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The listing below briefly describes the contents of each article in The Objectivist. Sample quotations are included for many articles. Items such as the "Objectivist Calendar" and the "Horror File" are not included in this list. (Note: the descriptions are currently incomplete.)
Rand proposes that many people who embrace altruism do so as an effort to appease the irrational. "Moral cowardice is fear of upholding the good because it is good, and fear of opposing evil because it is evil. The next step leads to opposing the good in order to appease the evil, and rushing to seek out the evil's favor. But since no mind can fully hide this policy from itself, and no form of pseudo-self-esteem can disguise it for long, the next step is to pounce upon every possible or impossible chance to blacken the nature of the good and to whitewash the nature of evil."
Rand explains the idea of a "sense of life." "A sense of life is a pre-conceptual equivalent of metaphysics, an emotional, subconsciously integrated appraisal of man's relationship to existence." She discusses how a consciously held philosophy affects, but does not replace, a person's sense of life.
Rand discusses how a sense of life affects an artist's work and the reaction to it. "The truth or falsehood of a given artist's philosophy as such, is not an esthetic matter; it may affect a given viewer's enjoyment of his work, but it does not negate its esthetic merit. Some sort of philosophical meaning, however, some implicit view of life, is a necessary element of any work of art."
In this printing of a Ford Hall Forum lecture, Rand compares the absence of moral inspiration in contemporary society to the conditions of a sensory deprivation experiment. "Many people believe that consciousness as such is some sort of indeterminate faculty which has no nature, no specific identity and, therefore, no requirements, no needs, no rules for being properly or improperly used. The simplest example of this belief is people's willingness to lie or cheat, to fake reality on the premise that 'I'm the only one who'll know' or 'It's only in my mind' -- without any concern for what this does to one's mind, what complex, untraceable, disastrous impairments it produces, what crippling damage may result."
Hessen discusses and recommends Anderson's book about federal "urban renewal" programs. (Anderson had been a student at the Nathaniel Branden Institute and once wrote a book review for The Objectivist Newsletter.)
Rand identifies statism as the primary cause of wars. "If men want to oppose war, it is statism that they must oppose. So long as they hold the tribal notion that the individual is sacrificial fodder for the collective, that some men have the right to rule others by force, and that some (any) alleged 'good' can justify it -- there can be no peace within a nation and no peace among nations."
In this essay, Rand explains under what conditions it is acceptable for someone who follows the Objectivist morality to accept scholarships. Private scholarships are acceptable as a form of non-sacrificial assistance. Government-funded scholarships are acceptable as a form of restitution for tax monies taken from the recipient. "The recipient of a public scholarship is morally justified only so long as he regards it as restitution and opposes all forms of welfare statism. Those who advocate public scholarships, have no right to them; those who oppose them, have. If this sounds like a paradox, the fault lies in the moral contradictions of welfare statism, not in its victims." Rand says similar considerations apply to accepting money from social security, unemployement insurance, or government research grants. She also decribes the parameters within which it is acceptable to take a job with the government.
This eight-part essay explains Rand's theory of concept-formation. It was later reprinted in the book of the same name.
Greenspan supports a currency based on a gold standard as a check on the expansion of welfare statism. "The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit."
Rand praises the paintings of Jose Manuel Capuletti, who had recently had a gallery exhibition in New York City. "The first impact of his work, when one enters a show by Capuletti, is a sense of enormous clarity. It is as if the air were washed clean and things stood out self-assertively, demanding recognition, in an intensely heightened reality."
Aside from "Horror File" and "Objectivist Calendar" items, all articles in this issue are continuations of ones started in previous issues.
Efron gives a positive review to Hansel's debunking of ESP claims.
Rand responds to readers who have requested a positive counterpart to the "Horror File" columns published in the magazine.
This Ford Hall Forum lecture updates Rand's earlier lecture on "The New Fascism: Rule by Consensus." She discusses the failure of President Johnson's "consensus" efforts, with particular focus on the war in Vietnam. She condemns the military draft as a violation of rights and an enabler of undesirable military ventures. "Not many men would volunteer for such wars as Korea or Vietnam. Without the power of the draft, the makers of our foreign policy would not be able to embark on adventures of that kind. This is one of the best practical reasons for the abolition of the draft."
Brick recommends this high school textbook on American government by Jones, who is a "supporter of Objectivism and an NBI student."
