Life As the Standard of Value by Leonard Peikoff

Understanding Objectivism by Leonard Peikoff - Lesson 2 of 12

This lesson focuses on understanding a central tenet of the Objectivist ethics — the principle that life is the standard of value. Using a series of exercises involving the audience at the time, Leonard Peikoff identifies methodological principles that are crucial to understanding this, or any other, philosophical principle, such as: the proper (and improper) use of definitions, the importance of establishing an idea’s context, and the difference between summarizing an idea and really understanding it.

Recorded in New York, NY in 1983.

SUBSCRIBE TO NEW IDEAL, ARI'S ONLINE PUBLICATION

SUBSCRIBE TO ARI’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL

SUPPORT THE AYN RAND INSTITUTE WITH A DONATION

EXPLORE ARI

FOLLOW ARI ON TWITTER

LIKE ARI ON FACEBOOK

[YashArya]

1:49:35 Summary of the points of the method
1. Set the intellectual context concisely.
2. Identify the full meaning of the idea being chewed.
3. Define a few essential terms, keeping all definitions connected to instances in reality with all of their attributes (process of reduction). Oscillate back and forth between the definition and the concretes. If your emotions help you come up with relevant instances, let them!
4. Concretize regularly, especially your key concepts.
5. If it's a major issue, your proof must be inductive, not deductive.
6. Break up the complexity into stages, then alternately expand and condense each stage; in the end the whole issue should be one word.
1:52:30 Homework for next class
1:59:00 Question Period

[YashArya]

00:00 Preliminaries to the exercises
16:45 Life as the standard of value: first exercise
30:45 Rule: Establish the presupposed context concisely
31:00 Second exercise
46:11 Tying definitions to reality: first example
1:10:40 Beware of floating definitions, end remember that a definition does not subsume the concept.
1:11:45 Tying definitions to reality: second example
Along with the definition, have a rich varied catalog of concrete examples on hand. Oscillate between the two during your understanding process.
1:34:19 Emotions are essential to learning philosophy. Emotions help automatize the process of concretization (tying definitions to examples).
1:34:48 Last exercise for life as a standard of value
1:38:00 Summary of the points of method

[luukzwart]

1:35:04

1:52:30 Excersive for the next lecture about Honesty

[kensantarelli]

6:07 Interference from a two-way radio?