| Type | Title | Author | Date |
| Op-ed | Ayn Rand at 100: The Moral Defense of Freedom | Edward Hudgins | 1/31/2005 |
| Description: A celebration of Ayn Rand on the centennial of her birth. |
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| Article | Freedom, Achievement, Individualism, Reason | William Thomas | 12/1/2004 |
| Description: The most essential aspects of Objectivism can be expressed in four basic values. To understand Objectivism as a system, one needs to grasp what these values are and how they fit together. |
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| Article | Honoring Ayn Rand | | 12/1/2004 |
| Description: Sixteen individuals—from the world of politics to the world of the academy, from the corporation to the think thank—pay homage to the philosopher and novelist on the one-hundredth anniversary of her birth. |
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| Article | Epistemology and Politics: Ayn Rand's Cultural Commentary | David Kelley | 12/1/2004 |
| Description: The events Rand wrote about are long past, the people long gone. Many of the issues and trends have disappeared off the rader screen. But her essays remain relevant today and her comments have staying power because she brought a philosophical perspective to bear. |
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| Article | Ayn Rand at 100 | Edward Hudgins | 12/1/2004 |
| Description: How do the most productive individuals, those who are responsible for a society’s prosperity, find themselves abused by politicians and dishonest businessmen and women? Ayn Rand sees the key in morality, and she coined the phrase that best describes the root of the problem: the sanction of the victim. |
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| Article | In Defense of Cowboy Capitalism | Roger Donway | 7/1/2004 |
| Description: Pro-capitalists need to offer a defense of big-business executives that is not undercut by libertinism, postmodern moral skepticism, religious morality, or utopian illusions. |
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| Miscellaneous | Sightings, June 2004 | | 6/1/2004 |
| Description: Ayn Rand, Homosexuality, and Human Liberation is published; Center Member tours with Disney; Journal of Ayn Rand Studies issues call for papers. |
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| Center News | Martin Anderson meets Ed Hudgins | | 6/1/2004 |
| Description: Martin Anderson, former advisor to President Reagan, meets with Ed Hudgins. |
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| Center News | Objectivism around the World | | 6/1/2004 |
| Description: Objectivism and Ayn Rand in India, Italy, Mexico and Turkey! |
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| Center News | Objectivism from the Source | | 6/1/2004 |
| Description: The Objectivist Center will hold a distance learning course from September 15 through December 1, 2004; learn about Objectivism from your home! |
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| Review | What Does Science Say about the Mind? | Robert Campbell | 6/1/2004 |
| Description: Owen Flanagan, author of The Problem of the Soul, has his heart in the right place. He wants to reject the religious view of the mind as an immaterial substance. But the scientific view, Flanagan insists, is a physicalist view and every experience is just a physical event. Despite that, Flanagan says that he believes mental processes are real. What does that mean for a physicalist? And what does it mean for free will? |
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| Article | The Problem of Animal Rights | Shawn Klein | 6/1/2004 |
| Description: Americans overwhelmingly support some degree of legal protection for animals, and a quarter of those polled say that animals should have the same rights as humans. What arguments have philosophers made in favor of such legislation and how well do those arguments hold up? Could a philosophy of law that started from a valid of theory of rights justify extending some protection to animals? |
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| FAQ | Why is Objectivism atheistic rather than agnostic? | Damian Moskovitz | 5/5/2004 |
| Description: Agnosticism, in the philosophical sense, holds that we should not reject anything that we have not disproved (particularly the claim that God exists). Because agnosticism refuses to reject arbitrary propositions, agnosticism is false. Agnosticism is wrong about how to approach claims that lack evidence. A proposition that is not supported by any evidence at all should be rejected not as false, but as arbitrary, and should not even be entertained as a hypothesis. The proposition that God exists is an example of an arbitrary proposition (see David Kelley, ''Is Objectivism Compatible with Religion?''). The burden of proof is on he who advances a claim—it is not the atheist’s responsibility to disprove the existence of God, whether or not it is possible to do so. |
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| Center News | TOC Reprints Unrugged Individualism | | 4/1/2004 |
| Description: The Objectivism Center has reprinted David Kelley’s Unrugged Individualism: The Selfish Basis of Benevolence. |
