Objectivism 101

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Objectivism 101

• 14th Annual Summer Seminar
• of
• The Objectivist Center
• Diana Mertz Hsieh
• Lecture One Ayn Rand and Philosophy
• Sunday, June 29, 2003

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Objectivism 101 Schedule

1. Sunday Ayn Rand and Philosophy
2. Monday Reality and Reason
3. Tuesday Life and Happiness
4. Wednesday The Virtues
5. Thursday Individual Rights and Capitalism
6. Friday Art as Spiritual Fuel

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Childhood in Russia

• Born in St. Petersburg in 1905
• Decided to become a writer at age 9
• Witnessed the Communist Revolution first-hand
• Studied history and philosophy at U of Petrograd
• Escaped Russia for Chicago in 1926

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Struggling in Hollywood

• Moved to Hollywood to work as a screenwriter
• Chance meeting with Cecil de Mille intermittent
  work
• Met and married Frank OConnor
• The Early Ayn Rand
• We The Living (1936)
• Anthem (1938 UK, 1945 US)

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The Fountainhead

• Writing begins in 1938 published in 1943
• Five lives Peter Keating, Dominique Françon,
  Gail Wynand, Ellsworth Toohey, and Howard Roark
• The Fountainhead is a confirmation of the spirit
  of youth, proclaiming man's glory, showing how
  much is possible.
• Ayn Rand, Introduction, The Fountainhead

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Atlas Shrugged

• Began in 1945 published in 1957
• Moved to NYC in 1951
• Epic mystery Who is draining the world of men of
  ability? Who is John Galt?
• The heroism of production and creation made real
  in the characters of Dagny, Hank, Francisco, and
  John.

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From Fiction to Philosophy

• The motive and purpose of my writing is the
  projection of an ideal man
• Since my purpose is the presentation of an ideal
  man, I had to define and present the conditions
  which make him possible and which his existence
  requires
• Ayn Rand, The Goal of My Writing

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Essence of Objectivism

• My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man
  as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the
  moral purpose of his life, with productive
  achievement as his noblest activity, and reason
  as his only absolute.
• Ayn Rand, About the Author, Atlas Shrugged

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Philosophy in New York

• Friendship and collaboration with Nathaniel
  Branden
• Late night discussions of The Collective
• Nathaniel Branden Institute
• Writing and lecturing on philosophy
• The Objectivist Newsletter and The Objectivist

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Books on Philosophy

• For the New Intellectual (1961)
• The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)
• Capitalism The Unknown Ideal (1966)
• Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (1967)
• The Romantic Manifesto (1969)
• The New Left / Return of the Primitive (1971)
• Philosophy Who Needs It (1982)
• The Voice of Reason (1989)

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Insight, Intensity, Principles

• From the moment we started talking, she was
  vibrant, alert, alive. She listened intently to
  my words, she extracted every drop of meaning and
  of confusion, and then she answered. She spoke at
  length, first considering the question as I
  phrased it, then the deeper implications she saw
  in it. At each step, she explained what were the
  facts supporting her viewpoint, what kinds of
  objections might occur to me later if I pursued
  the topic, and what was the logical reply to
  them
• Leonard Peikoff, My Thirty Years With Ayn
  Rand

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An American Life

• Ayn Rand died in 1982 in New York City
• I chose to be an American
• An extraordinary life as an immigrant,
  screenwriter, novelist, and philosopher

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The Importance of Philosophy

• Who needs philosophy?
• The common view No one, really.
• Ayn Rands view Everyone!
• Philosophy Who Needs It concerns
• What philosophy is and what it studies
• Why philosophy is so important to life
• How philosophy should be studied

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The Fictional Astronaut

• An astronaut crash lands on an unknown planet
• His first three questions
• Where am I?
• How can I discover it?
• What should I do?
• Images from Tharsis Gallery (http//www.tharsisgal
  lery.com)

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The Branches of Philosophy

• Where am I?
• Metaphysics studies the basic nature of reality
• How can I discover it?
• Epistemology studies the nature and means of
  knowledge
• What should I do?
• Ethics defines the values and virtues that guide
  action
• How should I interact with others in society?
• Politics defines the principles of a proper
  social system
• What is the role of art in human life?
• Aesthetics studies the nature and purpose of art
• Also What is my nature as a human being?

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Definition of Philosophy

• Philosophy studies the fundamental nature of
  existence, of man, and of man's relationship to
  existence.
• Ayn Rand, Philosophy Who Needs It
• More simply Philosophy is our most basic view of
  the world and our place in it
• Philosophy is a deeply influential even
  inescapable force in human life

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The Influence of Philosophy

• Philosophy has a deep impact on our thinking,
  choices, and actions
• Philosophy influences institutions, science,
  economies, cultures, history, art, technology,
  and more!
• Religion is the most common form of philosophy
  it gives supernatural answers to the questions of
  philosophy

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Philosophy as Inescapable

• Everyone has a philosophy, whether they know it
  or not
• Any attempt to avoid philosophy endorses certain
  philosophical ideas
• We cannot choose whether to have a philosophy So
  what are our options in philosophy?

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Choice in Philosophy

• As a human being, you have no choice about the
  fact that you need a philosophy. Your only choice
  is whether you define your philosophy by a
  conscious, rational, disciplined process of
  thought and scrupulously logical deliberationor
  let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap of
  unwarranted conclusions, false generalizations,
  undefined contradictions, undigested slogans,
  unidentified wishes, doubts and fears, thrown
  together by chance, but integrated by your
  subconscious into a kind of mongrel philosophy
  and fused into a single, solid weight
  self-doubt, like a ball and chain in the place
  where your mind's wings should have grown.
• Ayn Rand, Philosophy Who Needs It

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Passive or Active Approach?

• Passive Approach Philosophical ideas are
  subconsciously absorbed from family, friends,
  religion, fiction, and culture
• Bad ideas are absorbed with the good
• Vulnerable to manipulation by others
• Active Approach Philosophical ideas are
  consciously investigated, adopted, and integrated
• Bad ideas are more easily identified and
  corrected
• Concern for meaning in life

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The Difficulty of Philosophy

• You might say, as many people do, that it is not
  easy always to act on abstract principles. No, it
  is not easy. But how much harder is it, to have
  to act on them without knowing what they are?
• Ayn Rand, Philosophy Who Needs It

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The Philosophical Detective

• The best way to study philosophy is to approach
  it as one approaches a detective story follow
  every trail, clue, and implication, in order to
  discover who is a murderer and who is a hero.
  The criterion of detection is two questions Why?
  And How? If a given tenet seems to be truewhy?
  If a tenet seems to be falsewhy? And how is it
  being put over? You will not find all the
  answers immediately, but you will acquire an
  invaluable characteristic the ability to think
  in terms of essentials.
• Ayn Rand, Philosophy Who Needs It

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Todays Topics

• Ayn Rands life and writings
• The essence of Objectivism
• The questions and issues of philosophy
• Philosophy as influential and inescapable
• Passive versus active approaches to philosophy
• How to be a philosophical detective