A Feast for the Mind, a Delight to the Spirit

For those interested in Objectivism, TOC's annual summer seminar offers the chance to spend time learning about the philosophy and its applications, in a community where your values are understood and appreciated. The seminar is a rich week of courses, lectures, workshops, and performances, ornamented with late-night discussions, fun and games, and the formation of friendships that can last a lifetime. Says Cathy Ilson: "I love that for a little while during the year I am surrounded with rational, active minds, open to really discuss and share ideas." On June 29, 2002, this tradition continues at the beautiful campus of the University of California, Los Angeles.

This year's summer seminar boasts thirteen new speakers and sixty-one lectures. Four lectures will be offered most mornings, five most afternoons, and two most evenings. The week's program is anchored by two early-morning, six-session courses on the philosophy of Objectivism. The first, "Introduction to Objectivism," taught by Diana Hsieh, will survey the Objectivist philosophy from metaphysics to politics and contrast its theory and practice with the theories and practices of competing systems of ideas, including religious systems. (In a separate lecture, "White Lies, Black Lies," Hsieh will examine in depth the virtue of honesty and the excuses often put forward for dishonesty.) The other, more advanced early-morning course will be "The Inductive Structure of Objectivism," taught by William Thomas, TOC's manager of research and training. Drawing on his forthcoming work, The Logical Structure of Objectivism, Thomas will survey the empirical evidence that supports some key Objectivist tenets, such as the need for concretization that underlies the value of art; the harmony of interests among those who live by reason; and the need for government.

A number of talks will reflect current events since September 11. In "National Security and Liberty," Robert A. Levy will analyze the constitutionality of various domestic security measures that have been proposed since the terrorist attacks. Robert Poole, founder and former president of the Reason Foundation, will lecture on airport security. Paul Drake, director of the Space Physics Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan, will discuss the topic of government-funded research in the context of terrorism, national security, and individual liberty. Kenneth Livingston, a professor of psychology at Vassar College, will attempt to explain the power that religion has always exercised over mankind and then proceed to ask whether man can transcend this obsession with the supernatural. Greg Peisert will discuss the nature and dangers of fundamentalism.

The terrorist attacks also kindled a widespread appreciation of the hero among Americans, an appreciation that has always been characteristic of Objectivism. At the summer seminar, several lectures will reflect that passion: Nathaniel Branden, long-time Objectivist and psychotherapist, will deliver a talk entitled "Heroism and Self-Interest." Robert A. Warshak, a clinical professor of psychology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, has prepared a lecture called "Heroes, Traumas, and Children." "The Enlightened Hero and Heroine: A New Form of Heroism in the Arts" will be presented by Michael Newberry, an internationally renowned painter. And Lindsay Wilcox, a long-time student of art and especially of figure sculpture, will discuss "The Making of Heroic Sculpture."

In addition to the two courses last named, the arts segment of The Objectivist Center's Thirteenth Annual Summer Seminar will include: "Ayn Rand's Concept of Art," by Michelle Kahmi, coauthor of What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand; "Ayn Rand and Literature as the Projection of a Moral Ideal," by Kirsti Minsaas, senior research fellow in English literature at the University of Oslo; "Completing Rand's Literary Theory," by Stephen Cox, director of humanities at the University of California, San Diego; "The Poetry of Kipling," by Linda Abrams; "How to Write Poetry," by John Enright; "How to Enjoy Opera," by John Kerns (see the next article); and a two-session, limited-attendance workshop, "Motivating the Scene," conducted by Nell Robinson; a tour of local architecture led by Peter Reidy; and a trip to the Getty Museum led by Lindsay Wilcox.

Back again this year will be some perennial favorites of seminar attendees. Stephen Hicks, chairman of the philosophy department at Rockford College, will deliver a two-lecture course, "Free Speech and Censorship." David Mayer, a professor of law at Capital University, will try to answer the question set forth in the title of his talk, "Abraham Lincoln: Hero or Villain?" David Ross, an associate professor of mathematics at the Rochester Institute of Technology, will provide an account of the nature of number, based on the Objectivist epistemology. Susan McCloskey will conduct a two-session workshop, "Writing to Persuade." (Those wishing to attend this workshop must file an application, available on TOC's Web site, by April 22.)

Lecturers appearing at TOC's summer seminar for the first time will offer a wide spectrum of talks. Brink Lindsey, director of the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies, will speak on globalization; Joyce Penner, a professor at the Atmospheric Oceanic and Space Science Center at the University of Michigan, will discuss climate change and global warming; Aeon J. Skoble, a professor of philosophy at Bridgewater Sate College, will cover ethical issues raised by military activity; and William E. Perry, a prosecutor in Arizona and co-leader of the Arizona Objectivists, will explain what a prosecutor does in the American legal system and how his role should be modified.

Because TOC's summer seminar offers top-notch teachers sympathetic to the Objectivist outlook, college students will find the week a special treat. University of Colorado graduate student Heather Demarest has said: "The intellectual caliber of both the participants and lecturers was outstanding. Some of the sharpest minds I have ever met were there." Scholarships are available to aid students with tuition and room-and-board charges. Students interested in a scholarship or a conference assistant position should apply by April 24. The final deadline for summer seminar registrations is June 1.

Works mentioned in this article available for purchase at The Objectivism Store: What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand by Louis Torres and Michelle Kamhi