This 10-part video lecture series presents the essentials of the Objectivist view of knowledge. It explains why reason is an absolute; why emotions are not tools of cognition, despite their psychological importance; and why mysticism is a cognitive dead-end. It presents Ayn Rand's innovative theory of concepts and objectivity, including the role of sense-perception, logic, and axioms, as well as the nature of certainty. The course shows why a rational approach to life is a vital human need.
The main feature at the Atlas Summit on the evening of Friday, June 20 will be our Friday, June 20 Dinner Event: A First Look at Atlas
In Ayn Rand's magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, John Galt is a hero, a revolutionary, a scientist, an inventor, a thinker, and a leader. Where
In the last week, we’ve added a few extra speakers and events to the 2014 Atlas Summit program . I’m pleased to say that one of the new
When Israel declared its independence 66 years ago, pursuant to a UN resolution, David Ben Gurion promised the new state “will ensure
In early April, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of Manhattan’s federal trial court spoke at the University of Southern California law school. His topic.
The ATF is being sued for a decision only slightly more reasonable. Gun maker Sig Sauer created a product called a “muzzle brake,” which
Bitcoin is a digital money sweeping the world and offering some degree of freedom from government currencies. It imitates the scarcity of...
Pope Francis’s Easter message included a prayer to “Help us to overcome the scourge of hunger, aggravated by conflicts and by the immense
If the lawsuit over keeping disabled people waiting at Disney theme parks has merit, it should have been won already. The courts have kept
The GOP is adrift and in intellectual disarray. In this uneasy coalition of three factions are: traditional limited-government conservatives
Premier coal producer Ken Danagger explains to Dagny Taggart why he is quitting his business. The government has imposed onerous regulations on him, and is now threatening to imprison him for an honest business deal with Hank Rearden.
A series of scenes from Part 1 illustrate Ayn Rand’s view of the unity of mind and body, the spiritual and the material, both in work and in love. That theme is illustrated by the contrast between the two women in Hank Rearden’s life: Dagny Taggart, his business partner who becomes his lover, and his wife Lillian.
When Hank Rearden is put on trial for violating a government regulation imposed on his business, he invokes the principle that individuals are ends in themselves, with the moral right to pursue their own lives and well-being—including the right to run his by business by the judgment of his own mind and to keep the fruits of his labor.
Karl Marx’s principle "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" is not a moral ideal, as many people have believed. It is flagrantly unjust, a prescription for chaining the individual to the collective and forcing the sacrifice of all to all.
When the “Equalization of Opportunity” bill forces Hank Rearden to sell off most of his companies, we see why property rights are essential human rights. Together with rights of contract, they allow everyone, including successful producers like Hank, to make rational, long-range plans.
When Hank Rearden rejects a government offer to buy the rights to his new metal, his refusal highlights the profound difference between his
Early in Atlas Shrugged Part 1 , Hank Rearden has two conversations that illustrate the conflict between makers and takers. Hank made his wealth by creating value in his business. His dependent brother Phillip is a taker, self-righteously asking for charity; as are the politicians and crony capitalists who seize wealth by force.
In the famous “money speech,” Francisco d’Anconia responds to of the Biblical statement "money is the root of all evil" by explaining the real essence of money. Money is a medium of exchange, the means by which people trade value for value. And it represents the fact that wealth must be created by production.