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| Center News | Kelley Will Present Epistemology Paper at Advanced Seminar | | 4/1/2004 |
| Description: A preview of the 6th annual Advanced Seminar in Objectivist Studies. |
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| Center News | TOC announces two new seminars | | 1/30/2004 |
| Description: TOC announces the Graduate Seminar in Objectivist Philosophy and Method to be held at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, July 31- Aug 7, 2004; and the Distance-Learning Seminar in Objectivism to be offered Fall 2004. |
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| Center News | A New Unrugged Individualism | | 12/1/2003 |
| Description: Announcing the publication of a revised edition of David Kelley's seminal tract Unrugged Individualism: The Selfish Basis of Benevolence. |
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| FAQ | What Is the Objectivist View of Free Will? | William Thomas | 12/1/2003 |
| Description: Thomas explains Objectivism's understanding that volition resides in the exercise of reason, demonstrates that our knowledge of volition's existence has axiomatic status in the hierarchy of knowledge, and shows that any attempt to deny the existence of free will is therefore self-refuting. |
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| Review | The Dogmatic Determinism of Daniel Dennett | Eyal Mozes | 12/1/2003 |
| Description: In Freedom Evolves, philosopher Daniel C. Dennett defends the view called "compatibilism," the idea that freedom of the will should be redefined so that it is compatible with determinism. Yet his entire project is motivated by one assumption that he refuses to give up: the assumption that causality is a relation between events. |
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| Perspectives | What Is the Objectivist View of Libertarianism? | David Kelley | 3/31/2003 |
| Description: William Thomas and David Kelley provide an answer to this frequently asked question in Navigator’s new feature: "The Essentials of Objectivism." |
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| FAQ | The Objectivist Center: for Objectivity and Independence | William Thomas | 12/10/2002 |
| Description: What are the differences between the Ayn Rand Institute and The Objectivist Center, and why you should choose TOC over ARI. |
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| FAQ | FAQ: Objectivism and Family | Malini Kochhar | 9/3/2002 |
| Description: What sort of relationship should a person have with his family? |
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| Center News | Objectivism Online: Beginning and Advanced | | 4/30/2002 |
| Description: Objectivist FAQs and the Logical Structure of Objectivism online. |
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| Center News | A New Objectivism Course Goes on Sale | | 4/30/2002 |
| Description: The Objectivism Store releases The Essence of Objectivism, a new introductory course on objectivism on Ayn Rand. |
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| Excerpt | Logical Structure of Objectivism | | 4/4/2002 |
| Description: The 1999 draft (beta) of The Logical Structure of Objectivism (LSO) by David Kelley and William Thomas. |
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| FAQ | FAQ: What is the Objectivist Position in Morality (Ethics)? | William Thomas | 3/15/2002 |
| Description: According to Objectivism, a person's own life and happiness is the ultimate good. To achieve happiness requires a morality of rational selfishness, one that does not give undeserved rewards to others and that does not ask them for oneself. |
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| FAQ | FAQ: What is the Objectivist Theory of Knowledge (Epistemology)? | William Thomas | 3/15/2002 |
| Description: Objectivism holds that all human knowledge is reached through reason, the human mental faculty of understanding the world abstractly and logically. Aristotle called man "the rational animal" because it is the faculty of reason that most distinguishes humans from other creatures. But we do not reason automatically. We are beings of free will and we are fallible. This is why we need the science of knowledge—epistemology—to teach us what knowledge is and how to achieve it. |
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| FAQ | FAQ: What does Objectivism Consider to be Art (Aesthetics) | William Thomas | 3/15/2002 |
| Description: Just as language is distinctively human, so is art. Every human society has imagined and recreated its world in stories and music, in pictures and sculpture, and in derivative forms of art such as theater and dance. In fact, art is a distinctively human institution because it fulfills a vital need of human consciousness. And aesthetic issues can be analyzed objectively, like any aspect of reality. |
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| FAQ | FAQ: What is the Objectivist View of Reality (Metaphysics)? | William Thomas | 3/15/2002 |
