Psychology

Ayn Rand, “The Objectivist Ethics” [Atlas Intellectuals]

In this unit of our course on Objectivity we feature Ayn Rand’s Objectivist Ethics. Rand was world-famous as the author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged when a collection of essays entitled The Virtue of Selfishness was published in 1964. In the opening essay, Rand presents a sustained argument for her ethic of rational self-interest. The full course on Objectivity: https://www.atlassociety.org/course/objectivity. […]

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How great artists become great: Karajan version

According to his biographer: Karajan seems to have spent the greater part of his like seeking the one thing he believed would make him completely happy: absolute mastery over his own destiny. Richard Osborne, Herbert von Karajan: A Life in Music, Northeastern University Press, 1998, p. 33 Related: How other great artists became great:Igor Stravinsky

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Is Envy Worse in a Free Society? [Open College transcript]

We’re posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the eleventh: OC11: Is Envy Worse in a Free Society? “Is a free and open society more susceptible to the dangers of envy? It’s an interesting question because most often the envy charge is used against socialism, or any kind of outcome-egalitarian

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The new street-populists: Ignorance plus Faith-conditioning plus Moralistic fervor plus Mob psychology.

Not just one thing explains the new wave of street-populism. Five constituent types, with different levels of understanding and commitment: 1. The mass of protesters: Especially the younger: conditioned by semi- and mis-education, though sometimes with a partial understanding of a real problem. Their moral beliefs stand as unquestionable dogmas of faith in their minds.

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