Bernstein to lead study group on capitalism's history

THE STUDY GROUP
For June 14 to July 25, Study Groups for Objectivists has scheduled a five-week study group examining the historical roots of capitalism. The study group leader will be prolific author, lecturer, and philosophy teacher Andrew Bernstein, PhD ( http://www.andrewbernstein.net ). The study text will be four chapters from his book, The Capitalist Manifesto: The Historic, Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire. To allow for attendance at the 2010 Objectivist Conference, the study group skips the week of July 4. The fifth and last week of the study group will be a review week.

Why study this text? Dr. Bernstein says:

Capitalism is under attack. The intellectuals accuse it of crimes against humanity. Following the lead of the intellectuals, the politicians push America remorselessly into socialism. Now more than ever in America’s illustrious history, a capitalist manifesto is necessary -- a ringing moral endorsement of the principle of individual rights.

Most urgently, men must start by studying capitalism’s history. Socialist intellectuals have created a vast mythology, claiming capitalism exploited workers, exacerbated child labor, instigated imperialism, and spawned penury. This fabric of interlocking canards is taught to millions of students.

It is time for the antidote.

The antidote to that statist mythology is "Part One: History" in The Capitalist Manifesto.

THE BOOK
So far, I have finished reading the Introduction and Part One. The style is clear and direct, yet informal. The content is logically structured. The "joints" in the skeleton of the argument are evident because the author tells readers at each turn where the argument is headed next. The text is objective, that is, it supports each theme and subtheme with a flood of evidence.

This book is a one-stop source for anyone who has an active mind engaged in trying to decide what sort of political system is best for living fully on earth. Intellectual activists working for capitalism can recommend the book for such readers. Readers already supporting capitalism as an ideal will gain a wealth of information about the actual history of the rise of capitalism, its brief period of flowering, and the beginnings of its decline. The footnotes and annotated bibliography are doorways to further study. By assembling all of this information in one spot, Dr. Bernstein has spared readers from the vast investment of time required to sort through scattered scholarly material.

Capitalism has been an "unknown ideal," to use Ayn Rand's phrase. Her work and Dr. Bernstein's work are making it known.

Burgess Laughlin
Author, The Power and the Glory: The Key Ideas and Crusading Lives of Eight Debaters of Reason vs. Faith

"Concepts of Consciousness" next on SGO

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

A writer's working library?

A carpenter needs tools. A surgeon needs tools. What tools does a writer need? Among others, he needs books as resources.

My purpose here is to identify the kinds of books a frequent or full-time writer might accumulate. I offer examples from my bookshelves; I have not performed a systematic survey of the books available today in each category.

First, a general-purpose, unabridged dictionary is indispensable for me. Online dictionaries can be helpful for quick reference to common, customary usages of terms. I prefer a book because I can mark it up. Using a fine-line black pen, I encircle each word I study. I underline to highlight one meaning or word-origin among many. I write comments in the margins. Thus, as the decades pass, I accumulate knowledge in the form of notes in the dictionary itself. If I return to a word years later I can read my earlier notes and use them as an advanced starting point.

The dictionary I use is the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, unabridged, 2nd edition. It offers primary, secondary, and less common usages of English words; and it presents a brief history of each word, including its Latin, Greek or other origin. This large-format book (about four inches thick, and nine by twelve on the face) also includes: maps; tables of weights and measures; translation mini-dictionaries for several European languages; a list of commonly confused words (e.g., "ambiguous" and "ambivalent"); and many other features. I keep it open on a stand next to my desk.[1]

The style manual I generally follow is The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition. It has 900 pages packed with detailed information about the process of developing a manuscript; writing style (for example, when to write "18" or "eighteen"); and production of a book (design, printing, binding). An example section is 6.19, "Possessives, General Rules." In some sections, the manual's authors discuss alternative systems of style but emphasize the system that The University of Chicago Press prefers. I support many of their recommendations, but not all of them. Their discussions allow me to make an informed decision.

