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Understanding Objectivism (the book)


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According to ARI's latest issue of Impact, Michael Berliner has a new book coming out in March 2012. It's based upon Leonard Peikoff's online video course Understanding Objectivism. The Understanding Objectivism course is $150 on the AynRandBookstore site while this upcoming book is $18. Seems like a great alternative for those of us who can't afford the full blown course.

It can be pre-ordered already on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Objectivism-Guide-Learning-Philosophy/dp/0451236297/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323454858&sr=8-1

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Will this be in eBook format?

I don't think so. When I pre-ordered a while back, the price included shipping, and there was no Kindle option. I think I did click the "Tell the publisher you want the Kindle version" link, though, just in case that might make it back to them.

If the content is a successful translation of the lecture, this book is hugely discounted!

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  • 2 months later...

It's out and has been wirelessly delivered! There is now a $10 Kindle option also, and I had to cancel and reorder with amazon.

The first few pages are very close to what I remember the lectures being, so, yes -- this is basically the same content at a fraction of the original price and in a better format.

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OPAR is a comprehensive explanation of the principles of Objectivism, while Understanding Objectivism is exactly as titled, focusing on methods of thinking and understanding. It takes for granted at least a base-level understanding of Objectivist principles, whereas OPAR covers everything from consciousness to government. In UO, there are lots of examples and exercises. A single principle of Objectivism will be dissected with the purpose of understanding how it was formulated. Not every principle is covered, since the focus is the process of discovery, not the formulation of the entire philosophy.

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  • 9 months later...

. . .


I was thinking, is there a textbook-like compilation of everything to do with Objectivism? . . . Is there a book out there that not only lays the points out, but defends them in nearly every way possible, and also shows the hierarchy in a manageable way?
. . .


I think the closest you will come is the book Understanding Objectivism, by Peikoff and Michael Berliner. Here you will be shown how to validate 4 principles of Objectivism, the purpose of which is to teach you the method of validating the whole philosophy for yourself. That's one half of the book, later there is one chapter explaining the hierarchy of Objectivism, followed by a few chapters on epistemology, and then emotions and moral judgement. . . .


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the course of remarks on the recently issued Ayn Rand Explained, I had written:


. . .


One of the hazards Nathaniel Branden had attended to in “The Benefits and Hazards of Ayn Rand’s Philosophy” (1984) is . . . repression.*

. . .

It is in connection with Rand’s literature that Branden came to see a hazard in the philosophy of Ayn Rand. He wrote:



No such lesson took on me as a young person reading those books. In Fountainhead again and again Roark is shown to be the character not evasive about himself, the character most not evasive about himself. In Atlas Dagny, Rearden, and Galt are shown as kin of Roark in that respect.

. . .

In Understanding Objectivism there is a really illuminating and extended treatment of ways in which Objectivists distinctively can turn to repression concerning their emotions and how to avoid that turn (Lecture 10, 317–35). Branden’s The Disowned Self (1972)* treated the topic for people in general, but did not get into snares peculiar to people embracing Rand’s literature and philosophy.

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