Nice that you could join us! Here's what you need to do:

1. Go buy Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand ($14). You might also want to get Dr. Gary Hull's study guide for OPAR ($9).
2. Visit our page on the TalkShoe conference calling service and download and familiarize yourself with their free "TalkShoe Live! Pro" software, which will allow you to call in for free using your computer (your regular phone will work, too, but you may incur toll costs).
3. Read the Frequently Asked Questions and the Session Manual.
4. Watch the area below for the session schedule and agendas. (Also, our rendezvous information will appear at the top of this column 15-30 minutes before start time.)

You can pay for the Seminar here, and then update your profile.

$15 for seminar on

Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics

. . .
Starting Leonard Peikoff's Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand
Sunday May 18, 7:30pm Mountain: Chapter 1 (intro, basic axioms, causality)
Sunday May 25, 7:30pm Mountain: Chapter 1 (PofE, metaphysically absolute, Idealism and Materialism)
Sunday June 1, 7:30pm Mountain: Chapter 2 (sense perception)
Sunday June 8, 7:30pm Mountain: Chapter 2 (volition)
. . .

Truly living well calls for engaging fundamental philosophical ideas and integrating their use into our everyday lives, our everyday actions, our way of being—into our souls. Unfortunately, it is all too easy to get busy with all the urgent things around us, and we can drift, distracted and disintegrated. For those of us who want an ongoing practice in such engagement (and those who want to explore the need for that in the first place), I have created The Objectivism Seminar.

The Objectivism Seminar is a weekly online conference call to systematically work through the philosophy of Ayn Rand via the books of prominent Rand scholars. These moderated, one-hour sessions will be recorded and podcast to allow review, catch-up, and even disconnected participation. The idea is to give people—new and experienced alike—a forum to chew through key Objectivist works and tour the complete system, further clarifying, integrating, and grounding their grasp of the ideas.

Because it is an ongoing seminar, we will have incentive to keep up with the steady schedule of study and stay equipped to consider fresh angles, concretizations, challenges, and applications from other participants. And because life is so full for many of us, I am purposefully keeping the reading load light and the method of participation unobtrusive. The plan is that we will spend almost as much time discussing the ideas as reading about them. Study like this is productive for both experienced students of Objectivism and those new to Rand's ideas: I've read all of these books, some several times, and I would expect to get at least as much out of this as someone going through them for the first time.

If you are interested, please look over the FAQ below and join in!


Q: What is The Objectivism Seminar?
A: The Objectivism Seminar is a weekly online conference call to systematically work through the philosophy of Ayn Rand via the books of prominent Rand scholars. These moderated one-hour sessions will be recorded and podcast to allow review, catch-up, and even disconnected participation.

Q: How much does it cost?
A: The cost is $15 per person per book to participate in or access the recordings of the sessions (and it is refundable in full for any reason whatsoever in your first five sessions). But Objectivist luminaries who have or might produce the sorts of substantive books, articles, and lectures we are studying are only allowed to participate for free. ;^)

Q: Do I have to be an Objectivist to participate?
A: No. The purpose of the seminar is to give people a means to critically engage Objectivism and improve their understanding of the philosophy. Anybody who is polite and honest in this effort is welcome; anybody who disrupts others in that endeavor is not. (The process of examining ideas can be challenging enough that we certainly don't need to have someone being rude or beating us up psychologically while we do it!)

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