DOCSLIB.ORG

ARI Receives Record Donation at Summer Conference

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Volume 14, Number 8, August 2008 ARI Receives Record Donation at Summer Conference he Ayn Rand Institute received the largest program; the annual high school essay contests; University of Pittsburgh under its Fellowship for Tsingle donation in its history at this year’s campus activities and selected OAC programs; and the Study of Objectivism; John McCaskey, chair- summer conference. An anonymous donor grants and mentorship to support the careers of man of the board of the Anthem Foundation for contributed $1,000,001—surpassing the previous both new and established Objectivist academics. Objectivism Scholarship; and Tara Smith, professor record of $1,000,000. The news was the highlight of a conference of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. “This contribution will be an adrenaline shot overflowing with highlights. The event was moderated by Debi Ghate, ARI vice for cultural change,” said Yaron Brook, ARI’s exec- Outstanding Attendance. For years Objectiv- president of Academic programs. utive director. “We are at a crucial point in history ist conferences have attracted about three hundred The panelists commented on Objectivism’s —the next twenty years will decide what effect Objectivism has on this country’s direction. If we are to have a real impact, we need the resources necessary to spread rational ideas. This contribution is a huge step in that direction.” The contribution will be dedicated to support- ing the programs within the “education funnel” (ARI’s strategy for developing New Intellectuals) in most need of funding. The contribution will be distributed to support the Free Books to Teachers Academic panel featuring (left to right): Debi Ghate, John McCaskey, Yaron Brook, Allan Gotthelf, John Allison and Tara Smith attendees. But for the past two years that number has progress over the last year within academia, and greatly increased. This year the total was 469, the discussed strategies to extend that progress in the second largest number of conference attendees ever. years ahead. Academic Panel. A regular feature of the sum- Dr. McCaskey announced the reorganization mer conference is the academic panel ARI assem- of the Anthem Foundation. As noted in the July bles to discuss the current state of Objectivism in issue of Impact, Dr. McCaskey will no longer academia—and, as in past years, it was one of the oversee day-to-day operations of the Anthem most inspiring presentations of the conference. Foundation; it has hired Ms. Ghate as its new part- Attendees at the opening reception of Objectivist Summer Conference 2008 This year’s panel comprised Dr. Brook; John time senior director. Allison, chairman and CEO of BB&T Corpora- Ms. Ghate announced Anthem’s latest New Book on Ayn Rand tion; Allan Gotthelf, a visiting professor at the continued on page 2 Announced Ayn Rand Center Launches Web Site llan Gotthelf and Greg Salmieri are editing mpact is pleased to announce the launch of a listing of local community groups A a multi-author volume on Ayn Rand, to be Inew Web site, www.aynrandcenter.org, dedi- • three complete essays by Ayn Rand published by Blackwell Publishing, Oxford (UK). cated to the work of its new public outreach and never before available online: “Man’s Ayn Rand: A Companion to Her Works and media center. The Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights,” “Collectivized ‘Rights’” and Thought (forthcoming) will cover Ayn Rand’s Rights, which recently opened in Washington, “The Nature of Government” body of work, including her novels, her non- D.C., promotes the philosophical case for individ- • two new statements from ARI writers, fiction, and her thought from metaphysics and ual rights and laissez-faire capitalism to the public “Why Individual Rights?” and “What epistemology to her esthetics and her commen- policy and business communities, the media and We Stand For” tary on the political trends of her time. the general public. “The function of this volume,” said Drs. Gott- The Ayn Rand ARI has also helf and Salmieri, in a brief statement, “is to faci- Center’s Web site completed a rede- litate the study of Ayn Rand by the increasing features topical sign of its Web site number of non-Objectivists—many in academia— categories that (www.aynrand.org). who are beginning to take a serious interest in makes it easier The site’s new look understanding her. A typical chapter will address a than ever to locate reflects a reorga- single area of her thought, drawing on her fiction relevant ARI nization designed and nonfiction, to bring out her essential ideas and commentaries to increase ease their relation to her thought as a whole.” and materials by of navigation. The The chapters will be written individually Ayn Rand and site has also been or jointly by sixteen authors: Gotthelf and other authors. supplemented with Salmieri, Michael