Author: s1e2t3u4p5

Ed Hudgins on Bush's State of the Union

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

TOC Washington Director Ed Hudgins has written a response to George W. Bush’s State of the Union speech.
His primary criticism is that Bush and the Republicans in general act “based on sentiments or short-term pragmatism rather than on a consistent set of core principles.” Hudgins argues that this way of making policy and governing leads to limitations on individual liberty and autonomy.
Hudgins explains how the Republicans should govern:

If Bush and the Republicans lived up to their limited government reputation, they would hold to the principles of individual liberty on which America was founded. The purpose of government, as set forth in the Declaration of Independence, was to protect the life, liberty and property of each citizen. The federal government, as established by the Constitution, had certain limited and enumerated powers, with all other powers reserved for the states and the people. A system of checks and balances was established and a Bill of Rights added to make certain that government didn?t get out of hand.

These principles in turn were based on the understanding that individuals are ends in themselves; that they own their own lives; that to survive and prosper they must be free to act; that they thus should be left alone and in turn should leave others to live as they see fit. Based on these principles it is generally easy to judge which functions of government are legitimate and which are not. Thus government welfare programs are seen as based on the altruist principle that individuals must take care of others and be forced by government to do so, which of course limits everyone?s personal autonomy.

His full response is available on the TOC web site.

Maryland Seminar on Ayn Rand's Vision

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

In February, the Fountainhead Institute will be sponsoring a seminar in Maryland on applying Ayn Rand’s vision to your own life:

Ayn Rand’s Vision: Understanding It And Using It In Your Life
A weekend seminar on applying Objectivism to your life. The seminar will be taught by Marsha Enright of The Fountainhead Institute on February 7-8 in Columbia, Maryland.
Topics covered will include but not be limited to “The Importance of Art in Human Life,” “Rand’s Heroes: How To Be More Like Them,” “The Psychology of Individualism,” and “Rand’s View of Capitalism and the Social Order.” Marsha will combine short lectures with guided discussions to maximize the intellectual and personal value of the seminars.
It will be assumed that the student will have read at least Atlas Shrugged. A limited number of essays and articles will be assigned to read in preparation for the course.

Additional information and registration instructions are available on the Fountainhead Institute web site.

Spreading Ayn Rand in Russia

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Rand’s birth, the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL) has launched a project titled the “Year of Ayn Rand” Book Project.
From ISIL’s description:

Current Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is unusually popular with the Russian populace with about 70% public support. He is considered a patriot in Russia, as well as in his home city of St. Petersburg ? and the probability of his re-election in 2004 is quite high.
Being concerned about his historical legacy, it is widely thought that he will try to introduce significant changes in both the economic and ideological policies of the country.
But he is distrustful of western authors and philosophers and wants to come up with something uniquely Russian. Thus Ayn Rand and her Objectivism, with such obvious Russian roots, could very well satisfy this demand for a new ideology ? and could shape the ideological and philosophical foundation of the Russian-speaking world for many years to come.
Inroads have already been made with the introduction of the Russian edition of Rand’s Atlas Shrugged to Putin’s top economic advisor Andre Illarionov by myself (Jaroslav Romanchuk) and Dmitry Kostygn at a Moscow book fair. Illarionov subsequently published strong endorsements of Rand in The Moscow Times (and Wall Street Journal).
The Book Project
The long-term goal of the project is to introduce the works of Ayn Rand and her philosophy to Russian-speaking countries, and to make these ideas a part of the intellectual mainstream of the culture. To accomplish this, we intend to print and sell millions of copies of Rand’s works throughout the Russian-speaking world.

Cross-posted to Improved Clinch.

Call for Papers: Rand & Nietzsche

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies announces this “Call for Papers” for a special symposium:

Ayn Rand and Friedrich Nietzsche
Despite her criticisms of Friedrich Nietzsche, even the mature Ayn Rand recognized in him a poet who projected, emotionally, “at times … a magnificent feeling for man’s greatness …” Indeed, the young Ayn Rand had learned much from Nietzsche, reflected in her early unpublished and published works.
The aim of this forthcoming issue of the journal is to trace the similarities and the differences between these thinkers in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics, and aesthetics. As a nonpartisan periodical, the journal welcomes contributions from every perspective and every discipline toward that end.
Proposals should be sent by 1 July 2004 by email to Chris Matthew Sciabarra, or by mail to: Chris Matthew Sciabarra, Visiting Scholar, NYU Department of Politics, 726 Broadway, 7th floor, New York, New York 10003.
Completed manuscripts will be due by 1 July 2005; the symposium won’t be published prior to 2006.

See the journal’s website for further information on style guidelines.

Film Rights Acquired to Rand's Anthem

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This comes via Iris Bell:
Rights have been acquired to the Ayn Rand novel Anthem. Jim Snider and Kerry O’Quinn are co-writing the screenplay for theatrical production.
At one time, choreographer Agnes DeMille, and later Russian expatriate Rudolph Nureyev, liked the idea of turning Anthem into a ballet. Walt Disney even expressed interest in developing the novel as an animated film, but Anthem never made it to stage or screen. That is all about to change.
Writer/Producer Jim Snider’s most recent film is Hope Ranch, starring Bruce Boxleitner (Tron, Babylon-5), Lorenzo Lamas (Falcon Crest, Renegade) and Gail O’Grady (NYPD Blue, American Dreams).
Writer/Producer Kerry O’Quinn built a New York magazine empire including Starlog and Fangoria, produced soundtrack albums, and developed a sci-fi series for HBO.
Pre-production is slated to begin in 2004.
For more information, contact Kerry O’Quinn or Jim Snider.

