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General Sessions
All of our General Session options are available with one convenient registration.
The Leonard Peikoff Q & A of Wednesday, July 2, is also included with General Session registration.
(Note: the June 29 ARI Presentation and the July 3 Academic Panel are both free; see our
events page for details.)
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Session Descriptions
Cultural Movements: Creating Change
Yaron Brook and
Onkar Ghate
Among the cultural forces in ascendancy over the last few decades are "free" markets
and the resulting globalization; environmentalism; and religion. These three lectures examine the rise of global markets,
environmentalism and religion in the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries. The lectures address questions such
as: What steps did these movements take to gain their success? How were they organized? What did they count on? What do
they seem to be planning for the future?
Having examined these movements, Dr. Brook and Dr. Ghate extract what we can learn from them in regard to changing a culture.
How can we as a movement organize and work most effectively to bring about the kind of world Ayn Rand's philosophy equips
us to create?
Roughly one lecture will be devoted to globalization, one to environmentalism and religion, and one to strategies for the
present and future.
Sunday, June 29, 2008; 10:15–11:45 AM
Thursday, July 3, 2008; 1:20–2:50 PM
Sunday, July 6, 2008; 10:15–11:45 AM
Altruism vs. Principles
Peter Schwartz
Altruists smear egoism as being a system of whim-worship, while they portray their own ethics
as one that is based on firm principle. But the opposite is true. It is altruism that repudiates moral principles—not
merely principles of egoism, but principles as such. This talk shows how the enshrinement of need as the standard is actually
the enshrinement of emotionalism. It explains why the code of altruism negates the entire idea of objective standards and,
therefore, of moral principles.
Sunday, June 29, 2008; 1:20–2:50 PM
Ancient Greece and the Birth of Philosophy
Robert Mayhew
Religion is as old as man; but philosophy—as an actual discipline, a unique
approach to understanding the world—first emerged in the sixth century BC, in the ancient Aegean. This lecture
focuses on answering the question: What made the rise of philosophy possible? Dr. Mayhew explores the conditions
necessary for the appearance of philosophy, and how these conditions were met in the ancient Greek world. He then
presents the thought of the first philosopher, Thales of Miletus, and contrasts his views—and especially his
approach to knowing the universe—with those held by his contemporaries. It should become clear why Thales is
great, despite his errors and the peculiar nature of what he held. Dr. Mayhew ends by discussing what the origins of
philosophy tell us about the value of philosophy generally—the role that philosophy alone can play in human
life and in a culture.
Monday, June 30, 2008; 10:15–11:45 AM
Ayn Rand as Intellectual Activist
Dina Schein Federman
Ayn Rand argued that in order to change the culture one must disseminate true ideas, not
merely engage in political activism. This biographical talk focuses on Miss Rand's unique approach to changing the world
and extracts lessons for our own fight to promote Objectivism.
Dr. Federman first surveys Ayn Rand's political activism in the 1930s and '40s, for example,
her work for the Wendell Willkie presidential campaign, and shows how Miss Rand came to realize that political conservatives
were not her allies.
Next, Dr. Federman examines Ayn Rand's intellectual activism. She rejected both blind
political action and ivory-tower philosophizing, and exposed the philosophical fundamentals driving current events. The
lecture discusses why this kind of intellectual activism is the necessary precondition of political action and how her
integration of theory and practice accounts for our inspiration to fight our battle that followers of less-integrated
movements cannot have.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008; 8–9:30 PM
The Menace of Pragmatism
Tara Smith
Objectivism confronts many significant ideological foes—surging environmentalism,
religious fundamentalism, collectivism and altruism, to name some of the most prominent. A deeper challenge, however, comes
not from a set of substantive theses about god or government or values, but from an intellectual approach to all issues:
pragmatism. This policy is, in contemporary culture, pervasive. Dr. Smith examines the distinctive threat that pragmatism
poses.
The lecture clarifies exactly what pragmatism consists of, its manifestation across the
cultural spectrum, its fundamental error, and the specific means by which it is destructive. Also considered are the
sources of pragmatism's appeal, the apparent necessity of compromise in certain situations, and steps we can take to combat
pragmatism—both in the culture around us and in ourselves. Only with a clear understanding of pragmatism's nature,
its influence, its seductiveness and its evil can we conquer this threat and achieve the ideals of Objectivism.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008; 10:15–11:45 AM
Ayn Rand's Novels and the Metaphysics of Values
Tore Boeckmann
Ayn Rand's novels dramatize grand themes like individualism versus collectivism, the
nature of the ego, and the role of the mind in man's existence. Yet, as she said, "what is important is not the message
a writer projects explicitly, but the values and view of life he projects implicitly."
In this lecture, Mr. Boeckmann discusses some of the values and value-premises implicit
in Ayn Rand's fiction, with special emphasis on values relating to romance and productive work. He explains how the
projection of these "extra-thematic" values depends on, yet leaves undisturbed, the primary thematic
dramatizations. The final result is integrated works of literature suffused with Ayn Rand's values. This result,
and the method behind it, in itself projects metaphysical premises of crucial importance.
Thursday, July 3, 2008; 10:15–11:45 AM
Ayn Rand Contra Friedrich Nietzsche
John Ridpath
Since the appearance, in 1943, of The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand has repeatedly been
characterized by intellectuals as a follower of Nietzsche. In fact, she is the twentieth century's greatest opponent of
Nietzsche. This lecture addresses the reasons offered for this false association, which, despite Ayn Rand's repeated
denials in the 1960s, continues to this day. Given that the most commonly asserted basis for characterizing Ayn Rand as
a Nietzschean is that they both admire the strong "sovereign individual," the man of "noble soul," this lecture
culminates in the grotesque contrast between Nietzsche's vision of the man of "noble soul" and Ayn Rand's.
Saturday, July 5, 2008; 10:15–11:45 AM
How Ayn Rand Managed Her
Publishers and Literary Agents
Richard Ralston
Ayn Rand was a vigorous and imaginative manager of publishing. She never left pitching her
work to publishers in the hands of her agents, and she never left marketing, advertising and publicizing her works in the
hands of her publishers.
This lecture reviews Ayn Rand's methodology of pitching the unique characteristics of her
work to publishers in terms of essentials, and encouraging marketing and advertising efforts founded on the same essentials.
Mr. Ralston discusses how she acquired, managed and fired her agents and publishers. The lecture takes an in-depth look at
her promotion of "Red Pawn," Night of January 16th and her novels.
Ayn Rand did not expect book publishers to beat a path to her door, and she vigorously
ensured that her works, once published, would come to the attention of anyone she called "my kind of reader."
Saturday, July 5, 2008; 8–9:30 PM
Register now!
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