Berliner, Harry Binswanger, Commentary is many new pages of Tore Boeckmann, Onkar Ghate, Lester Hunt, broken up into five written, audio and James Lennox, Robert Mayhew, Shoshana main categories: Screen capture of the Web site of the new Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights video content. Milgram, Fred Miller, Adam Mossoff, Jason Government & Policy, Business & Economics, For instance, the Books and Ideas section Rheins, Tara Smith, Robert Tarr and Darryl Foreign Policy, Science & Environmentalism and contains newly written descriptions of all of Wright. The editors are working with the Culture. Each of these categories is broken up into Ayn Rand’s works. In the coming months, it will authors to ensure a highly integrated volume. a number of subcategories. also grow to include an expanded description of Dr. Gotthelf is a visiting professor at the The site also features significant new content, Ayn Rand’s philosophy. In addition, there is now a University of Pittsburgh under its Fellowship for including: new series of pages that provide guidance for stu- the Study of Objectivism. Dr. Salmieri, who just dents interested in pursuing careers in academia. completed his PhD at the University of Pittsburgh, • information on how to support ARI’s “The Web is an increasingly important tool for will be a visiting assistant professor this year at the activities through personal activism promoting Objectivism,” said Dr. Brook. “These University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. • information on how to start your own latest developments will help us take advantage of The expected publication date is 2010. Objectivist community group, and a this powerful avenue for changing the culture.” ARI Exhibits at Debate Conference RI recently exhibited at the National Forensic ALeague’s Annual Debating Championship in Las Vegas. The event took place over the course of five days, and gave two thousand students from across the country the opportunity to compete for national debate titles. “This event gave us a unique opportunity to ers, but to sacrifice oneself to them, altruism has a talk face to face with some of the country’s most The Inhumanity of vested interest in making men view others as help- intelligent high school students,” said Marilee less pawns in constant need of saving. Men are led Dragsdahl, manager of ARI’s Education depart- Altruism to believe that the choice is (a) self-sacrificially ment. “Our goal was to show them that Ayn jumping into rivers (or furnaces) for others, or (b) Rand’s unique perspective on intellectual issues Each month Impact suggests readings and other callously watching them drown. This vicious false can help them make compelling arguments—and resources for fans of Ayn Rand’s fiction who wish alternative erases the possibility of benevolent, hopefully get them to think more about her ideas to learn more about her philosophy, Objectivism. non-sacrificial relationships. in the future.” According to Ayn Rand, “[Altruism] has indoc- § Introducing Objectivism nter any Ethics 101 class and one is likely trinated men with the idea that to value another At a sales conference at Random House, By Ayn Rand preceding the publication of one of the book salesmen asked me whether I could present the essenceAtlas of my Shrugged philosophy , If you want this translated into simple language, it would while standing on one foot. I did as follows: read: 1. “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed” or “Wishing won’t make it so.” 2. “You can’t eat your cake and 1. Metaphysics have it, too.” 3. “Man is an end in himself.” 4. “Give me liberty to be bombarded with questions such as, human being is an act of selflessness, thus implying 2. Epistemology: Objective Reality or give me death.” 3. : Reason Ethics: Self-interest If you held these concepts with total consistency, as the base 4. Politics: Capitalism of your convictions, you would have a full philosophical system E to guide the course of your life. But to hold them with total consistency—to understand, to defi ne, to prove and to apply them—requires volumes of thought. Which is why philosophy “Should you help a person trapped in a fire?” that a man can have no personal interest in others— cannot be discussed while standing on one foot—nor while standing on two feet on both sides of every fence. This last is the predominant philosophical position today, particularly in the fi eld of politics. Man’s Rights My philosophy, Objectivism, holds that: 1. Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, Or, “Should you dive into treacherous waters to that to value another means to sacrifice oneself— independent of man’s feelings, wishes, hopes or fears. 2. Reason (the faculty which identifi es and integrates the material provided by man’s senses) is man’s only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.
Recommended publications
  • Will Ayn Rand Disciple Greenspan Repudiate Genocidalist Brook?