| Description: Objectivism holds that there is one reality, the one in which we live. It is self-evident that reality exists and is what it is: our job is to discover it. Objectivism stands against all forms of metaphysical relativism or idealism. It holds it as undeniable that humans have free will, and opposes metaphysical determinism or fatalism. More generally, it holds that there is no fundamental contradiction between the free, abstract character of mental life and the physical body in which it resides. And so it denies the existence of any "supernatural" or ineffable dimension for spirits or souls. |
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| FAQ | FAQ: What is the Objectivist View of Law and Government (Politics)? | William Thomas | 3/15/2002 |
| Description: The Objectivist political theory has three main elements, all of which draw upon the classical liberal political tradition. First, the foundation of the political system should be the fundamental right to live free from physical force. Second, government has the strictly limited function of protecting rights. Third, government power should be exercised in accordance with objective laws. Capitalism is the politico-economic system implied by these principles. |
|
| Article | Beyond Good and Bad | Roger Donway | 2/28/2002 |
| Description: The virtue of selfishness has become a tough sell. National honors are being bestowed on firefighters who died by the hundreds trying to save strangers; on young americans killed while protecting their country; and on airline passengers who heedlessly threw themselves on would-be hijackers. In this climate, it is harder to make the case for a morality that says,
'Maximize your chances for survival and reap the rewards. |
|
| FAQ | FAQ: Why is Objectivism a System of Ideas? | William Thomas | 2/8/2002 |
| Description: "I am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism; and I am not primarily an advocate of egoism, but of reason. If one recognizes the supremacy of reason and applies it consistently, all the rest follows."—Ayn Rand |
|
| FAQ | FAQ: What is a Philosophy? | William Thomas | 2/8/2002 |
| Description: A philosophy is a comprehensive system of ideas about human nature and the nature of the reality we live in. It is a guide for living, because the issues it addresses are basic and pervasive, determining the course we take in life and how we treat other people. |
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| FAQ | FAQ: What is Objectivism? | William Thomas | 2/8/2002 |
| Description: "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 |
|
| FAQ | FAQ: Why Does Anyone Need a Philosophy? | William Thomas | 2/8/2002 |
| Description: "You have no choice about the necessity to integrate your observations, your experiences, your knowledge into abstract ideas, i.e., into principles. Your only choice is whether these principles are true or false, whether they represent your conscious, rational convictions—or a grab-bag of notions snatched at random, whose sources, validity, and consequences you do not know, notions which, more often than not, you would drop like a hot potato if you knew." — Ayn Rand |
|
| FAQ | FAQ: Virtue of Selfishness | J. Raibley | 1/30/2002 |
| Description: What does Ayn Rand mean when she describes selfishness as a virtue? |
|
| FAQ | FAQ: Libertarianism and Objectivism | William Thomas | 1/11/2002 |
| Description: What are Objectivist views on Libertarianism, and what are the similarities and differences between the two? |
|
| FAQ | FAQ: Homosexuality | Damian Moskovitz | 1/5/2002 |
| Description: Damian Moskovitz answers the frequently asked question, Is it moral to be homosexual? and what is Objectivism's view of homosexuality? |
|
| FAQ | FAQ: Animal Rights | Damian Moskovitz | 1/5/2002 |
| Description: Damian Moskovitz answers the frequently asked questions, Do animals have rights? What is the Objectivist position on animal cruelty? What is the Objectivist position on vegetarianism? |
|
| FAQ | FAQ: Democracy | Damian Moskovitz | 1/5/2002 |
| Description: Damian Moskovitz and J. Raibley explain what the Objectivist view on democracy is. |
|
| FAQ | FAQ: Objectivism and Religion | David Kelley | 1/5/2002 |
| Description: David Kelley answers the frequently asked question, Is Objectivism compatible with religion? |
|
| Commentary | Position Statement on Terrorists Attacks | | 10/12/2001 |
| Description: The position of The Objectivist Center on the September 11 terrorist attack is outlined. |
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| Article | Objectivist Ethics in the Information-Age Economy | Nathaniel Branden | 2/1/2001 |
| Description: In a world of rapidly advancing technology, a capacity for independent thought is the quality employees need most. Because of that, says Nathaniel Branden, the virtues of Objectivism are becoming key factors in the workplace. In this article, Branden traces the history of work, and demonstrates how Objectivist ethics are used more than ever on the job. |
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| Review | What is Morality Good For? | Will Wilkinson | 7/1/2000 |
| Description: A review of Viable Values by Tara Smith. |
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| Article | Should Ayn Rand Have Been a Feminist? | Bryan Register | 3/1/2000 |
| Description: An examination of the relationship between Ayn Rand and feminism. |
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| Center News | Web Site Begins Q&A | | 12/1/1999 |
