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Lecture series “Understanding Objectivism” by Leonard Peikoff. The series consists of 22 tapes for a total of 27 hours of playing time. The condition is excellent. Includes two-page pamphlet of key points and homework assignments.

I reached a whole new understanding of Objectivism after listening to these lectures. If you have had difficulty integrating the ideas of “Atlas Shrugged” or “Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand” into your life or just want to understand Objectivism at a deeper level this is for you.

From the back cover:

This course is addressed to those who may experience difficulty in completely digesting the ideas of Ayn Rand. The course includes, theory, demonstrations and exercises. (Each lecture includes a Q & A period.)

  1. Introduction. The widespread detachment of philosophy from life. Are there problems inherent in living by a philosophy? The need for a method of understanding abstract ideas.

2-6. Digesting Objectivist Ideas. Essentials of the proper method of understanding ideas, including: the need for concretization; the value (and misuse) of definitions; reduction: the need for systematic return to the perceptual level; integration with other knowledge; playing devil’s advocate; establishing an idea’s context; hierarchy and spiral progression.

7-9. Two False Methods of Dealing With Ideas. The method of rationalism: separation of ideas from reality; improper reliance on deduction from axioms; false demand for “comprehensiveness” and “system”; tendency to intrinsicism. Rationalist polemics. The method of empiricism: improper emphasis on concretes: rejection of axioms and of hierarchy of knowledge: the tendency to subjectivism. Empiricist polemics. Objectivism vs. rationalism and empiricism: ideas as means of knowing reality; integrating percepts and concepts; the primacy of induction. System without rationalism. Knowledge without omniscience. Cognitive options without subjectivism. Objectivist polemics.

  1. Emotions and Morality. The false alternative of repression vs. emotionalism; rationalism and repression; empiricism and emotionalism. “Objectivist repressors.” The false alternative of moralizing condemnation (rationalism) vs. amoralism (empiricism). The Objectivist view: contextual absolutism.

  2. Judging Intellectual Honesty. Tests of honesty; the role of context and of psycho-epistemology; the impicit vs. the explicit; intellectual passivity vs. dishonesty. Can a man honestly support religion? the welfare state? modern art?