    Will Ayn Rand Disciple Greenspan Repudiate Genocidalist Brook?

    Click here for Full Issue of EIR Volume 33, Number 44, November 3, 2006 Will Ayn Rand Disciple Greenspan Repudiate Genocidalist Brook? The ongoing speaking tour by Yaron Brook, head of the Ayn with which he embraced her plans. Rand Institute, in which he calls for the mass murder of hun- Rand made of this what she called a philosophy, a straight dreds of thousands of Muslims as a means of “fighting extrem- plagiarization of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, in which ism,” has raised the question of where the most prominent man is just another animal, a creature of pleasure or pain. disciple of Ayn Rand in the United States stands on this issue. Thus, his “moral” duty is to seek his personal pleasure without That disciple is Alan Greenspan, former head of the Federal regard for society, leading Rand to write such tracts as The Reserve, and the man increasingly excoriated internationally Virtue of Selfishness. St. Paul’s credo of agapic love of hu- as responsible for the most destructive set of financial bubbles manity was the dirtiest of lies, she wrote. in history. Will Greenspan repudiate the openly genocidal “A is A. Facts are facts,” she repeated after Aristotle, calls of his fellow Ayn Randist, Yaron Brook? “and the only task of man’s consciousness is to perceive real- Lyndon LaRouche has urged that associates of Green- ity, not to create or invent it.” Man merely receives sensory span, or others, ask him that question. Unfortunately, given perceptions from the “objective” outside world, as do the the murderous nature of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, which other animals.
  • Originalism, Vintage Or Nouveau: “He Said, She Said” Law

    Originalism, Vintage Or Nouveau: “He Said, She Said” Law

    Fordham Law Review Volume 82 Issue 2 Article 10 2013 Originalism, Vintage or Nouveau: “He Said, She Said” Law Tara Smith University of Texas at Austin Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Tara Smith, Originalism, Vintage or Nouveau: “He Said, She Said” Law, 82 Fordham L. Rev. 619 (2013). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol82/iss2/10 This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Law Review by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ORIGINALISM, VINTAGE OR NOUVEAU: “HE SAID, SHE SAID” LAW Tara Smith* INTRODUCTION: AN OVERVIEW OF ORIGINALISM’S BASIC FAILURE I begin with a brief overview of originalism’s central failings. I then consider three lines of defense that help to explain its resilient appeal and proceed to critique those three lines of reasoning. Through its various incarnations, I contend, originalism is guilty of a fatal contradiction. Law represents coercion. A legal system governs by force; that is the tool that gives teeth to its rules. I say this not as an indictment of law or of government; it is simply a fact—a fact that is significant to the proper conduct of judicial review. A legal system also works by words, which state the authority that it does and does not possess and how its coercive power will be used.
  • Ayn Rand? Ayn Rand Ayn

    Ayn Rand? Ayn Rand Ayn

    Who Is Ayn Rand? Ayn Rand Few 20th century intellectuals have been as influential—and controversial— as the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand. Her thinking still has a profound impact, particularly on those who come to it through her novels, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead—with their core messages of individualism, self-worth, and the right to live without the impositions of others. Although ignored or scorned by some academics, traditionalists, pro- gressives, and public intellectuals, her thought remains a major influence on Ayn Rand many of the world’s leading legislators, policy advisers, economists, entre- preneurs, and investors. INTRODUCTION AN Why does Rand’s work remain so influential? Ayn Rand: An Introduction illuminates Rand’s importance, detailing her understanding of reality and human nature, and explores the ongoing fascination with and debates about her conclusions on knowledge, morality, politics, economics, government, AN INTRODUCTION public issues, aesthetics and literature. The book also places these in the context of her life and times, showing how revolutionary they were, and how they have influenced and continue to impact public policy debates. EAMONN BUTLER is director of the Adam Smith Institute, a leading think tank in the UK. He holds degrees in economics and psychology, a PhD in philosophy, and an honorary DLitt. A former winner of the Freedom Medal of Freedom’s Foundation at Valley Forge and the UK National Free Enterprise Award, Eamonn is currently secretary of the Mont Pelerin Society. Butler is the author of many books, including introductions on the pioneering economists Eamonn Butler Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, F.
  • Reckless Caution: the Perils of Judicial Minimalism

    Reckless Caution: the Perils of Judicial Minimalism

    RECKLESS CAUTION: THE PERILS OF JUDICIAL MINIMALISM Tara Smith* ABSTRACT Judicial Minimalism is the increasingly popular view that judges decide cases properly to the extent that they minimize their own imprint on the law by meticulously assessing “one case at a time,” ruling on narrow and shallow grounds, eschewing broader theories, and altering entrenched legal practices only incremen- tally. Minimalism’s ascendancy across the political spectrum, be- ing embraced by advocates of both right-wing and left-wing ide- ologies, is touted as a sign of its appropriate value-neutrality. This paper argues that such sought-after neutrality is, in fact, untenable. While others have objected to some of Minimalism’s specific tenets, critics have missed its more fundamental failing: it is an incoherent concept. On analysis, Minimalism’s several planks and rationales prove mutually contradictory and, corre- spondingly, offer conflicting guidance to judges. Thus the reason that Minimalism can appeal to people of such disparate substan- tive views is that in practice, it is merely a placeholder invoked to * Many people have offered helpful discussion of the ideas developed in this paper or feedback on earlier drafts. I am grateful to audiences at Oxford’s Uehiro Center and the University of Virginia, and in particular to Tom Bowden, Onkar Ghate, Wesley Hottot, Loren Lomasky, Al Martinich, Matt Miller, Adam Mossoff, Matt O’Brien, Greg Salmieri, Julian Savulescu, John Simmons, and Kevin Stuart. 347 348 New York University Journal of Law & Liberty [Vol. 5:347 sanction a grab-bag of desiderata rather than a distinctive method of decision-making that offers genuine guidance.
  • GENERAL SESSIONS the METAPHYSICS of CONSCIOUSNESS: the What and the How of Cognition (3 Lectures) Harry Binswanger