| Description: The launching of a new service to allow for submission of questions on how Objectivism might address particular issues. Answers are archived on the website. |
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| Center News | Objectivist Studies Flourishing at TOC | | 12/1/1999 |
| Description: Advancing Objectivism: the scholarship and research activities of The Objectivist Center staff: including the Effective Communication Workshop, Cyberseminar in Objectivist Studies, the Advanced Seminar, and the Objectivist Studies monograph series. |
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| Review | Academic Interpretations of Ayn Rand | William Thomas | 11/1/1999 |
| Description: A review of the first issue of The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies |
|
| Article | The Virtue of Pride | William Thomas | 10/1/1999 |
| Description: A comparison of the Objectivist understanding of pride with a humanist's more classical view. |
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| Article | Rand and Objectivity | David Kelley | 10/1/1999 |
| Description: An essay by David Kelley presenting Ayn Rand's ideas on objectivity. |
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| Center News | Cyberseminar Returns | | 9/1/1999 |
| Description: Cyberseminar announcment for ''Continental Orgins of Postmodernism''--lead by Dr. Stephen Hicks. |
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| Article | Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, and Ayn Rand's Moral Triad | Roger Donway | 9/1/1999 |
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| Article | The Fioretti of Self-Fulfillment | Roger Donway | 8/1/1999 |
| Description: Objectivists need to recognize and praise the lives and deeds that exemplify their philosophy's values and virtues. |
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| Center News | A ''Beta'' Version of Logical Structure Is Printed | | 7/1/1999 |
| Description: Beta version of Logical Structure of Objectivism is printed in a limited run for summer seminar class. |
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| Article | Why Should One Act on Principle? | William Thomas | 5/1/1999 |
| Description: What are objective principles? How do they differ from whims and rules?
William Thomas addresses these issues in this short essay. |
|
| Article | Debate: Abortion | William Thomas | 3/1/1999 |
| Description: William Thomas initiates a debate on the subject of abortion by distinguishing intrinsic views of rights from objective views of rights, and the rights of a potential versus the rights of an actual. |
|
| Article | Debating the Nature of Fraud | Roger Donway | 2/1/1999 |
| Description: Ayn Rand held that only force could violate rights. Fraud, she said, is "indirect force" and therefore does not constitute an exception to this principle. In the November Navigator, Roger Donway set forth the case for Rand's position, providing a definition of the concept "fraud" along the way. In the February issue, three members challenge his argument and his definition. |
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| Article | Force and Fraud | Roger Donway | 11/1/1998 |
| Description: Roger Donway sets forth what the standard account of force and fraud are and how it might be justified. What is fraud? What is "indirect force"? And how are we to explain the manner in which this "economic crime" violates rights? |
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| Excerpt | Two Strains of Altruism | David Kelley | 10/1/1998 |
| Description: David Kelley distinguishes two strains of altruism—self-sacrifice and egalitarianism—how they have been masked throughout history and the different political consequences of each, as well as a program by which Objectivists can meet the challenges of each. |
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| Letters | Letters: Objectivist Collaboration (July/August 1998) | | 7/1/1998 |
| Description: A letter from Paul Cohen about the advisability of cooperating--or collaborating--with pro-freedom conservatives and liberals. David Mayer responds. |
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| Letters | Letters: Rand as a Philosopher (April 1998) | | 4/1/1998 |
| Description: John Robbins and Bryan Register debate the merits of Ayn Rand as a philosopher. |
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| Review | Autobiography of an Idea | David Kelley | 2/1/1998 |
| Description: A review of Journals of Ayn Rand edited by David Harriman |
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| Article | Is it Nobler to Give than to Create? | David Kelley | 2/1/1998 |
| Description: David Kelley's article analyzing the ethical difference between giving and creating, arguing that creating is far nobler. |
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| Review | Has Objectivism Been Refuted? | Bryan Register | 11/1/1997 |
| Description: A review of Without a Prayer: Ayn Rand and the Close of Her System by John Robbins. |
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| Review | The Wrong Way to Rights | William Thomas | 8/1/1997 |
| Description: A review of Moral Rights and Political Freedom by Tara Smith |
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| Article | Ruled -- Or Principled? | David Kelley | 2/1/1997 |
