In one week (on Oct. 20), I begin the live version of my new course on the second half of the phenomenal speech, “The Objectivist Ethics.”
The first 60 paragraphs of this speech concerned “meta-ethics”: the derivation of one’s life as one’s ultimate value and man’s survival qua man as the standard of moral value.
This course (TOE-2, for short) covers the actual content of the Objectivist ethics: the principled way of living that constitutes rational selfishness.
This is the subject of paragraphs 61 through the end (106), and we will have 12 half-hour classes that analyze carefully exactly what she is saying, why it comes where it does in the progression, and what its historic significance is.
Major topics:
- the cardinal values and virtues
- the fundamental virtue: rationality
- the 6 derivative virtues: independence, integrity, honesty, justice, productiveness, pride
- the basic social principle of Objectivism
- the nature of emotions and the fundamentals of psychology
- happiness—what it is, what it comes from, its relation to survival, why only the rational man can be happy
- why taking desires as a primary leads to unending conflict and sacrifice as an inescapable absolute
- the opposite of sacrifice: the trader principle, the division of labor
- the non-initiation of force principle, government as rights-protector
- laissez-faire capitalism as the morally ideal social system
- the mystic, social, and subjective schools of ethics as variants of altruism
- the choice confronting us: the morality of death (altruism) or the morality of life (egoism).
All these topics, which she described as being present “in barest essentials,” were contained in the final 25 to 30 minutes of her speech. The class will spend 6 hours on it, plus about 4 hours for Q&A.
Now for the mechanics. It’s 4 weeks, three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) at 5 pm, with the lecture portion ending at 5:30. This format proved successful in TOE-1. It’s smaller bites, with greater frequency.
3 classes, MWF, for 4 consecutive weeks: October 20 – November 14.
Read all about it and register here:
Master Class on “The Objectivist Ethics” Part II
Note there are special discounts for those who enrolled in Part 1 or want to purchase Parts 1 & 2 together.
Some testimonials from those who participated in Part 1:
Allan Katz, MD: 5 Stars. I admire the precision, detail, and subtlety.
Dwight Austin: It’s a real treat to be in the presence of Harry’s mind and spirit of life.
Amesh Adalja, MD: Harry really demonstrated how AR’s approach and framework avoids the errors of other philosophers, like Hume and Kant.
Gordon Dickerson: I looked forward to every session. One of the best investments of $725 I have ever made.