Rand responds to the papal encyclical Populorum Progressio, and condemns its irrationalism, altruism and collectivism. "If need -- global need -- is the criterion of morality, if minimum subsistence (the standard of living of the least developed savages) is the criterion of property rights, then every new shirt or dress, every ice cream cone, every automobile, refridgerator or television set becomes 'superfluous wealth.'"
Aside from "Horror File" and "Objectivist Calendar" items, all articles in this issue are continuations of ones started in previous issues.
Aside from "Objectivist Calendar" items, all articles in this issue are continuations of ones started in previous issues.
Rand reprints the introduction to a new hardcover edition of her play.
Rand announces and explains her repudiation of Nathaniel Branden and Barbara Branden.
Rand reviews the three major candidates for US President, and endorses Richard Nixon. "No, Nixon is not an advocate of laissez-faire capitalism -- but no such advocate exists or could exist as yet on the political scene."
Rand updates her "policy in regard to the students and supporters of Objectivism." There is to be no "school or organization" to represent Objectivism, although people interested in Objectivism may form local study groups of their own if they wish. "I regard the spread of Objectivism through today's culture as an intellectual movement -- i.e., a trend among independent individuals who share the same ideas -- but not as an organized movement. The existence (and the later policies) of NBI contributed to certain misconceptions among some of its students and the public at large, which tended to put Objectivism in an equivocal position in this respect. I want, therefore, to make it emphatically clear that Objectivism is not an organized movement and is not to be regarded as such by anyone."
Rand's attorney sets out Rand's preferences for the use of her name and terms related to her ideas and writings.
In this very brief item, Rand thanks her readers for their responses to her article "To Whom It May Concern."
This article is available online in two parts: Part 1 and Part 2
Rand briefly discusses the flight of the Apollo 8 mission.
Rand prints a letter she sent to The New York Times objecting to an article by Herman Wouk about a contemporary military incident known as "the Pueblo case."
Rand recommends that her readers support an effort to reform the New York state abortion law.
Rand commends a statement by the president of the University of Notre Dame in opposition to violent student protests.
In this brief item, Rand's attorney notes that Rand is not involved with and does not endorse the recent sale of recordings about Objectivism by Nathaniel Branden.
The authors illustrate anti-intellectualism in Hollywood through discussions of three movies: Charly, Bullitt, and 2005: A Space Odyssey.
This two-paragraph item consists entirely of an excerpt from The Fountainhead
Rand reprints the introduction to her latest essay collection, this one on esthetics. "Will we see an esthetic Renaissance in our time? I do not know. What I do know is this: anyone who fights for the future, lives in it today."
In addition to giving a positive review, Rand describes a number of the findings from Scheibla's book about the Johnson administration's "War on Poverty" efforts.
Rand warns that the "dangerous notion" of "political crimes" is being introduced into America's culture, via the claim that some crimes should be dealt with more lightly than others, because the perpretators have political motivations. "Ideas, in a free society, are not a crime -- and neither can they serve as the justification of a crime."
Aside from "Objectivist Calendar" items, all articles in this issue are continuations of ones started in previous issues.
Aside from "Objectivist Calendar" items, all articles in this issue are continuations of ones started in previous issues.
Aside from "Horror File" and "Objectivist Calendar" items, all articles in this issue are continuations of ones started in previous issues.
Rand condemns an incident in which US officials allowed the Soviets to board an American ship to reclaim a Lithuanian seaman who was attempting to defect.
Aside from "Horror File" and "Objectivist Calendar" items, all articles in this issue are continuations of ones started in previous issues.
Rand discusses "psychologizing" in its various forms. "Psychologizing consists in condemning or excusing specific individuals on the grounds of their psychological problems, real or invented, in the absence of or contrary to factual evidence." She warns against any kind of amateur effort at diagnosing psychopathologies. "Allowing for special exceptions in special cases, it is not advisible to discuss one's psychological problems with one's friends. Such discussions can lead to disastrously erroneous conclusions (since two amateurs are no better than one, and sometimes worse) -- and they introduce a kind of medical element that undercuts the basis of friendship."
Aside from "Horror File" and "Objectivist Calendar" items, all articles in this issue are continuations of ones started in previous issues.
In her last article for The Objectivist, Rand reiterates her view that philosophical premises are more important than purely political efforts. "Reason in epistemology leads to egoism in ethics, which leads to capitalism in politics. The hierarchical structure cannot be reversed, nor can any of its levels hold without the fundamental one -- as those who have tried are beginning to discover."
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