Friedrich Nietzsche and Ayn Rand share an exalted sense of human potential—and a set of philosophical enemies: Plato, Augustine, and Kant. But in their mature ethical theories, how close are Nietzsche’s and Rand’s positions? In these two lectures, Stephen Hicks, Professor of Philosophy at Rockford College, will put Nietzsche’s and Rand’s ethical theories in philosophical context and note some similarities between the two—and the many striking and fundamental differences.

Stephen Hicks has been Visiting Professor of Business Ethics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., a Visiting Fellow at the Social Philosophy & Policy Center in Bowling Green, Ohio, a Salvatori Fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., and Senior Fellow at The Objectivist Center. There, he drafted his new book, Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (2004: Scholargy Publishing). More information about Dr. Hicks can be found at his website. Of special note for this audience are his essay “Ayn Rand and Contemporary Business Ethics,” published in the Journal of Accounting, Ethics, and Public Policy, and his article on Ayn Rand for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Music is something of an enigma in the Objectivist world. How can such powerful emotional responses come from art that, lyrics aside, has no conceptual referent? How can our musical opinions be so strong, yet so seemingly immune to analysis? Is there any point in discussing music with others, given how variable musical taste seems to be among individuals? Is any piece or style of music "objectively better" than another? Rand's writings offer some fascinating insights on the psychological nature of musical appreciation and suggest some guidelines for how we might be able to analyze the formation of musical opinions. In this pair of talks, Michael Shapiro will explain Rand's views on musical aesthetics (dispelling the myth that Objectivism requires fealty to Rachmaninoff or tiddlywink music), outline some the many factors that makeup our musical tastes, and explore what we can (and can't) say about musical evaluation.

Michael Shapiro is a professional composer for film, television, and multimedia. He has a bachelor's degree in cognitive science from Carnegie Mellon University, a masters degree in music composition from New York University, and is a graduate of the film scoring program at the University of Southern California. He has written scores for several independent feature films, including 2003's Home Room starring Erika Christenson and Victor Garber, and Sneak Preview Entertainment's upcoming horror feature HellBent. He has also composed the score for the Objectivist Center's audio book edition of Ayn Rand's novel Anthem.

There are substantial superficial similarities between Ayn Rand and Jose Ortega y Gasset as philosophers. Both were criticized for writing and speaking about philosophy to popular audiences. Both had philosophies that emphasized individualism. Rand read Ortega and even listed him in her journals as the "vague" model for the character who later became Hugh Akston in Atlas Shrugged. There are substantial differences as well since Rand acknowledged the influence of Aristotle, and Ortega started as a Cartesian. William Perry will explore the differences and similarities between Rand and Ortega, and suggest some aspects of Ortega's work that would be interesting to Objectivists.

William E. Perry is a retired prosecutor. He has spoken previously at the 2002 TOC Summer Seminar on "The Role of the Prosecutor—What it is and What it Should Be." and at the 2003 TOC Summer Seminar on "The Laws of Self Defense." He received his A.B. in Dramatic Art from the University of California at Davis in 1969, and his J.D. from the University of Arizona in 1975. He began reading Rand in 1963 and Ortega in 1970. He was a founding member and co-leader of Arizona Objectivists and has made numerous presentations there and at other Objectivist groups.

Bill is currently Director of Community Relations for The Objectivist Center.

Medical altruism requires Americans to sacrifice their money and their lives for the poor, the sick, the disabled, and even illegal aliens. While medical insurance rates skyrocket and medical care is rationed, Americans pay for free care for illegal aliens. The pernicious "Emergency Treatment and Active Labor Act" demands that physicians and hospitals treat for free (or face fines up to $50,000 per incident) anyone who comes to an Emergency Room whether or not able to pay or whether or not "legal". Hospitals close because of bankruptcy (84 California hospitals were shuttered between 1993 and 2004), and medicine lurches into socialism by the sacrifice of our best to benefit the poor, hungry masses yearning to turn our compassion against us. Illegal Immigration's assault on American medicine is excellent opportunity to apply Objectivism's metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics to a dramatic, compelling life and death problem. The choice for many Americans is life with Medical Objectivism or death by Medical Altruism. Dr. Cosman is a medical lawyer who has written essays on medical malpractice past and present since 1968, and discovered the earliest medical malpractice insurance (in 15th century English documents). Her forthcoming book for 2005, Who Owns Your Body?: Doctors and Patients Behind Bars, considers the detrimental effects of medical malpractice litigation on free-market, patient-centered medicine. (The inspiration for this talk is TOC member Merlin Jetton.)

