The Objectivism Book Study met through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff. Our reading this week was: Ch. 7 – The Good (Introduction) 206 Ch. 7 – Life as the essential root of value 207-213 This week’s reading introduces the concept of “value”—which Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff correctly ground in our nature as goal-directed, living beings. We work to make it clear where Christians might agree with parts of Rand’s argument and disagree with other parts. We tend to agree with Rand and Peikoff’s definitions and conclusions about value (or with modified ver ..read more

The Objectivism Book Study met through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff. Our reading this week was: Ch. 6 – Reason as an attribute of the individual 198 to 205 We begin our discussion this week by looking at a thread Jacob Brunton posted to Twitter: “Conservatives will rightly scoff at the Communist notion of pathetically making yourself and your family material dependents of the tribe. But those of the anti-individualist variety will openly advocate for being spiritually dependent upon the tribe for your ideas and values. They proudly assert the virtu ..read more

The Objectivism Book Study is meeting through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff. Welcome to the Objectivism Book Study (Week 18) — Nature of Man. Our reading this week was: Ch. 6 – Man (Introduction) 187-188 Ch. 6 – Living organisms as goal-directed and conditional 189-193 Ch. 6 – Reason as man’s basic means of survival 193-197 The reading this week introduces the need for a philosophical inquiry into the nature of man. Leonard Peikoff notes that this inquiry comes before a theory of ethics. Before knowing what is right for man to do, we should estab ..read more

The Objectivism Book Study is meeting through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff. Our reading in Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand this week was: Ch. 5 – Certainty as contextual 171-181 Ch. 5 – Mysticism and skepticism as denials of reason 182-186 Is science nothing but a progression of exploded theories? Is all knowledge only relative? Never fully validated? Never absolute, immutable, or certain? What can Christians learn about these issues from the unique philosophical system of Objectivism? Listen to the podcast in the player below, or view the ..read more

The Objectivism Book Study met through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff. Welcome to the Objectivism Book Study (Week 16) — Reason vs. the Alternatives. Our reading this week was: Ch. 5 – Reason as man’s only means of knowledge 159-162 Ch. 5 – The arbitrary as neither true nor false 163-171 Ayn Rand was once asked if she could summarize the essence of her philosophy while standing on one foot. She replied: “Metaphysics: Objective Reality. Epistemology: Reason. Ethics: Self-interest. Politics: Capitalism.” Rand expands on this encapsulation: “If you want ..read more

The Objectivism Book Study met through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff. Welcome to Objectivism Book Study (Week 15) — Reason and Emotion. “Philosophy is the science that defines the proper relationship between a volitional consciousness and reality.” -Leonard Peikoff (Induction in Physics and Philosophy, session 6) This week we are discussing the following sections in Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand: Ch. 5 – Reason (Introduction) 152 Ch. 5 – Emotions as a product of ideas 153-158 In this section we look at the implications of Objectivist epist ..read more

The Objectivism Book Study is meeting through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff. Epistemology is the hill on which our civilization lives or dies. Accurate concepts and principles will make the world a better place. For the New Christian Intellectual is a podcast and online project devoted to explaining this claim and helping Christians learn to think philosophically. That’s why we’re doing this ongoing study of Objectivism: the Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff. This week we are discussing pages 142 to 151, the section called “Intrinsicism and ..read more

The Objectivism Book Study met through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff. In this session we continued exploring the Objectivist understanding of essences and universals. We proposed two ways Christians might view Leonard Peikoff’s (and Ayn Rand’s) conclusions about these topics. Jacob Brunton proposed that Christians could adopt Peikoff’s method of forming concepts, but also reject some of Peikoff’s positions on Metaphysics. Peikoff rejects Platonic Realism and Aristotelian Realism, but Brunton would maintain that Christians are not required to reject ..read more

The Objectivism Book Study met through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff. In this session we explored the Objectivist understanding of the hierarchical nature of knowledge. The reading was: Ch. 4 – Knowledge as hierarchical 129-141 “Concepts have a hierarchical structure… The higher, more complex abstractions are derived from the simpler, basic ones (starting with the concepts of perceptually given concretes).” –Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, pg. 32. Listen to the podcast in the player below, or view the video here. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ..read more

The Objectivism Book Study is meeting through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff. Welcome to the Objectivism Book Study (Week 12B) — Similarity​. ==> Click here for the full discussion on YouTube In this video we explore what Objectivists mean by “similarity,” an idea that is important within their theory of concepts. Differences in our understanding of “similarity” lead to differences in our understanding of metaphysical theories such as Nominalism and Realism. Is Ayn Rand’s Objectivism distinct from ..read more