ATLAS UNIVERSITY | Online courses in Objectivism

Atlas University offers courses on Objectivism, the philosophy Ayn Rand founded, presented by scholars who are experts in the philosophy. Atlas University is a project of the Atlas Society, which promotes Objectivism in life and thought.

New: What are Rights?

June 7 2013 --- Political controversies and protests are often dominated by the theme of rights or individual rights. We hear about a "right to health care," a "right to education," even a "right to high-speed Internet." In California, one man has even claimed a "right to longboard" on city sidewalks. Others claim there is no "right to health care" because such a right entails forcing others to pay for one's health care--and coercion they say is a violation of individual rights. How can we make sense of competing claims to rights? How can we gain a solid understanding of what rights are? In this video Will Thomas shares footage from recent rights protests and gives us a fascinating "tool" to use to evaluate claims of "rights." To show what a right is, he shows what the traditional basic rights of the U.S. Constitution have in common, and argues for individual rights to life, liberty, and property. He contrasts real, individual rights to freedom with pseudo-rights that are used to destroy freedom. Watch now >

Course #1: Reason

"I am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism; and I am

not
primarily an advocate of egoism, but of reason…."
Ayn Rand

This 10-part video lecture series by David Kelley and William R Thomas 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.

While the lectures form a natural sequence as a whole, they are sufficiently independent that you can profitably view individual lectures as you choose.

1. What is reason?

David Kelley begins the course by discussing the nature of reason as a cognitive faculty distinct from the perceptual abilities humans share with other animals. Looking back through history, he illustrates the extraordinary power of reason in human life, as well as the issues philosophers have raised about the validity of

reason.

Atlas Uiversity Conversations | #1 --Appreciating reason

Atlas Uiversity Conversations | #2 -- The critics of reason

2. What is reason? The conceptual faculty

William R Thomas explains why the capacity to form concepts is the essential feature of reason. He shows how concepts make possible our use
of language, how concepts are formed, and they depend on our direct, sensory awareness of reality. He discusses the Objectivist answer to the philosophical problem of abstraction. And he argues that failure to appreciate the nature of concepts contributes to a common human failing, on that Ayn Rand called "the anti-conceptual mentality."

Atlas University Conversations | #3 --The importance of definitions

3. The volitional nature of reason

(Filmed, in post-production)
As against the claims of determinism, William R Thomas explains that volition, or free will, is an inescapable fact of human nature and an integral part of our rational faculty. He discusses three aspects of human volition: self-awareness, perceptual attention, and conceptual focus. Objectivism holds that the root of volition is the choice to think or not. Thomas explains how this choice allows us control over our thoughts, lives, and actions; and why the failure to think, the evasion of the facts, lies at the root of human dysfunction and evil.

4. Objective reality

by David Kelley

Content in development

5. Objective knowledge

by David Kelley

Content in development

6. Reason and Emotion

(Filmed, in post-production) What role do emotions play in a rational life? Is reason the slave of the passions?
Is there necessarily a conflict between reason and emotion? William R Thomas explains what unites
Ayn Rand's view that “emotions are not tools of cognition” with her view that emotions are how we
experience values “psychologically.”

7. Certainty

by David Kelley
Content in development

8. Religion, God, and the supernatural