Volume 16, Number 1, January 2010 Objectivist Summer We the Living and the World Today: Conference 2010 Speaker Lineup An Interview with Leonard Peikoff Impact is pleased to Dr. Leonard Peikoff was a stu- I have to add that in my Objectivist Summer 2010 Conference announce the speaker dent and friend of Ayn Rand’s opinion my new two-page lineup for Objectivist for more than thirty years. He introduction is the best thing Summer Conference is the author of The Ominous I’ve written in the category of 2010, which will be Parallels and Objectivism: brief commentary. The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, Impact: What do you Objectivist Conferences held in Las Vegas at the Red Rock Resort. the definitive presentation of say in the new introduction? July 2 through July 10, 2010 Red Rock Casino Resort Spa Ayn Rand’s philosophy. In Las Vegas, Nevada For conference LP: My purpose is to General Session Lectures (see pages 4–5) Optional Courses information, visit November Impact sat down establish that We the Liv- (see pages 6–9) TM Conferences for the rational mind www.objectivist with Dr. Peikoff to discuss the ing is totally current. My conferences.com. new trade edition of Ayn Rand’s first novel, We the thesis is that its essence is not a denunciation of Living, originally published in 1936. Dr. Peikoff Russian Communism, but of totalitarianism as worked with the publisher New American Library such—that it is not historical or concrete-bound, General Sessions on the design of the trade edition, and authored a but timeless and universal. To show this, I indi- Leonard Peikoff: The DIM Hypothesis (part 2); new introduction for the novel. Here we present cate, in a rapid sweep, that totalitarian regimes six lectures part one of this two-part interview. throughout history have shared the same essential Yaron Brook: Defending Capitalism attributes as Soviet Russia—and to suggest that David Harriman: The Inductive Method: IMPACT: Hello Dr. Peikoff. Thank you for meet- those attitudes are on the rise today in the West, An Epistemological Revolution ing with Impact to talk about the new edition of including the United States. Talbot Manvel: The Hoover Dam We the Living. To begin, why is this new edition Impact: Would you elaborate on that? important? LP: The timeless evil of totalitarianism Adam Mossoff: Intellectual Property Rights: LP: The new edition calls attention to a derives from two fundamental ideas: unreason and Securing the Values of the Mind novel that is highly relevant to today’s world. The self-sacrifice. Which amounts to: give up your public’s response to We the Living has been much mind, and thus lose any means of independent Optional Courses less than to her other novels. People look at the judgment; and give up your values, and thus lose flap copy and conclude that it’s a historical piece any independent purpose. If this is what people Eric Daniels: The Morality of Trade: merely about yesterday’s communist Russia, and come to accept, they’re ripe for a dictator to tell An Intellectual History they’re not interested. So, although the content of them: “OK, this is what to think and this is what Eric Dennis: Modern Physics and the novel is unchanged in this edition, we’ve given to value”; in other words, “now I control you in Objective Reality it a new cover and a new introduction by me. The thought and action, soul and body.” That is the Dina Schein Federman: Ayn Rand’s Other Literary repackaging, we think, will attract more readers. continued on page 3 Treasures: The Hal Wallis Screenplays Ray Girn: Moral Development in Education Diana Hsieh: Luck in the Pursuit of Life: Your 2009 Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest The Rational Egoist’s Approach to Luck Elan Journo: The Distinctiveness of an Egoistic Winner Is . Foreign Policy Andrew Lewis: The Renaissance (part 3): lizabeth Hong, of Amherst, character of Dagny Taggart,” she said. “There are Reformation and Religious Wars (1517–1648) E New York! Our winner few literary figures that can ignite the imagination won out over more than 4,000 as she did for me. I read some of the winning essays John David Lewis: A History of Ancient Greece: other entrants—a record num- from years past and they all loved to talk about Athens in the Fifth Century ber for the Atlas Shrugged Hank Rearden. Rearden is interesting to be sure, but Keith Lockitch: Writing Objectively contest—to win the $10,000 Dagny steals the show. To contrast her with Lillian Robert Mayhew: Ancient Greek Conceptions of grand prize. Now a first-year Rearden would be an insult if it were a mere matter Love: Aphrodite to St. Paul medical student at the