The Objectivist Center‘s summer seminar this year is scheduled for July 3 – 10 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
For those who are new to TOC’s summer seminars, here’s an excerpt from the description of last year’s seminar:
Every year, for one week, people from across America?and beyond?gather under the sponsorship of The Objectivist Center to hear top lecturers discuss philosophy, politics, law, economics, psychology, art, and life skills. Participants often refer to TOC’s summer seminar as their week at Galt’s Gulch, but the metaphor is not really apt. The heroes in Atlas Shrugged, after all, are recruiting the strength they need to endure a world they have abandoned. The participants at TOC’s summer seminar come seeking the tools and the inspiration to improve their world.
This year the seminar was held from June 28 to July 4 at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts. On the afternoon of the first day, even while participants were arriving and registering, the week’s program swung into action. A faculty luncheon allowed members of the teaching staff to get acquainted, and a newcomers session later on Saturday afternoon performed the same function for first-timers. A reception for students allowed participants still in school to discuss the prospects for intellectual careers. The formal kickoff was a welcoming cookout, and many people followed it up by initiating the nightly discussion sessions in the common room.
There will also be an Advanced Seminar in Objectivist Studies held beforehand from June 30 – July 2, at the same location:
The Advanced Seminar is a two and half-day meeting of professors, graduate students, independent scholars, and advanced undergraduates that focuses on new writings on Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. The purpose of the seminar is to encourage the development of a high-quality scholarly literature on philosophical topics that is written from an Objectivist perspective. It also has the purpose of encouraging the development of community of scholars working in and around these ideas.
The Advanced Seminar typically has 15-25 participants and six paper presentations. Each paper is the focus of a formal comment and an extensive moderated seminar discussion which allows plenty of time to wrestle with the issues it raises. The seminar discusses arguments critical of or supportive of past Objectivist literature in an atmosphere of rational tolerance and debate. Methodologically, it seeks to integrate Objectivist emphases on essentialistic reasoning and attention to context with high academic standards.
More information about both the Summer Seminar and the Advanced Seminar (including a conference brochure) will be forthcoming on TOC’s seminar page.