 1:16:35 | In your talk this evening you spoke disparagingly of the Medieval scholastics, and yet I know that both you and Miss Rand had much respect for Thomas Aquinas. My question is a) did you mean to include him in those scholastics and b) in your opinion, on a deeper level, how did someone like Thomas Aquinas, a towering intellect, a great logician, go wrong? Where and how? |
| 1:20:44 | I’m wondering if you’d comment on the sentencing of Michael Milken. |
| 1:22:33 | What advice would you have for an Objectivist who’s planning on becoming an educator in light of the fact that irrationality is advocated so much in our system, particularly at the college level? |
| 1:24:16 | What so you think “literal” and “figurative” mean? If you take Objectivism to its logical extreme, it seems to negate the subject. |
| 1:27:46 | The Supreme Court has more and more failed to protect individual property rights. What is your outlook for the individual’s pursuit of property rights and the protection of them? |