Univer- of two women in conflict over the same man, but Shoshana Milgram: The Films of Howard Hawks: sity of Michigan, Miss Hong they both represent the main opposing forces in Integrity, Intelligence, Inspiration entered the Atlas Shrugged Atlas Shrugged from the unique position of being Greg Salmieri: Aristotle’s Theory of Knowledge essay contest in her last year as an undergraduate at almost the only female characters. Their respective Thomas Shoebotham: Music in the Twentieth State University of New York at Buffalo, where she relationships with Rearden yield a telling contrast Century: Some Highlights and Low Points double-majored in classics and biomedical sciences. that bridges the personal with the societal.” “This is an incredible honor,” said Miss Hong, This was the first ARI essay contest for C. Bradley Thompson: The Enlightenment and the who plans to put the money toward her medical Miss Hong, and her first reading of Atlas Shrugged. American Founding school expenses. “I am deeply grateful for those “I had been aware of the contest for some time,” Lisa VanDamme: Making Poetry Part of who still place enough value on ideas and the writ- she said, “but it wasn’t until my last semester of Your Life ten word to have funded this contest. In Homer, college that I decided to read Atlas Shrugged and Brian P. Simpson: Economics (part 2): The Price material goods were allotted to warriors as prizes to submit an essay. Not only would my eligibility soon System, Economic Coordination and the Division act as the tangible representation of their deeds and expire, but I couldn’t consider my undergraduate of Labor a perpetuation of their name, honor, and reputation. studies complete without reading this enormously In Atlas Shrugged, money is the tangible representa- influential work. I remember that being a hectic tion of one’s best effort traded for another’s. I have semester—I ended up reading Atlas Shrugged Dance Workshop offered my best effort in this contest, and I thank between Latin translations and studying for com- David Rehm: Introduction to the Lindy you for yours.” parative primate anatomy. It made a great impres- Miss Hong’s essay contrasted the characters of sion on me, and writing the essay provided an Dagny Taggart and Lillian Rearden. “I chose this opportunity to focus my thoughts and distill the core particular topic mainly because I was struck by the continued on page 4 Newly Designed Summer Internship Program at ARI RI is launching a newly designed internship Aprogram this summer that will provide bright and talented university students the unique oppor- tunity to spend three weeks studying and working at the Institute’s Irvine, California, office. The new design will allow more students to participate in favor of that which you don’t. while expanding the core components of the old “If you exchange a penny for a dollar, it is not program. These include one-on-one mentoring The Evil of Sacrifice a sacrifice; if you exchange a dollar for a penny, it with ARI staff intellectuals and an hourly salary is. If you achieve the career you wanted, after years Each month Impact suggests readings and other for all interns. of struggle, it is not a sacrifice; if you then renounce resources for fans of Ayn Rand’s fiction who wish “We’re pleased to offer this expanded pro- it for the sake of a rival, it is. If you own a bottle to learn more about her philosophy, Objectivism. gram,” said Debi Ghate, ARI vice president of of milk and give it to your starving child, it is not a Academic programs. “Applications for the intern- sacrifice; if you give it to your neighbor’s child and ship program increase each year, and we’ve been let your own die, it is. If you give money to help a n our culture sacrifice is regarded as the essence looking for the right way to grow this program. It’s friend, it is not a sacrifice; if you give it to a worth- of moral action, be it the man who gives up his unfortunate to have to turn away qualified students I less stranger, it is.” (“This Is John Galt Speaking”) life for a stranger’s or the Mother Teresa who sac- who want to spend their summer at ARI. We think One of the most vicious aspects of a morality of rifices hers to God. This is why one of Ayn Rand’s the new approach will be immensely beneficial for sacrifice is that it turns man away from morality as most controversial ideas is the notion that sacrifice the students and for the Institute’s long-term goal such. “The first thing [a man] learns is that morality is evil. of spreading Ayn Rand’s ideas in academia and the is his enemy: he has nothing to gain from it, he can Rand’s radical view of sacrifice stems from her culture.