    GENERAL SESSIONS the METAPHYSICS of CONSCIOUSNESS: the What and the How of Cognition (3 Lectures) Harry Binswanger

    - ' SECOND I RENAISSANCE CONFERENCES H PRESENTS I ~IDEAS FOR THE RATIONAL MIND Ill" I A PHILOSOPHICAL CONFERENCE I JUNE 28 TO JULY 11, 1998 THE NASHUA MARRIOTT NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE Dear Reader: there is no charge for parking. SECOND RENAISSANCE CONFERENCES is New Hampshire is noted for its tax-free shopping, proud to announce a philosophical conference featur­ and there are several large shopping malls within a ing new and exciting lectures on epistemology by Dr. ten-minute drive of the hotel. The proximity to his­ Harry Binswanger. Detailed descriptions of these and toric Boston will allow conferees to attend the city's other lectures, courses, and faculty follow, so let me renowned Independence Day celebrations (with the tell you something about the conference venue. Boston Pops concert and traditional fireworks) and The Nashua Marriott is a first-class hotel situated enjoy the city's many historic, cultural, and culinary in the rolling hills of southern New Hampshire, about attractions. 44 miles northwest of Boston. The scenic White Moun­ I'm sure you will appreciate the intellectual content tains and New Hampshire's Atlantic coast are both of the conference and enjoy the accommodations of about an hour's drive away. the hotel. Come and experience the joy of meeting The hotel offers numerous amenities, including an people who share your values. I hope you will attend, indoor pool, outdoor sundeck, fitness center, wooded and I look forward to seeing you. jogging trail, and volleyball and basketball courts. In­ room amenities include hair dryer, iron/ironing board, ~s~ voice-mail, PC dataport, and on-command movies (for a small charge).
  • Return of Organization Exempt from Income

    Return of Organization Exempt from Income

    lefile GRAPHIC print - DO NOT PROCESS I As Filed Data - I DLN: 934930400166361 990 Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax OMB No 1545-0047 Form Under section 501 (c), 527, or 4947 ( a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code ( except private foundations) 201 4 Department of the Treasury Do not enter social security numbers on this form as it may be made public Internal Revenue Service 1-Information about Form 990 and its instructions is at www.IRS.gov/form990 A For the 2014 calendar year, or tax year beginning 10-01-2014 , and ending 09-30-2015 C Name of organization B Check if applicable D Employer identification number The Ayn Rand Institute The Center for F Address change The Advancement of Objectivism 22-2570926 F Name change Doing business as 1 Initial return E Telephone number Final Number and street (or P 0 box if mail is not delivered to street address) Room/suite 2121 Alton Parkway Suite 250 1 return/terminated (949) 222-6550 1 Amended return City or town, state or province, country, and ZIP or foreign postal code Irvine, CA 92606 G Gross receipts $ 10,985,878 1 Application pending F Name and address of principal officer H(a) Is this a group return for Yaron Brook subordinates? fl Yes F No 2121 Alton Parkway Suite 250 Irvine, CA 92606 H(b) Are all subordinates (-Yes F No included? I Tax-exempt status F 501(c)(3) 1 501(c) ( ) I (insert no ) (- 4947(a)(1) or F_ 527 If "No," attach a list (see instructions) J Website : - www aynrand org H(c) Group exemption number 0- K Form of organization F Corporation 1 Trust F_ Association (- Other 0- L Year of formation 1984 M State of legal domicile PA Summary 1 Briefly describe the organization's mission or most significant activities To increase readership and understanding of Ayn Rand's works and to find and train the new intellectuals to teach her philosophy of objectivism w 2 Check this box if the organization discontinued its operations or disposed of more than 25% of its net assets 3 Number of voting members of the governing body (Part VI, line 1a) .
  • How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government Yaron Brook, Don