Statistical literacy studies arguments that use statistics as evidence. Learn to see through the statistics; see the story behind the story. Learn about confounding and statistical prevarication. Enjoy the interplay between words and numbers. Learn how small changes in syntax create big changes in semantics. Using a new graphical technique, we will actually "see" how taking into account a related factor (the percentage of families headed by a married couple) can change the size of the income gap between white and black families. Learn the special meaning of "Take CARE" in statistical literacy.

Dr. Milo Schield is professor of statistics at Augsburg College. He teaches statistical literacy to humanities majors and directs the W. M. Keck Statistical Literacy Project (for background, see www.StatLit.org). Joel Best, author of More Damned Lies and Statistics, cited Milo as "the leading voice of the statistical literacy movement."

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is being called the most sweeping regulatory change—read: biggest power grab—at the Federal level since the Securities Act of 1933, in terms of its impact on the fundamental ways that all business must operate in the United States. Overnight, the Act changed the accounting profession in the United States from a self-regulated industry to a conscription army in the service of collectivism. Learn how the Act has created a new and pervasive fear in the American business community, further eroding the incentive to innovate, to operate effectively, and, most perversely, to tell the truth.

Don Krause is the Senior Manager for Financial Control Systems at US Cellular, a wireless services provider headquartered in Chicago. Don is a CPA and holds a Master's degree in Finance from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Over the past 20 years, Don has developed internal control systems and processes for McDonald's Corporation, Motorola, and United Airlines, and has been a leader in finance and accounting at US Cellular since 1996. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act converted Don into a government enforcer.

(Advanced Seminar session, advance registration required. See the Advanced Seminar application form.)

Ayn Rand held that humans are born conceptually tabula rasa. All knowledge, all values—all tendencies—she argued to be by choice. In this essay, Christopher Robinson will argue that this is false. While we may have free-will, it is tethered. In the end, this tethering of will holds implications for moral responsibility. While he will not argue that biology is destiny, he will show that not every option is equally open to our choice and not every option is equally easily made.

In order to show this, Robinson will begin with straightforward sex differences that are clearly loaded. From these, he will show how genetically generated variability, combined with clear genetic influences in a variety of disorders, indicates that there are broad characteristics of individuals that also show a tethering of the will.

Christopher Robinson is a professor of psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has taught a wide range of classes, including Evolutionary Psychology, Human Sexuality, and Psychological and Behavioral Sex Differences. He has had a long-standing interest in the ways that evolution influences our behavior, and in the philosophical questions that the theory raises.

At this presentation, highlights from three to five new videotaped interviews from The Objectivist History Project will be shown. Duncan Scott, director of The Objectivist History Project, has been videotaping people who were central players in the Objectivist movement. Scott argues that hearing from Objectivists who have a long range perspective on the movement allows us to re-examine the evolution of Objectivist thinking and methodology sometimes exposing ideas and practices that need to be challenged.

The bioethics of human enhancement remains the subject of much popular debate, whether that enhancement is achieved through genetic manipulation, surgery, or drug use. Congress is holding hearings on steroid use, and the battle over stem-cell research remains a point of contention in the United States and internationally , meanwhile no one cares that baseball players go in for Lasik eyesight enhancement.

At the heart of these controversies lie two core sets of assumptions. The first is a set of beliefs surrounding human nature and what it means to be “natural” or “normal.” The second is a set of beliefs about unfair advantage—or unnatural performance enhancements—whether those enhancements are engineered or drug-induced. These core assumptions sometimes conflict with very natural and very normal human aspirations; namely, the desire for a better life.

In this talk, Patrick Stephens will address the bioethical issues surrounding genetic manipulation and performance enhancements, in the laboratory, in the hospital, on the playing field, and in the bedroom.