ARI Essay Contest in NY Times

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Sandra Salmans has an article titled “Essays on the Edge” in the Education Life section of the Sunday, January 18th issue of The New York Times. “Writing for dollars: be selfish, be freethinking, or just be,” says the subtitle, as Salmans surveys “the more intriguing, lucrative or unlikely competitions” for scholarship money.
The very first scholarship cited is “For Capitalist Pigs”:

The virtue of selfishness is richly rewarded by the Ayn Rand Institute, an educational foundation devoted to promoting the author’s philosophy of Objectivism, which endorses reason, self-interest and capitalism over altruism or environmentalism. A top prize of $10,000 goes to the best essay by a high school junior or senior who demonstrates “an outstanding grasp of the philosophic and psychological meaning of The Fountainhead.” Appropriately, it’s a no-strings-attached cash award. College students can win up to $5,000 for the best essay on the meaning of Atlas Shrugged.

The article is accompanied by a nice photo of Rand with the caption: “Ayn Rand created a philosophy. An ‘outstanding’ grasp of it is worth $10,000.”

John Lewis on Homeland Defense in Denver

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John Lewis will be the first speaker of the Front Range Objectivist Supper Talks on Saturday, January 31, 2004 in Denver, Colorado. FROST is planning to host these supper talks six times a year.

Topic: “The Failure of the Homeland Defense: Lessons from History”
With the creation of a cabinet-level Department of Homeland Defense, America has accepted a permanent, institutionalized state of siege on its own soil. But is this the correct strategy? This lecture examines several cases from history, asking what has happened when great nations, facing attack, have turned to defense rather than offense. The results are unequivocal: the only defense is a good offense. America should project her military beyond her borders, into the enemy’s homeland, and should leave her cities free and open, as demonstrations of the power and success of freedom.
But this strategic lesson depends upon deeper factors. A nation must understand, and focus on, its self-interest; the military must then be allowed to win. A nation under attack must not exempt those who start a war from its consequences; the psychological will of the enemy to continue the fight must be destroyed along with its physical resources. There is a deep connection between intellectual clarity, moral certainty, and the offensive strategy needed to defeat a ruthless enemy. Only Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism provides the moral foundations needed to succeed against the threats we face today.

Continue reading “John Lewis on Homeland Defense in Denver”

Two New Rand Books to Be Released

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Two new books of interest to Rand fans will be released in February. The first, Essays on Ayn Rand’s We The Living, is edited by Robert Mayhew, who also edited Ayn Rand’s Marginalia.
The second, by ARI archivist Jeffrey Britting (who was associate producer for the film Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life), is simply titled Ayn Rand and is a collection of rare photos and other sundry items. From the book description:

Ayn Rand made a profound impact as both a philosopher who founded a school of social thought, Objectivism, and as a novelist of penetrating insight and vision. Her works are founded on heroic ideals, demonstrating the maxim that, “man?s ego is the fountainhead of human progress.”
The photos and illustrations in this volume have been hand-selected from the Ayn Rand Archives, and most have never been published. They include personal mementos of a Petersburg childhood, her family and their home on Nevsky Prospect; photos from her early years in America; personal papers, including her list of the twelve publishers who passed on The Fountainhead; original newspaper articles, film posters, notes, drawings, and much more.
In a recent poll conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book-of-the-Month Club, Rand?s Atlas Shrugged was voted the novel most influential to American readers. This latest volume of the acclaimed Overlook Illustrated Lives series gives her legions of fans an unprecedented chance to better understand the author they adore.

(Thanks to Michael Malice for the tip. Further information can be sent to us at: metablog at theatlasphere dot com.)

New Live Leonard Peikoff Lecture

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Leonard Peikoff is offering a new live lecture titled “The DIM Hypothesis: The Epistemological Mechanics by which Philosophy Shapes Society.” The lecture will consist of 15 sessions, beginning February 5th, and will be held via teleconference on Thursdays from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM, PST.
From Yaron Brook’s invitation:

We invite you to join us in February for the start of a pathbreaking new course by Dr. Leonard Peikoff, “The DIM Hypothesis: The Epistemological Mechanics by which Philosophy Shapes Society.” This 15-session course will be presented live to a worldwide audience by telephone. So, no matter where you live, you can take part!
The course is based on Dr. Peikoff’s book-in-progress, The DIM Hypothesis, in which he looks at the role of integration as a fundamental force shaping our culture and practical life. As Dr. Peikoff recently explained: “my thesis is that the dominant trends in every key area can be defined by their leaders’ policy toward integration: they are against it (Disintegration, D); they are for it, if it conforms to reality (Integration, I); they are for it, regardless of its relation to reality (Misintegration, M).” In his new course, Dr. Peikoff first discusses the nature and vital importance of integration and then applies his hypothesis to ten diverse fields, ranging from parenting and physics to law and literature.

And from the course overview:

This course explains and explores Dr. Peikoff’s new DIM Hypothesis, applying it to ten different cultural areas as listed in the course outline. The Hypothesis identifies and distinguishes three types of mind: the mind characterized by I (Integration); by D (Disintegration); or by M (Misintegration). In the sessions, Dr. Peikoff points out how all of the influential movements in the areas included reflect?and could only have been created by?one or another of these three mind sets. If enhancing your understanding of today’s world is an important concern of yours, Dr. Peikoff believes that you will find a DIM perspective on events to be of significant value.

The Objectivist Conferences site also provides an outline of the course.
The course costs $445 ($245 for full-time students) and there is a $50 discount if you register by January 23, 2004. Online course registration is available.

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