Ayn Rand admired Mickey Spillane as a writer and a crusader: “a brilliant literary talent” and a “moral absolutist.” Several of his novels, including the two-book series about Morgan the Raider (a pirate with an enigmatic past and mysterious motivations) were set partially or completely in Miami. One character, amazed at his first glimpse of the homes and hotels of the Miami skyline, asks: “How could men with their bare hands build such a place?” This talk, in addition to describing the stories and settings of Spillane’s Miami novels, will include new information about his life and parallels between his writing and the work of writers he admired, including Alexandre Dumas and Ayn Rand, whom he considered a personal friend.Recorded live on July 1 at OCON 2023

This lesson explains Aristotle’s method of scientific investigation, focusing on Aristotle’s logical works—especially the Posterior Analytics. Salmieri discusses Aristotle’s view of the kinds of questions we seek to answer when we investigate; for example, the nature of definitions and their relationship to scientific demonstrations, and the formation of new concepts. This course includes a handout: https://courses.aynrand.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Greg_Salmieri-Aristotles_Theory_of_Knowledge.pdf Lesson 3 of 3 in "Aristotle's Theory of Knowledge" Copyright © 1985 – 2024 The Ayn Rand Institute (ARI). Reproduction of content and images in whole or in part is prohibited. All rights reserved.

In this lesson, Salmieri explains Aristotle’s theory of universals and how that theory makes possible scientific understanding (epistēmē) of this world based on sense-perception. The lesson explains that universal knowledge, for Aristotle, is a power to know particulars as falling under kinds. Salmieri concludes with a discussion of a famous chapter of the Posterior Analytics, in which Aristotle uses a battlefield metaphor to explain how we grasp universals. This course includes a handout: https://courses.aynrand.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Greg_Salmieri-Aristotles_Theory_of_Knowledge.pdf Lesson 2 of 3 in "Aristotle's Theory of Knowledge" Copyright © 1985 – 2024 The Ayn Rand Institute (ARI). Reproduction of content and images in whole or in part is prohibited. All rights reserved.

In this lesson, Salmieri discusses Aristotle’s view of the types and degrees of knowledge. In particular, he explains what is distinctive about the type of knowledge that Aristotle calls epistēmē (scientific understanding) and relates it to Objectivism’s view of the importance of thinking in principle. He also introduces Aristotle’s concept of technē (art, craft or skill) and explains why Aristotle regards both technē and epistēmē as superior to mere experience. This course includes a handout: https://courses.aynrand.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Greg_Salmieri-Aristotles_Theory_of_Knowledge.pdf Lesson 1 of 3 in "Aristotle's Theory of Knowledge" Copyright © 1985 – 2024 The Ayn Rand Institute (ARI). Reproduction of content and images in whole or in part is prohibited. All rights reserved.

The ancient Stoics held that we suffer in life because we value the wrong things and/or have the wrong attitude toward our values. If we want to live the good life, they held, we need to radically change the way we value. Given the growing popularity of Stoicism in the culture today, it’s worth examining what this reorientation to values amounts to, and what it would mean to adopt it. This talk will explore both ancient and modern Stoic approaches to values from the perspective of Objectivism’s radically different view. Discover the crucial link between the right ideas and happiness. Visit aynrand.org/discover Recorded July 4, 2023, at OCON in Miami, Florida.

St. Augustine’s philosophy marked a decisive turning point in the history of the West, the first systematic repudiation of the ancient Greek philosophical outlook in favor of Christian religion. Augustine’s ethics was especially crucial. He fundamentally repudiated the content of pagan views of virtue even as he retained certain trappings of their framework. The most telling example was Augustine’s celebration of the virtue of humility, in defiance of the Greek virtue of pride. This talk will highlight the roots of Augustine’s elevation of humility and outline how it helped usher in the dominance of the morality of altruism in both religious and secular Western philosophy. Discover the crucial link between the right ideas and happiness. Visit aynrand.org/discover Recorded July 2, 2023, at OCON in Miami, Florida.

After decades of debate, and despite the overwhelming strength of the evidence in favor of phonics, reading education is still a controversial topic in the United States. Many educators continue to resist phonics in favor of anti-conceptual methods that amount to not teaching reading at all. This talk will present the recent history and current state of the reading wars and examine the ideas behind the ongoing opposition to phonics. Discover the crucial link between the right ideas and happiness. Visit aynrand.org/discover Recorded July 1, 2023, at OCON in Miami, Florida.

Mathematics is the headquarters of Platonism—the reification of abstractions and the primacy of concepts over percepts. Even Euclid defined “line” as “breadthless length,” something not of this world, and the moderns define “one” in terms of nonbeing (the null set). In this lecture, drawing on a few incisive statements by Ayn Rand, Dr. Binswanger gives perceptually based definitions of key mathematical concepts, such as quantity, measurement, one, number, point, line, infinite, and mathematics itself. Delivered at OCON 2023 in Miami, Florida on July 3, 2023.

Freedom of speech used to be an unquestioned value. Even as society endorsed the use of force in other realms, the individual’s right to express ideas freely was widely acknowledged. Today, that right is coming under increasing attack. Why? And what can we do to counter this ominous threat? Mr. Schwartz discusses the fundamental relation between force and the mind—and examines the modern philosophic premise that, by blurring the distinction between thought and action, leads to the suppression of free speech. Delivered at OCON 2023 in Miami, Florida on July 2, 2023.

An important component of happiness is confidence in your future success. How is such confidence possible, especially with ambitious goals that involve significant risks? In this talk, Ms. Moroney will discuss how the Objectivist ethics and epistemology help you establish objective confidence that you will be successful. A companion to her previous talk, Happiness, this will be a self-contained discussion of topics including: How to conceptualize ambitious goals to foster creativity; the need for objective self-awareness of your knowledge, values, and skills; and how rationally to deal with mistakes, setbacks, and failures. The handout is available here: https://courses.aynrand.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Happiness-II-Objective-Confidence-OCON-2023.pdf Recorded at OCON on Saturday, July 1, 2023, in Miami, Florida.