Instructor Bio
Gregory Salmieri is a senior scholar of philosophy in the Salem Center at the University of Texas, Austin. He holds the Brigham Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism and is director of the Center’s Program for Objectivity in Thought, Action, and Enterprise.
He is co-editor of A Companion to Ayn Rand and Foundations of a Free Society: Reflections on Ayn Rand’s Political Philosophy. And has published on numerous issues connected to Rand’s philosophy and to Aristotle’s.
Prior to joining the Salem Center he was a fellow at the Anthem Foundation and taught philosophy at Rutgers University, Boston University, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and at the University of Pittsburgh from which he earned his PhD in 2008.
Request An Interview or Speaker
media@aynrand.org
Courses Taught
Plato and Aristotle | 2024
This course will survey the essentials of the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. We’ll trace the development of Plato’s thought from the early dialogues, which focus on various ethical theses and on the standards for...
Aristotle’s Theory of Knowledge
Aristotle is the father and chief defender of the view that the human mind can achieve a deep and rich understanding of the world in terms of fundamental principles derived ultimately from sense-perception. Aristotle’s theory...
Subtitled
Atlas Shrugged as a Work of Philosophy
Available with Spanish subtitles!
¡Disponible con subtítulos en español!
Ayn Rand stated the theme of Atlas Shrugged as: “the role of the mind in man’s existence—and, as corollary, the demonstration of a new moral philosophy: the morality of...
Objectivist Epistemology in Outline
Ayn Rand held that “philosophy is primarily epistemology,” the “science devoted to the discovery of the proper methods of acquiring and validating knowledge.” This class surveys Rand’s “new approach to epistemology” — the most original...
Graduate Seminar on Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology
In this Summer 2021 seminar, graduate students and young professionals in philosophy examine the best secondary literature on Ayn Rand's epistemology, and do an intensive chapter-by-chapter reading of her Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology.
This course is...
Seminar on Ayn Rand’s Political Philosophy
Ayn Rand wrote extensively about political philosophy, arguing that the principles and ideas responsible for the remarkable economic and social progress of the nineteenth century were little understood a century later, and that their implicit...
Objective Thinking
If you are an honest person, you are not content to hold beliefs subjectively—because of accidental features of your psychology or circumstances. You aspire to be objective—to conform all of your thinking to the facts....
Subtitled
What Is Liberty?
Available with Spanish subtitles!
¡Disponible con subtítulos en español!
Political figures from Jefferson to Lenin to FDR and philosophers from Locke to Marx to Rawls all claim to stand for liberty, but they have radically different understandings...
The Atlas Project
The Atlas Project was an online, chapter-by-chapter discussion of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, exploring the novel’s intricate plot and abstract themes through online discussion and live interactive video.
RESOURCES
Other ways to watch and listen
Preview...
Subtitled
Ayn Rand’s Conception of Valuing
Available with Spanish subtitles!
¡Disponible con subtítulos en español!
In her fiction and early journal entries, Ayn Rand frequently refers to valuing as an action that one must “know how to” perform. That choice of words represents...
Subtitled
Individualism in an Age of Tribalism
Available with Spanish subtitles!
¡Disponible con subtítulos en español!
Increasingly, our culture pushes us to view ourselves as passive members of one group or another. What matters, we’re told, is not the choices we make as individuals,...