| Description: An article about the differences between rules and principles, and the great importance of the latter. |
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| Excerpt | Objectivism and Self-Acceptance | Nathaniel Branden | 2/1/1997 |
| Description: Excerpts from a lecture given by Nathaniel Branden at the 1996 IOS Summer Seminar about Objectivism and Self-Acceptance. |
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| Review | The Roots of Ayn Rand? | James Lennox | 11/1/1995 |
| Description: A review of Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical by Chris Matthew Sciabarra |
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| Article | Better Things To Do | David Kelley | 3/1/1994 |
| Description: We prefer to live in peace with our intellectual neighbors,
but we see no basis for a civil relationship with those (ARI) who deny the legitimacy of our
existence as an independent Objectivist organization, and who launch unprovoked and
irrational attacks on us. |
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| Article | Altruism and Capitalism | David Kelley | 1/1/1994 |
| Description: An article on altruism and capitalism by David Kelley of the Objectivist Center. |
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| Excerpt | The Code of The Creator | David Kelley | 9/1/1993 |
| Description: Excerpt from the 50th Anniversary Celebration of The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand |
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| Review | Big Game, Small Gun? | Stephen Hicks | 9/1/1992 |
| Description: A review of The Ideas of Ayn Rand by Ronald E. Merrill. |
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| Review | Peikoff's Summa | David Kelley | 3/1/1992 |
| Description: A review of Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff |
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| Article | Early Light | David Kelley | 6/1/1991 |
| Description: An article by David Kelley describing the motivation for forming the Institute for Objectivist Studies (now The Objectivist Center). |
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| Study Guide | Foundations Study Guide: Political Philosophy | Fred Miller | |
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| Study Guide | Foundations Study Guide: Philosophy of Mathematics | David Ross | |
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| Article | Is There a Right to Health Care? | David Kelley | |
| Description: An article on health care, rights, and welfare |
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| Study Guide | Foundations Study Guide: Montessori Education | Marsha Enright | |
| Description: Marsha Enright and Doris Cox explain the Montessori child education method. |
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| Study Guide | Foundations Study Guide: Literary Theory | Stephen Cox | |
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| Audio | Choosing Life | David Kelley | |
Description: Audio Excerpt. Objectivists have debated whether life is a value because one chooses to live, or whether one should choose life because it is a value. David Kelley illuminates the logic of this abstract issue, and then shows its concrete meaning in our lives.
Buy the audiotape at The Objectivism Store |
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| Excerpt | Introduction to Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand | David Kelley | |
| Description: The introduction of Truth and Toleration by David Kelley. Truth and Toleration has been republished as The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand |
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| Excerpt | Objectivism, Chapter 5 of Truth and Toleration | David Kelley | |
| Description: Chapter Five of Truth and Toleration by David Kelley. Truth and Toleration has been republished as The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand |
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| Study Guide | Foundations Study Guide: Ancient Greek Philosophy | George Brakas | |
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| Audio | What Are Our Spiritual Needs? | Nathaniel Branden | |
Description: Nathaniel Branden explores the meaning of spirituality, the misconceptions about it, and the use of the term "spiritual" in Ayn Rand's writings. Based on his many years of practice and reflection, Dr. Branden presents his own understanding of our spiritual needs and their role in our development.
Buy the audiotape at The Objectivism Store |
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| Study Guide | Foundations Study Guide: Business Ethics | Stephen Hicks | |
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| Study Guide | Foundations Study Guide: Epistemology | David Kelley | |
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| Study Guide | Foundations Study Guide: The Environment | James Lennox | |
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| Excerpt | Introduction to Unrugged Individualism | David Kelley | |
| Description: The introduction to David Kelley's monograph Unrugged Individualism: The Selfish Basis of Benevolence. |
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