Kazus (anty)duchowości behawiorysty radykalnego B. F. Skinnera – perspektywa psychobiograficzna

Celem artykułu jest pokazanie, jak wychowanie religijne, którego doświadczył B. F. Skinner, zmieniło jego postrzeganie człowieka i świata, a w ostateczności wpłynęło na porzucenie przez niego wiary i skierowało go na ścieżkę radykalnego behawioryzmu. Analiza dostępnej literatury wykazuje, że różnica w poglądach przeciwników Skinnera (Joseph Wood Krutch, Tomasz Szasz, Ayn Rand) oraz jego sojuszników (Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris) polega na ich odmiennym wychowaniu i złożonych życiowych doświadczeniach. Powiązane z tym przekonania wpłynęły na pojmowanie przez nich duchowości czy wolnej woli.

E pluribus unum Shrugged: Ayn Rand Against American Conservatism and Libertarianism

The past decade has witnessed a renewed interest in the works of twentieth-century Objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand. Political events ranging from the rise of the Tea Party to the 2016 election of Donald J. Trump have only helped to spur this resurgence, further evident in film adaptations and reissues of her popular literary novels. Political pundits abound have, in turn, deemed the return of Ayn Rand as a victory for libertarian thought and the Republican Party, more broadly. However, in this paper I contest such a theoretical synergy and complicate the Rand/Republican Party interplay by suggesting that it rests on false grounds. Drawing from Rand’s Objectivism, I argue that modern-day Republican Party politics, specifically conservative and libertarian strains of thought, fail on epistemological grounds. The philosophical writings of the Russian-born, turned-American philosopher therefore are not only incompatible, but function as a forceful critique against the governing platform of the Republican Party in preparation for the 2022 midterm elections.

E pluribus unum Shrugged: Ayn Rand Against American Conservatism and Libertarianism

The past decade has witnessed a renewed interest in the works of twentieth-century Objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand. Political events ranging from the rise of the Tea Party to the 2016 election of Donald J. Trump have only helped to spur this resurgence, further evident in film adaptations and reissues of her popular literary novels. Political pundits abound have, in turn, deemed the return of Ayn Rand as a victory for libertarian thought and the Republican Party, more broadly. However, in this paper I contest such a theoretical synergy and complicate the Rand/Republican Party interplay by suggesting that it rests on false grounds. Drawing from Rand’s Objectivism, I argue that modern-day Republican Party politics, specifically conservative and libertarian strains of thought, fail on epistemological grounds. The philosophical writings of the Russian-born, turned-American philosopher therefore are not only incompatible, but function as a forceful critique against the governing platform of the Republican Party in preparation for the 2022 midterm elections.

“The Ayn Rand School for Tots”: John Dewey, Maria Montessori, and Objectivist Educational Philosophy during the Postwar Years

Objectivism, the libertarian philosophy established by Ayn Rand during the postwar years, has attracted a great deal of attention from philosophers, political scientists, economists, and English professors alike in recent years, but it hasn’t received much notice from historians with an interest in education. This article will address that problem by discussing how Rand and her followers established a philosophy of education during the 1960s and 1970s that was based, in part, on vilifying the so-called collectivist ideas of John Dewey and lionizing the so-called individualist ideas of Maria Montessori. Unfortunately, the narrative that emerged during this time seriously misrepresented the ideas of both Dewey and Montessori, resulting in a somewhat distorted view of both educators

“The Ayn Rand School for Tots”: John Dewey, Maria Montessori, and Objectivist Educational Philosophy during the Postwar Years

Objectivism, the libertarian philosophy established by Ayn Rand during the postwar years, has attracted a great deal of attention from philosophers, political scientists, economists, and English professors alike in recent years, but it hasn’t received much notice from historians with an interest in education. This article will address that problem by discussing how Rand and her followers established a philosophy of education during the 1960s and 1970s that was based, in part, on vilifying the so-called collectivist ideas of John Dewey and lionizing the so-called individualist ideas of Maria Montessori. Unfortunately, the narrative that emerged during this time seriously misrepresented the ideas of both Dewey and Montessori, resulting in a somewhat distorted view of both educators

Concept-formation according to Rand. A personal adaptation (and two extra phases)

In her «Introduction to Objectivist epistemology» (1990) Ayn Rand shows us how concepts are formed. She identifies three stages: the sensorial, the perceptual and the conceptual stage. Sensations are stimuli impinging on the senses that cannot be retained by man’s memory, nor can be experienced in pure isolation. They are always experienced together with other sensations in the automatically integrated whole that she calls percepts. This automatic integration is performed by our subconsciousness. The last step is a conscious, volitional integration of these percepts by our focused conscious-ness, yielding concepts. Her description of the process (p. 6) makes notice of the first stage as being aware of objects, to which she ascribes the concept «entity», followed by the «closely allied» stage in which a child detects «specific, particular things» to which she ascribes the con-cept «identity». She then goes on by ascribing the concept «unit» to the third stage, in which objects with similar traits are grouped, and abstracted by their essential, distinguishing characteristic.

Beyond What We Are Told Is Fact

This chapter more fully introduces the theoretical framework for Kruse’s reading of Ditko’s work and includes more thorough definitions for the key terms as well as a historical and cultural context for those terms. The contextualization provided in this chapter offers a look into Ditko’s hometown Johnstown, Pennsylvania and its immigrant community of industrial workers, along with the liberal political voices such as Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden alongside occult and mystic voices such as H.P. Blavatsky, and how popular twentieth-century advocates of the mind power movement like Norman Vincent Peale, Dale Carnegie, and other members link each of these seemingly disparate ideas and methodologies. The result of this entanglement—in theory and in practice—is mystic liberalism.

Law and Ayn Rand: Objectivism from the Perspective of Legal Philosophy

Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, subordinates legal concepts to radical capitalism as a political ideal. Such concepts, however, play an important role in her political thought. Scrutiny of those writings where Ayn Rand deals with these concepts shows a middle ground between Natural Law, Positivist and Legal Realist perspectives. According to Objectivism, objectivity becomes the essential feature of Law in the stricter sense. In this respect, Rand’s approach moves away from the philosophical influences of Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas, and proclaims the incompatibility of the minimal state with uncertainty and any kind of discretionary powers in the legal field. The contrast with Hayek’s later legal-philosophical contribution points to the feasibility of an integration into what could constitute the basis for a Libertarian legal science. Keywords: Ayn Rand, Objectivism, political philosophy, philosophy of Law, Law. JEL Classification: K10, K20, K21, K30. Resumen: En el objetivismo, la filosofía de Ayn Rand, el tratamiento de los conceptos jurídicos se subordina al capitalismo radical como ideal político. Dichos conceptos, sin embargo, juegan un papel importante en esta teorización. El examen de los textos donde Rand los aborda revela un posicionamiento intermedio entre las perspectivas iusnaturalista, positivista y realista. Lo determinante en la configuración del Derecho, para el objetivismo, será la objetividad de la ley. En la materia, Rand se distancia de Aristóteles y Santo Tomás como únicas influencias filosóficas reconocidas y proclama la incompatibilidad del Estado mínimo con cualquier indeterminación o discrecionalidad en el ámbito de lo legal. El contraste con los sucesivos planteamientos iusfilosóficos de Hayek apunta a la posibilidad de una integración en lo que podría ser el fundamento de una ciencia jurídica libertaria. Palabras clave: Ayn Rand, objetivismo, filosofía política, filosofía jurídica, Derecho. Clasificación JEL: K10, K20, K21, K30.