Master Class on “The Objectivist Ethics” Part I

Ayn Rand does the impossible in the first half of this world-shaking speech: she shows how to prove rationally her ethical system–how to go from “is” to “ought” without appeal to feelings, mystical “duty,” or “subjective commitment.”

Dr. Binswanger gives an in-depth analysis of how she does it, why it couldn’t have been done without the proper epistemology, and what the specific steps of the proof are.

Price: $725

Each class is 30 minutes plus Q&A

Why this particular essay?

“The Objectivist Ethics” is an extraordinary achievement, even for Ayn Rand. In roughly 20 pages, she not only:

• puts forward “a new concept of egoism”
• shows that egoism is the base of individual rights
• connects rights to laissez-faire capitalism
• proves her moral code—something logically impossible according to Hume and everyone since

but also:

• illustrates the “method of reduction”
• introduces the concept of “mental focus”
• ties focus to free will
• ties volitional focus to man’s survival

Along the way, she adds in, almost as a bonus, definitions of “sensation,” “perception,” and “concept.”

The essay breaks neatly in half: paragraphs 1 through 60 cover “meta-ethics,” that is, the nature of morality as such and the proof of one’s moral code. The second half of the essay explains the content of her egoist code. We stop with:

Man must choose his actions, values and goals by the standard of that which is proper to man—in order to achieve, maintain, fulfill and enjoy that ultimate value, that end in itself, which is his own life.

This first half took Ayn Rand only about 30 minutes to deliver (at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1961); this class includes 7 hours of lecture, plus more than 3 hours of Q & A to help you fully grasp and appreciate its historic integrations.

In addition, the course has two sub-goals 1. to identify the essay’s “mechanics”—Rand’s startlingly original methodology; 2. how to confront the text—how to mine the subsurface gold that Rand’s writing always contains.

Attendees liked the new format: short classes with more frequent meetings, to maintain the momentum.

Video recordings are available online, and audio-only recordings are available in an easy-to-access podcast form.