Experience
Senior Scholar of Philosophy
- Salem Center at the University of Texas at Austin2020 – present
Lecturer In Philosophy
- University of Texas at Austin2020 – present
Fellow In Philosophy
- Anthem Foundation2014 – 2020
Part Time Lecturer In Philosophy
- Rutgers University2014 – 2020
Visiting Scholar
- Boston University2012 – 2014
Visiting Assistant Professor
- The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill2008 – 2012
Selected Work
Scholarly Articles
- “Aristotle on Selfishness: Understanding the Iconoclasm of Nicomachean Ethics IX.8,” Ancient Philosophy 34. 2014
- “How We Choose Our Beliefs” (co-authored with Benjamin Bayer) Philosophia 42:1. 2014
- “Aristotelian Epistēmē and the Relation between Knowledge and Understanding,” Metascience 23:1. 2014
- “Αἴσθησις, Ἐμπειρία, and the Advent of Universals in Posterior Analytics II 19” in James Lesher (ed.), From Inquiry to Demonstrative Knowledge: New Essays on Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics (Apeiron XLIII: 2, 3). 2010
- “Aristotle’s Non-Dialectical Methodology in the Nicomachean Ethics,” Ancient Philosophy 29. 2009
Book Chapters
- “The Act of Valuing (and the Objectivity of Values)” in Gotthelf and Salmieri (eds.), A Companion to Ayn Rand, Wiley. 2015
- “Egoism and Altruism: Selfishness and Sacrifice” in Gotthelf and Salmieri (eds.), A Companion to Ayn Rand, Wiley. 2015
- “The Objectivist Epistemology” in Gotthelf and Salmieri (eds.), A Companion to Ayn Rand, Wiley. 2015
- “A Philosopher on Her Times: Ayn Rand’s Cultural and Political Commentary” (co-written with John David Lewis) in Gotthelf and Salmieri (eds.), A Companion to Ayn Rand, Wiley. 2015
- “Conceptualization and Justification” in Gotthelf and Lennox (eds.), Concepts and Their Role in Knowledge, University of Pittsburgh Press. 2013
- “Forms of Awareness and Three-Factor Theories” in Gotthelf and Lennox (eds.), Concepts and Their Role in Knowledge, University of Pittsburgh Press. 2013
- “Atlas Shrugged on the Role of the Mind in Man’s Existence” in Robert Mayhew (ed.), Essays on Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,”Lexington. 2009
- “Discovering Atlantis: Atlas Shrugged’s Demonstration of a New Moral Philosophy” in Robert Mayhew (ed.), Essays on Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,” Lexington. 2009
- “Prometheus’s Discovery: Individualism and the Meaning of the Concept ‘I’ in Anthem” in Robert Mayhew (ed.), Essays on Ayn Rand’s “Anthem,” Lexington. 2005
Papers Delivered
- “Aristotelian Ethics Without Exploitation?” Notre Dame, May 2014
- “Something in the Way(s) He Moves: Reconsidering the Embryological Argument for Robustly Particular Forms in Aristotle,” Université Paris-Sorbonne/Humboldt University, Berlin; January 2014
- “Are You Experienced: Identifying Aristotelian Empeiria,” Rutgers University, October 2013
- “Aristotle on Making Up Names,” Rutgers University, May 2013
- “Aristotle on Making Up Names,” Loyola University of Chicago, November 2012
- “Aristotle on Selfishness,” Boston University; University of Oslo. 2012
- “Does Virtue Make Money or Make It Good? How to Understand Apology 30b2-4,” American Philosophical Association, Central Division Meeting, February 2012
- “Alexander of Aphrodisias and the Choice to Think,” 29th annual joint meeting of The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy with The Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science, Fordham University, October 2011
- “Aristotle on Making Up Names,” University of Texas at Austin, Fall Colloquium Series, October 2010
- “The Act of Awareness,” Warwick University, Conference on Perception, Consciousness and Reference. 2009
Audio And Video
Talks & Lectures
- Q & A on Objectivism (with Gregory Salmieri and Onkar Ghate). 2014
- Egoism and Altruism. 2011
- Aristotle’s Theory of Knowledge. 2010
- Atlas Shrugged on the Role of the Mind in Man’s Existence.2009
- Ayn Rand’s Conception of Valuing. 2008
- Atlas Shrugged as a Work of Philosophy. 2007
- Objectivist Epistemology in Outline. 2006
- The Hierarchy of Knowledge. 2005
- Platonism. 2004
- Aristotle as Ethicist. 2003
