Atlas Society
Top 10 Articles
Ethics
Objectivism, Evolution, and Ethics
In this presentation filmed in 2010, Edward Hudgins offers a detailed examination of the attempts by the new secularists and atheists to address the fundamental questions of ethics and morality from an evolutionary and based on insights into human evolution and neuroscience.He lays out how thinkers like Dawkins, Dennett, and Shermer have wrestled with these issues and analyzes where they’ve succeeded and where they’ve failed to establish a rational foundation for ethics.
The Code of the Creator
(For an abbreviated version of this essay please see "Code of the Creator.") This essay was the ninth and final essay in The Literary Art of Ayn Rand. It first appeared as the companion of Stephen Cox’s talk at the 50th anniversary celebration of The Fountainhead, held in New York in 1993.5 Editor William R Thomas wrote, "This is a fitting conclusion for this volume because it brings us back to the ultimate source of Rand’s lasting cultural impact: her distinctive moral s
David Kelley earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1975, and later taught cognitive science and philosophy at Vassar College and Brandeis University. His articles on social issues and public policy have appeared in Harper's, The Sciences, Reason, Harvard Business Review, The Freeman, and elsewhere. His books include Unrugged Individualism: The Selfish Basis of Benevolence; The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand; The Evidence of the Senses; and The Art of Reasoning, one of the most widely used logic textbooks in the country. Kelley is founder and chief intellectual officer of The Atlas Society.
The Major Virtues: Independence
Summer 2010 -- “’Value’ is that which one acts to gain and keep,” wrote Ayn Rand, “’virtue’ is the action by which one gains and keeps it.” This six-session course focuses on the distinctive virtues highlighted by Objectivism: their basis in fact, their contrast with traditional moral ideals, and their role in a rational, value-seeking human life.
Values in Atlas Shrugged (Part 2): Goodwill and Trust
Atlas Shrugged is a paean to rational selfishness. But it also contrasts the social vision of rational, independent cooperation versus collectivism and irrationalism. In this talk, William R Thomas discusses the social values of goodwill and trust, and shows how they are earned and lost in the novel. We see how Objectivist commitments to reason, achievement, happiness, justice, and liberty contribute to the development of goodwill and trust--and to one's ability to benefit from them.
Atlas Summit 2012 -- In her book, The Virtue of Selfishness, Ayn Rand exhorted readers to put the word "selfishness" to its true and proper use: to describe the ethic of rational self-interest.Yes, Mr. President, Ayn Rand Is for Teens -- and Everyone Else
In a newly published interview, President Obama says Ayn Rand is for teens:
Why Man Needs Art
Editor's Note: This is an edited excerpt from Chapter 4 of The Logical Structure of Objectivism, by William R Thomas and David Kelley.
A Humanist Ethics of Pride
BOOK REVIEW : Richard Taylor, Restoring Pride: The Lost Virtue of Our Age (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Press, 1996)
