This is an invitation-only live course (Oct. 2021 – Jun. 2022) of Ayn Rand Institute, a new kind of university which provides advanced live courses in philosophy and communication from an Objectivist perspective. ARU courses include weekly live classes conducted by videoconference and taught by experts in Objectivism.
To join other ARU courses, sign up as an auditor, or apply to be a graded student in ARU’s Objectivist Academic Center!
This course builds on the skills learned in the Writing Course taught in Year 2 of the Objectivist Academic Center. It focuses on advanced training in writing and editing articles aimed at an intellectually-oriented general audience, and is led by the senior editors of New Ideal.
In this collection of talks spanning more than a decade, Leonard Peikoff reflects on a wide range of topics of significant importance to his life, both personally and professionally. Several of these discussions are informal: Peikoff answers written or verbal questions from audience members or reflects on personal anecdotes. Throughout the various talks, the listener will get a keen sense of Peikoff’s own personal values, especially in relation to his artistic interests, his professional life and his history with Ayn Rand.
Disclaimer: Although Dr. Peikoff granted permission for the creation of this course in a new format, he has not reviewed or approved any of its content.
Free, unregulated financial markets serve the vital function of providing capital to the producers. Yet, through the ages, banking and other financial activities have been viewed as corrupt and exploitative. From the money-changers of the Middle Ages to the investment bankers of today, financiers have been crippled by the hostility of looters.
In this course, Dr. Yaron Brook defends these victims. He methodically describes how financiers serve a vital role in the economy. Using the stock market to illustrate this principle, Brook explains the important economic role of speculators, the harmony of interest between short-term and long-term investors, and the objective nature of stock prices. In addition, he defends hostile takeovers, leveraged buyouts, “junk” bonds and other financial innovations used extensively in the 1980s.
In the process, he delineates the philosophic ideas that make the attacks on financial markets possible. He defends the profit motive as the only moral and practical motive for financial transactions.
This course was recorded in 1996 at the summer Objectivist conference hosted by Second Renaissance Conferences.
The course outline can be found here.
No thinker has had a greater influence on philosophy in the last two centuries than Immanuel Kant. Building on his metaphysics and epistemology, Kant proposed an ethics that dispensed with the need for a divine authority in ethics, but which distilled and retained Judaeo-Christian morality’s fundamental principle—duty or moral law—and its fundamental virtue, voluntary obedience to the law.
This course examines the major conceptual elements of Kant’s moral philosophy and analyzes Kant’s lasting influence on subsequent ethics. This course is Part 2 of a two-part course on Kant’s philosophy. Part 1 addresses Kant’s theoretical philosophy.
This course was recorded at the 2011 Objectivist Summer Conference in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
This course includes a handout.
No thinker has had a greater influence on philosophy in the last two centuries than Immanuel Kant. This course presents the historical context in which Kant developed his metaphysics and epistemology and explains his most important ideas. By analyzing the content and methodology of his mature philosophical system, the course acquaints you with the essential elements and spirit of Kant’s philosophy and gives you a richer appreciation of his profound influence. This course is Part 1 of a two-part course on Kant’s philosophy. Part 2 addresses Kant’s moral philosophy.
This course was recorded at the 2007 Objectivist Summer Conference in Telluride, CO.
This course includes a handout.
In this free preview course, you can sample the educational experience of being in the Objectivist Academic Center (OAC®), ARI’s premier intellectual training program featuring live courses taught by videoconference. Join at aynrand.org/OAC
The core of the OAC is a 3-year curriculum offering in-depth instruction in Objectivism and how to think about and communicate philosophical ideas. This program can be taken as a graded student or audited. (Auditors are encouraged to take all 3 years of the OAC but there is no expectation that they do so.)
Both students and auditors engage with instructors in the live classroom, in the online class forums, and in 1:1 meetings during office hours, and have access to all class content and recordings. The OAC is tuition-based, but those accepted into the student program are eligible for scholarships.