Other aids for developing the sort of style I want (objective, clear, concise, and readable) are works -- from most concise to most explanatory -- such as William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style; Rudolph Flesch, The ABC of Style: A Guide to Plain English; and Theodore M. Bernstein, The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usage. These stylists do not always agree with each other. Good. Each presents reasons for his view, allowing the reader to decide for himself in each application. Bernstein in particular is helpful in distinguishing meanings, for example, distinguishing "annihilate" (destroy completely) and "decimate" (destroy one-tenth).

The premier guide to the writing process is Ayn Rand, The Art of Nonfiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers. It deserves slow, careful study. It covers big issues, for example, when to use the conscious mind and when the subconscious (for example, Chs. 5 and 6), as well as narrower issues, such as rhythm in writing (p. 134), the writing of book reviews (p. 145), and the error of editing unwritten sentences (p. 73).

I also use a variety of specialized resources to help me achieve my central purpose in life, which is telling success stories from history. For the beginner, Richard Marius, A Short Guide to Writing About History, 2nd ed., covers every phase of researching and writing history.

I love histories that cover vast subjects. I focus on the history of philosophy and its primitive predecessor, religion. I have used W. L. Reese, Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought, hundreds of times. For instance, it has a full page on "Faith" offering 16 entries chronologically arranged, from the 1st Century Christian apostle Paul to the 20th Century philosopher-theologian Frederick R. Tennant.

Last is a category for amusement as well as education: myth-busters. Tom Burnam, The Dictionary of Misinformation, sets the record straight on such items as the often-quoted sentence, "Brevity is the soul of wit," from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Burnam explains that "wit" is short for "witan," which meant "knowledge" to Shakespeare.

What additional tools for writers would you suggest?

Burgess Laughlin
Author, The Power and the Glory: The Key Ideas and Crusading Lives of Eight Debaters of Reason vs. Faith

[1] In his lecture series, Principles of Grammar, Dr. Peikoff offers advice on selecting a general-purpose dictionary.

What if other philosophers had been novelists too?

To a novice student of Objectivism, who had read two nonfiction works by Ayn Rand and wanted to know more, I suggested reading her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. They show Ayn Rand's philosophy in action.

Intentionally or not, a work of fiction demonstrates a fiction writer's philosophy in its fundamental branches (metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics). As Ayn Rand has noted, all art is a "selective recreation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgments."[1] The idea of metaphysical value-judgments means personal evaluations of philosophically fundamental facts of reality -- such as the lawfulness of nature, man's need to think and act, and the necessity of loyalty to one's highest values.[2] But why should there be a need to see a philosopher's ideas in action?

All philosophies are hard to study. First is the problem of content. A philosophy is a vast system of abstractions that individually and collectively are difficult to learn. Second is the problem of the medium for transmitting the philosophy from the philosopher to others. The most accomplished philosophers have developed new philosophical ideas and in their own minds systematized those ideas; unfortunately in their writings (which they published over a period of decades) their systemizations -- for example, connecting metaphysics and epistemology to ethics -- have either been only implicit or explicit but scattered in brief comments throughout the philosopher's body of writings. In either case, the student of a particular philosopher must invest a lot of time either in explicating the implicit connections or in collecting and connecting scattered comments. Not even one of the primary philosophers -- Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Rand -- has written a concise, systematized, one-volume view of his whole philosophy, even for scholars, much less for philosophical novices. Nor, with very few exceptions in the history of philosophy, have even the philosophers' most advanced followers written such a book.[3]

Because of such problems, studying a philosophy as a whole is often a project requiring years of reading a variety of texts, wrestling with puzzles, and discussing issues with other students of the same philosophy. Seeing a philosopher's philosophy in action -- as in a novel -- might help grasp his philosophy as a whole, including the integration of its main elements.

What would their novels (or other fiction) be like if the three earliest primary philosophers -- Plato, Aristotle, and Kant -- had written fiction as well as philosophical treatises? Who would the characters be? What sort of plot would the characters follow? What themes might the philosopher convey? What would be the main elements of his style? [4]

As usual, I have more questions than answers.

