On March 15, the six-week "Concepts of Consciousness" study group will begin working through Chapter 4 of Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, Ayn Rand's revolutionary treatise on epistemology. Our rate of study will average two to three pages per week, and a final "Summary" week will allow for a re-reading and overview.
Chapter 4 is one of the most difficult in the book, because the subject matter, introspective concepts, is especially abstract and complex. But it is very worthwhile to study the way in which some of our most important concepts (e.g., love, logic, property, and marriage) are objective, as well as to understand the mechanics of "teleological measurements" which underlie value decisions.
More explicitly than for most SGO study groups, I will be issuing formal posts, including optional study questions, during the three Prep weeks prior to the start of week 1, in order to study and review the first three chapters of the book -- which are challenging but mind-expanding in themselves. The Prep weeks will begin on Feb. 22, but participation in those is optional.
Brad Williams
Co-founder of Study Groups for Objectivists
Showing posts with label study groups for Objectivists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label study groups for Objectivists. Show all posts
Feb 16, 2010
Aug 31, 2008
A Study Group for Intellectual Activists
Would you like to improve the world in which you live? The four-week "Cultural Movements: Creating Change" study group (CMCCSG) might be the right place for you to start. Within a few weeks, the CMCCSG will begin in SGO at: http://www.studygroupsforobjectivists.com/
Every SGO study group is focused on a particular text, but as an experiment the "text" here consists of videos of the three lectures Yaron Brook and Onkar Ghate presented at the 2008 Objectivist Conference (OCON).
The CMCC lectures examine three 20th Century movements that were at least partly successful: free-market economics, environmentalism, and religious fundamentalism. (For the nature of a "movement," see the July 5 and July 14, 2008 posts.) The two speakers then draw from what they learned about those movements to suggest techniques for the Objectivist movement.
CMCCSG is a very short-term study group for anyone who wants to improve our world in the decades ahead. For long-term students of history, an added benefit of studying these lectures is seeing the value of applying lessons from history.
To join this study group, (1) register as a member of SGO, and (2) click on the home page link ("All") for the "Cultural Movements: Creating Change" study group. That link will take you to the "Details" page, which describes the study group and allows you to participate.
Burgess Laughlin
Author, The Power and the Glory: The Key Ideas and Crusading Lives of Eight Debaters of Reason vs. Faith
Every SGO study group is focused on a particular text, but as an experiment the "text" here consists of videos of the three lectures Yaron Brook and Onkar Ghate presented at the 2008 Objectivist Conference (OCON).
The CMCC lectures examine three 20th Century movements that were at least partly successful: free-market economics, environmentalism, and religious fundamentalism. (For the nature of a "movement," see the July 5 and July 14, 2008 posts.) The two speakers then draw from what they learned about those movements to suggest techniques for the Objectivist movement.
CMCCSG is a very short-term study group for anyone who wants to improve our world in the decades ahead. For long-term students of history, an added benefit of studying these lectures is seeing the value of applying lessons from history.
To join this study group, (1) register as a member of SGO, and (2) click on the home page link ("All") for the "Cultural Movements: Creating Change" study group. That link will take you to the "Details" page, which describes the study group and allows you to participate.
Burgess Laughlin
Author, The Power and the Glory: The Key Ideas and Crusading Lives of Eight Debaters of Reason vs. Faith
Aug 29, 2008
Study Groups for Objectivists (SGO)
Gene Ligman, a registered member of SGO, says:
PURPOSE. SGO provides a platform for short-term, specialized study groups working with particular texts, mainly in the fields of philosophy and history. A study group is not a classroom, a tutoring session, or a debating arena, but an opportunity for trade. In SGO, highly motivated students of history or philosophy can enhance their individual studies of a certain text by trading insights, questions, and answers with other individuals who are studying the same text at the same time.
FEATURES AND BENEFITS. SGO offers five main features:
- Rigorous etiquette ensures that study-group members focus their comments on ideas not on other members of the study group.
- Scheduling--one section of text per week--encourages steady, thorough, and consistent study.
- Leadership--one administrator overall and one moderator for each study group--provides focus and continuity throughout the weeks or months of study. The temporary position of study-group moderator offers a brief opportunity to practice project-management and other social skills as a means for achieving one's individual, long-term, intellectual goals.
- Open archives provide information that enables serious students to decide whether to purchase and study a particular text.
- Advanced notice allows students to prepare adequately, perhaps completing an initial reading of the assigned text as a whole, long before the study group begins addressing parts of that text.
PARTICIPANTS. SGO welcomes serious students of Objectivism. They may be young or old. They may be enrolled in academia or studying on their own plan. They may have a lot or only a little knowledge of the subject they wish to study. Trade arises from such differences. For example, a novice in a particular subject may ask a question that requires more knowledgeable members to stop, think, and make explicit what they had only assumed as "obvious" before.
When a study group is complete, each member should have expanded his knowledge of the particular text the group examined. He will have answered some of his original questions, but the study group experience should also give rise to new questions, which only more study will answer. A study group is not the end of study, but only one turn on the spiral of learning.
Burgess Laughlin
Author, The Power and the Glory: The Key Ideas and Crusading Lives of Eight Debaters of Reason vs. Faith
By participating in the ITOE, Ch. 5 ("Definitions") study group, I have assuredly learned more than I would have through self-study by itself. I would not have broken the subject down into such small sections, which helped immensely, nor would I have known the questions that I should ask myself in order to make sure I had integrated it sufficiently. I appreciated the time scale, having other pursuits in life to take care of.
The optional study questions were very helpful. They were targeted to help ensure integration of the material studied. The act of stating something in one's own words is an act that causes further thought. Whenever I had to think of examples to use, it helped me to fit the new information into the right places. Also, reading other peoples examples and answers provided extra insight as well.
PURPOSE. SGO provides a platform for short-term, specialized study groups working with particular texts, mainly in the fields of philosophy and history. A study group is not a classroom, a tutoring session, or a debating arena, but an opportunity for trade. In SGO, highly motivated students of history or philosophy can enhance their individual studies of a certain text by trading insights, questions, and answers with other individuals who are studying the same text at the same time.
FEATURES AND BENEFITS. SGO offers five main features:
- Rigorous etiquette ensures that study-group members focus their comments on ideas not on other members of the study group.
- Scheduling--one section of text per week--encourages steady, thorough, and consistent study.
- Leadership--one administrator overall and one moderator for each study group--provides focus and continuity throughout the weeks or months of study. The temporary position of study-group moderator offers a brief opportunity to practice project-management and other social skills as a means for achieving one's individual, long-term, intellectual goals.
- Open archives provide information that enables serious students to decide whether to purchase and study a particular text.
- Advanced notice allows students to prepare adequately, perhaps completing an initial reading of the assigned text as a whole, long before the study group begins addressing parts of that text.
PARTICIPANTS. SGO welcomes serious students of Objectivism. They may be young or old. They may be enrolled in academia or studying on their own plan. They may have a lot or only a little knowledge of the subject they wish to study. Trade arises from such differences. For example, a novice in a particular subject may ask a question that requires more knowledgeable members to stop, think, and make explicit what they had only assumed as "obvious" before.
When a study group is complete, each member should have expanded his knowledge of the particular text the group examined. He will have answered some of his original questions, but the study group experience should also give rise to new questions, which only more study will answer. A study group is not the end of study, but only one turn on the spiral of learning.
Burgess Laughlin
Author, The Power and the Glory: The Key Ideas and Crusading Lives of Eight Debaters of Reason vs. Faith
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)