The Objectivism Book Study met through 2022 to study Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff.

Our reading this week was:

Ch. 6 – Reason as an attribute of the individual 198 to 205

We begin our discussion this week by looking at a thread Jacob Brunton posted to Twitter:

“Conservatives will rightly scoff at the Communist notion of pathetically making yourself and your family material dependents of the tribe.

But those of the anti-individualist variety will openly advocate for being spiritually dependent upon the tribe for your ideas and values.

They proudly assert the virtues of independence, self-sufficiency, and personal responsibility in the material realm, then scorn those same virtues as vices in the spiritual realm of ideas and values.

That which they spurn as effeminate in material life is praised in spiritual life.

Such a gnostic dichotomy cannot, and will not, hold.

The effeminate collectivism of their spiritual world will either bleed over into the material, yielding “Christian” socialists, or they will reject the spiritual altogether as effeminate and impractical.

The solution: Reject the Communism of the soul which demands that you submit your mind and your morals to the tribe, for the same reason that you reject the Communism of the body.

Your mind and values, like your body and your wealth, are *yours* to steward—and not to be farmed out to others.

Learn the virtue of being an independent thinker, just as you’ve learned the virtue of being an independent producer.

Learn that the ability to come to independent conclusions is of much more value than the ability to make an independent living (which is very valuable).

Learn that, just as material wealth is not a zero sum, neither are ideas or virtues.

Just as the independently wealthy man does not earn his wealth at the expense of others, so the man of independent mind and character does not build that state of soul at the expense of others.

Cooperation is good in both the spiritual and material realms, but only insofar as it is cooperation with other men who are independently competent.

Cooperation with incompetents is not a positive value.

Learn to guard your soul from incompetents as you guard your wealth.”

Listen to the podcast in the player below, or view the video here.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

List of Dates and Readings

Why Christians Should Reconsider Ayn Rand

About Us (For the New Christian Intellectual)

Ayn Rand and Christianity?

Christianity + Western Civilization

The Plunder of the Egyptians

Americanism Book Study

Become a Patron and Get Full-Length Exclusive Podcasts

As a $1/mo. Podcast Insider, get access to occasional patron-only episodes.

As a $10/mo. Philosophy Club Member, you can attend occasional live podcast recording sessions and submit questions either live or beforehand + get access to our exclusive culture war training.