If formulating literary principles that would represent the first three primary philosophers' philosophical system is too difficult or time-consuming for now, then consider this question: Which novels (or other works of fiction) already written by non-philosophers would best represent each of those three philosophers? And why?

(If you do comment, please note this weblog's strict etiquette -- especially using a recognizable form of your real name, at least in the body of the comment.)

Burgess Laughlin
Author, The Power and the Glory: The Key Ideas and Crusading Lives of Eight Debaters of Reason vs. Faith

[1] Ayn Rand, The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature, p. 22 (hb), "Art is a . . ." and so forth. [2] I have listed my own examples of metaphysical elements subject to evaluation. These fundamental value judgments serve as a foundation for ethics (the study of what man should do about living in the world). For Ayn Rand's examples of metaphysical elements subject to fundamental evaluation: TRM, pp. 21-22 hb, "Is the universe intelligible . . ." and so forth. [3] A sterling exception is: Leonard Peikoff, Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. There have been compilers, digest writers, and popularizers, but their works were not single-volume tutorials on a philosopher's philosophical system, which would include not only the basic principles in every branch of the philosophy but the main logical connections among those principles. In a similar, though narrower vein, two Objectivist scholars have shown that one element of a philosophy, a philosopher's theory of concepts, integrates his metaphysics, epistemology, and other branches through cause and effect. Dr. Gary Hull's single lecture, "The Two False Theories of Concepts" (covering intrinsicism and subjectivism in Plato, Aristotle, and post-Renaissance philosophers, versus Ayn Rand), and Dr. Andrew Bernstein's four lectures, "Four Giants of Philosophy" (Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Rand), are available as audio CDs from The Ayn Rand Bookstore, online. [4] For the essential characteristics of a novel or other work of fiction: Rand, TRM, Ch. 4 ("The Basic Principles of Literature").

BkRev: Edwin Locke's Study Methods & Motivation

Personal Value for Me. Dr. Edwin Locke's Study Methods & Motivation: A Practical Guide to Effective Study has been one of the most important books in my life. When I was a child, I saw my parents performing the usual household skills—from cooking to simple carpentry. I asked a child's equivalent of, "How do you know how to do this?" In my family, the answer was always the same: First a shrug, and then, "You either know it or you don't." I felt bewilderment and anxiety -- bewilderment because the answer didn't make sense (where did the knowledge come from?); and anxiety because if it were true that you were supposed to already have the ability to perform a task, the world would be an unbearable place in which to live for one lacking such innate knowledge, as I did.

I started to read Ayn Rand's writings at age seventeen (1961). I saw that one can indeed learn how to do things, not through uncovering innate ideas, mere mimicry of others' actions, or some sort of osmotic absorption of methods, but through reason, that is, through understanding the process. In the following years, while working for two businesses, I learned -- in consciously held terms that I could use to improve my own performance and to train others -- particular work methods such as organizing my time, systematically editing my own or my employees' writings, and conducting interviews. Not until I was in my mid-forties did I fully realize that specific methods—both mental and physical—could help me do what I loved to do: study history, understand it, and then write about it. Dr. Locke's book first made that insight explicit to me.[1]

Nature of the Book. Following is a selection from the Table of Contents:
PART I. STUDY METHODS
.... Ch. 4. How To Do Abstract Integrative Reading.
.... Ch. 6. How To Program Your Memory: The Nature of Memory.
.... Ch. 7. How To Program Your Memory: Specific Techniques.
.... Ch. 10. How To Manage Time.
.... Ch. 11. How To Take Lecture Notes.
.... Ch. 13. Study Monitoring.
PART II. STUDY MOTIVATION
.... Ch. 16. Blocks To Mental Effort.
.... Ch. 19. Motivational Monitoring.