    How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government Yaron Brook, Don

    Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand'S Ideas Can End Big Government Yaron Brook, Don Watkins - book free by Yaron Brook, Don Watkins Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government, Read Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government Books Online Free, Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government Yaron Brook, Don Watkins pdf, Yaron Brook, Don Watkins epub Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government, read online free Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government, Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government Full Download, read online free Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government, Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government Full Collection, Read Best Book Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government Online, Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government pdf read online, Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government Full Download, pdf Yaron Brook, Don Watkins Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government, Read Online Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government E-Books, Read Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government Full Collection Yaron Brook, Don Watkins, Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government Download PDF, Download Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government PDF, Free
  • Training the Next Generation

    Training the Next Generation

    Newsletterof the Ayn Rand@Institute Volume6, Number 4, April 2OO0 Training the Next Generation Since 1995, ARI's undergraduate course on Objectivism: The asked to submit assignments-have included students from Philosophy of Ayn Rand (UPAR) has offered students compre- other disciplines as well as individuals well advanced in their hensive, systematic training in Objectivism-training available careers as lawyers, software engineers, physicists, architects, nowhere else. As the prerequisite course for the Objectivist teachers, businessmen. UPAR helps such individuals develop Graduate Center, UPAR is our means of finding and encour- their ability to think in essentials and to apply philosophy in aging new intellectuals. But UPAR alumni are not the only their own lives and professions. ones to benefit; teaching the course has helped sharpen the UPAR is two academic semestersof 15 weeks each. Stu- skills of the instructors too. dents attend classesby dialing in to ARI's teleconferencing sys- UPAR essentializes the key ideas of Objectlvism, integrates tem, which allows two-way communication between all the those ideas into their broader philosophic context, and con- participants. Thanks to inexpensive long-distance telephone cretizes their real-life personal importance. Students read Dr. rates, students from as far away as Australia and Israel have Peikoff 's Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, the course been able to attend UPAR. (We are working to develop on-line textbook, and attend weekly lectures that help illumlnate the video courses.) practical, concrete application of philosophy in the students' This year Dr. Harry Binswanger shares the teaching of lives. UPAR with Dr. Onkar Ghate, who will teach the course alone "By emphasizing how the philosophy is lntegrated-week next year.
  • “The Experience of Flying”: the Rand Dogma and Its Literary Vehicle Camille Bond Submitted in the Partial Fulfillment Of

    “The Experience of Flying”: the Rand Dogma and Its Literary Vehicle Camille Bond Submitted in the Partial Fulfillment Of

    “The Experience of Flying”: The Rand Dogma and its Literary Vehicle Camille Bond Submitted in the Partial Fulfillment of the Prerequisite for Honors in English April 2017 © 2017 Camille Bond The greatest victory is that which requires no battle. Sun Tzu, The Art of War ​ CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: 2 WHY STUDY RAND? CHAPTER ONE: 8 ON THE FOUNTAINHEAD AND CHARACTER ​ ​ CHAPTER TWO: 39 ON ATLAS SHRUGGED AND PLOT ​ ​ CONCLUSION 70 WORKS CITED 71 Bond 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To Bill Cain: Thank you for taking this project under your wing! I could not have asked for a more helpful advisor on what has turned out to be one of the most satisfying journeys of my life. To James Noggle and Jimmy Wallenstein: Thank you for your keen suggestions and advice, which brought new contexts and a clearer direction to this project. To Adam Weiner: Thank you for your assistance, and for the inspiration that How Bad Writing ​ Destroyed the World provided. ​ And to my family: Thank you for your support and encouragement, and for making this project possible. Bond 2 INTRODUCTION: WHY STUDY RAND? Very understandably, I have been asked the question “Why would you study Ayn Rand?” dozens of times since I undertook this project over the summer of 2016. In a decidedly liberal community, Rand’s name alone invokes hostility and disgust; even my past self would have been puzzled to learn that she would go on to spend a year of her life engaging academically with Rand’s work. Many of Rand’s ideas are morally repulsive; it can be physically difficult to read her fiction.
  • The Moral CASE for Capitalism