Even this sampling shows the breadth of the book's coverage. Let's examine one chapter, and I will show you why I am delighted to have used this book.[2]

Consider Ch. 11, "How to Take Lecture Notes." This ten-page chapter begins where it should begin—with the nature of lectures themselves. Some lectures present only new material not found in assigned texts; other lectures clarify assigned reading material; and so forth. Identifying the nature of a particular lecture determines the nature of the notes one should take from the lecture. This procedure is typical of Dr. Locke's objective approach: Given certain values as context, facts determine methods—facts about sources of information, facts about the nature of one's mind, and facts about the purposes of the information. Dr. Locke takes an integrated approach: facts, values, and methods.

Dr. Locke differentiates, as well. For example, in the second section he distinguishes lecture note-taking from reading note-taking. In the third section, he devotes four pages to "Common Errors in Lecture Note-taking." They include: "Errors of Omission," "Errors of Commission," and even the physical problem of "Inadequate Note Paper and/or Margins." In the fourth section, "Using Your Lecture Notes," he recommends critically reviewing lecture notes immediately after the lecture; and then he covers: editing; underlining; organizing; reformulating and integrating; and programming one's memory. The chapter ends with a half-page summary and four exercises to ensure absorption and application of the material covered. All these elements in this chapter show that Dr. Locke is writing to active minds.

Note also that the idea of psychological "monitoring" appears in both Chs. 13 and 19 listed above. This idea—of watching one's own mind while engaged in an activity—is crucial for developing better methods of doing things. The idea comes from an Objectivist Dr. Locke cites.

Study Methods & Motivation is not a book for academic students only. Anyone who studies may gain from this book.

Burgess Laughlin
Author, The Power and the Glory: The Key Ideas and Crusading Lives of Eight Debaters of Reason vs. Faith

[1] This review revises one I wrote several years ago and now appears on The Ayn Rand Bookstore website page for Dr. Locke's book. If the latter link does not work, then search for "Study Methods" in the upper left corner of the ARB homepage.) [2] I read and still have the first edition. Its title is A Guide to Effective Study. The content appears to be the same as the second edition, Study Methods & Motivation.

NWO activists--history in the making?

The following list shows the activism of individuals who are members of Northwest Objectivists. It is a social organization whose primary purpose is enjoying the company of like-minded individuals and whose secondary purpose is assisting members in starting other, specialized groups (for example, for activism or study). By providing a meeting ground, NWO has facilitated activities for change.

As a long-term student of history, I have been fascinated by professional historians' accounts of the spread of ideas through various societies (ancient Greece, medieval France, England in the early Enlightenment, and others). In several posts, I have described the lessons I have drawn from looking at the past and the present:
"Philosophical ripples?"
"What is in-line activism?"
"In-line vs. off-line activism?"
"What is a movement?"
"Quality control in movements?"

Having compiled the following list, I appreciate even more the fervor of activity that must have led to the culture of the West European Enlightenment--many individuals at many levels of society, each in his own chosen manner, pursuing a better future.

WRITERS
- Writing weblogs: Kate Gerber, CareerMama; Andrew Miner, On Coding Style, epistemology of writing software; Brad Williams, Scripsit, political; Burgess Laughlin, The Main Event, philosophical and activist, and Making Progress, philosophical and historical; Peter Namvedt, Reason to Freedom, political; Gaia Marrs, Life on Marrs, political; Rachel Miner, The Playful Spirit, reporting on parenting of a high-function autistic child and other issues.
- Debating or advocating in specialized areas, online: Mia Eilebrecht, advocating for rational parenting; Rachel Miner, advocating for rational parenting; Rick Wilmes, researching the history of the ideological sources of US military policies, and debating on a US military academy discussion forum; and Peter Namtvedt, writing guest posts for political theory weblogs.
- Writing letters to editors, politicians, and bureaucrats: Maryallene Otis, Rachel Miner, and Peter Namtvedt.
- Writing supportive letters or calls to victims of statism (physicians, industrialists, property owners, etc.): Rachel Miner.
- Creating art carrying objective messages: Duane, writing a novel; and Peter Namtvedt, planning a political novel.
- Writing supportive comments on Objectivists' internet essays: Rachel Miner.
- Pursuing in-line philosophical activism: Burgess Laughlin, a long-term historical project.

ORGANIZERS, ENABLERS, AND FACILITATORS
- Organizing "Capitalist Conspiracy in Washington State," a Facebook group dedicated to encouraging and enabling individuals to become Precinct Committee Officers in either major party, thus influencing the selection of candidates in primaries: Bill Herman.
- Organizing for intellectual activism: Brad Williams, Oregonians for Individual Rights, now in the "startup" stage.
- Creating outreach organizations: Blake Scholl, Club for Capitalism (Seattle).
- "Enabling" the activism of others, by organizing socials or discussion groups: Jason Crawford, Rachel Miner, Andrew Miner, and Burgess Laughlin.
- Providing a site (Study Groups for Objectivists) for structured, text-based study of elements of Objectivism and related topics: Brad Williams and Burgess Laughlin.
- Organizing, moderating, and leading online weekly discussion groups in the Virtual Objectivist Club, for university students having no access to a local Objectivist Club: Jason Crawford.
- Grading essays for the ARI essay context: Andrew and Rachel Miner.
- Transcribing an ARI intellectual's speech and Q&A, given at a university. (Rachel Miner).

SPEAKERS
- Informally and singly speaking to friends and co-workers: Most of the 50 members of NWO.
- Making phone calls to local, state, or national legislators: Rachel Miner.
- Speaking to live audiences: Maryallene Otis (Toast Masters).

DEMONSTRATORS
- Carrying signs, distributing leaflets, participating in work parties: Blake Scholl, Jason Crawford, Bill Herman, Tom Lahti, Maryallene Otis, Don Otis, Alex Bleier, Thanh D., Brad Williams, Burgess Laughlin, and other NWO members (participating in "Tea Party" events, protesting "universal health care," and addressing other issues).

DONORS
- Signing ARI's The Atlantis Legacy: Jim and Duane; Don and Maryallene Otis; Andrew Layman; and Burgess Laughlin.
- Donating to ARI or Oregonians for Individual Rights: Burgess Laughlin and anonymous donors.

Burgess Laughlin
Author, The Aristotle Adventure
Founder, Study Groups for Objectivists

Weaving the Fabric of History

A culture (and the society that produces it) is akin to a broad fabric emerging from a loom. It is composed of numerous threads of various textures and colors. Following is a narrow historical example of the sort of spread of fundamental ideas that can change a culture, thread by thread:

1. In 1957, novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand published her greatest work, Atlas Shrugged. It presented the main elements of her philosophy, a philosophy of reason and therefore objectivity.

2. In 1989, philosopher Dr. Harry Binswanger, a student and then associate of Ayn Rand, wrote a brief essay proposing a sketch of the foundation of Philosophy of Law: "What is Objective Law?"

3. Later in 1989, an organization, The Association for Objective Law (TAFOL), published the essay. (It also appeared subsequently in The Intellectual Activist). The founder of TAFOL was lawyer Steve Plafker, PhD and JD, a long-term Objectivist.

4. In 2008, nearly 20 years later, a programmer and a retired marketing communications writer, intrigued by the application of philosophy to current events, created a website working with a few students of Objectivism in examining seminal texts, Study Groups for Objectivists.

5. In July of 2009, the year after its founding, SGO conducted a very brief study group to review the 1989 essay, thus spreading its ideas to a few individuals (most of whom are activists). The leader of the study group was Steve Plafker, the founder of TAFOL.

Thus, a primary philosopher's radical thinking published half a century ago led to a secondary philosopher's essay about thirty years later. Among the essay's other ripples, was its use in a study group, twenty years afterwards, for a close reading by a few active-minded individuals. This narrow historical chain of events has been one thread in a fabric of cultural change.

Such events are happening day by day across our society, often out of sight except to the immediate participants. A few individuals are waging a broader campaign through either general activism or in-line activism. The cumulative effect of this movement will be wide.

Burgess Laughlin
Author, The Power and the Glory: The Key Ideas and Crusading Lives of Eight Debaters of Reason vs. Faith