    The Moral CASE for Capitalism

    the May 2007 / Volume 3, Issue 4 / the-undercurrent.com Undercurrent “It was as if an underground stream flowed through the country and broke out in sudden springs that shot to the surface at random, in unpredictable places.” Ayn Rand INSIDE THE MORAL case THIS ISSUE Freedom of Speech: foR caPitaLism An Interview with Dr. Achieving the good requires protecting freedom, Onkar Ghate not enforcing sacrifice. page 3 by Noah Stahl In Defense of Income It is widely acknowledged that capitalist countries are the most successful at Inequality creating wealth and raising their citizens’ overall standard of living. People page 7 who live in such countries enjoy access to bigger homes, better-trained doctors, more advanced technology, and higher paying jobs. By contrast, those living under collectivist systems like the European welfare states often Atlas Shrugged Essay endure long waits for poorer quality medical help and have far less choice in the things they buy and less money to buy them with. Studies like the Index of Economic Contest Freedom consistently find that higher measures of economic liberty correlate strongly with better page 7 standards of living: the freer people are, the richer they become. But in spite of all this, capitalism is criticized. Its detractors complain that it creates an unjust divide between rich and poor—or that employers don’t pay employees their rightful due—or that Speakers, Events, and the poor are “denied access” to basic needs like education, medical care, and retirement income. Meetings Even though the poor in capitalist countries enjoy far greater resources and opportunities than their counterparts in collectivist nations, critics denounce capitalism for allowing some people to page 8 (Continued on Page 2) OBJECTIVISM The Undercurrent’s cultural commentary Campus Commentary On Free Speech is based on Ayn Rand’s philosophy, University Mission Statements: False Objectivism.
  • THE MYTH ABOUT AYN RAND and SOCIAL SECURITY by Onkar Ghate | June 19, 2014

    THE MYTH ABOUT AYN RAND and SOCIAL SECURITY by Onkar Ghate | June 19, 2014

    GOVERNMENT & BUSINESS INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS SHARE THE MYTH ABOUT AYN RAND AND SOCIAL SECURITY by Onkar Ghate | June 19, 2014 You know your critics are desperate when they accuse you of hypocrisy without bothering to investigate your stated principles. The desperation is especially palpable if you’ve explained how those principles apply to the very action you’re being criticized for. So it is with Ayn Rand and Social Security. When fans voice her moral critique of the welfare state, many opponents respond by attacking her. She collected Social Security, they say, even though she opposed the program’s very existence. What a hypocrite! But what a gift, because she’s shown that her philosophy is unlivable. Case closed. If only real thinking were this easy. From the archival evidence I’ve seen, Rand did collect Social Security. But isn’t it relevant that Rand argued in printfor the consistency of this position, a fact any informed critic should know? We might end up disagreeing with Rand’s analysis, but doesn’t plain decency require that we first examine it? So let’s do that. Rand morally opposes the welfare state because she’s an unwavering advocate of the individual’s moral right to his life, his liberty, his earned property, and the pursuit of his own happiness. She viewed America as putting an end to the idea that the individual must live for king, neighbor or pope. For the first time in history the individual was declared free to live for himself. It was not handouts or entitlement programs that the millions of individuals who came to America’s shores sought, but freedom.
  • Nietzsche: the Myth and Its Method Fred Seddon

    Nietzsche: the Myth and Its Method Fred Seddon

    Reason Papers Articles Nietzsche: The Myth and Its Method Fred Seddon As the number of Objectivist oriented academic philosophers continues to increase, the lenses under which the philosophy will be examined will undoubtedly grow more powerful. Likewise, Objectivist scholarship will become rigorously more intensive; forgoing the entertaining broadside for the well documented and exacting examination. As examples of this development, witness David Kelley's ate Evidence of the Senses and Allan Gotthelf s and James Lennox's anthology Philosophical Issues in Aristotle's Biology, to name but two recent efforts. I wish I could include John Ridpath's article "Nietzsche and Individualism," printed in Vol. 7, ##1 and 2 of the now defunct The Objectivist Forum, as another instance of this trend, but alas, I cannot. The reasons for my reservations constitute the body of this essay. What follows is divided into three parts: (1) a recapitulation of Ridpath's exposition of Nietzsche's philosophy along with a running commentary suggesting alternative interpretations, (2) a short catalogue of Ridpath's errors of scholarship, and (3) a short list of reasons for devoting time to the study of Nietzsche's thought. Exposition Why did Ridpath choose to author an article on Nietzsche? It was, Ridpath tells us, in an effort to ascertain whether Nietzsche is on the side of individualism. The purpose of this article is to examine Nietzsche's philosophy in order to ascertain which side Nietzsche is really on. Based on a study of the complete corpus of Nietzsche's works, this article will present Nietzsche's general philosophical outlook and then use this as the context for understanding his social views, and for judging whether or not he is a defender of individualism.