Ayn Rand online course at the Mises Academy

[Backlighting]

http://academy.mises.org/courses/ayn-rand-and-objectivism/

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I know of some fundies who are going to get heartburn over this and their inability to stop it.

Michael

[George H. Smith]

I knew Dr. David Gordon for many years during my years in Hollywood. I met him in a Long Beach bookstore (Acres of Books) during the late 1970s and was extremely impressed by the breadth of his knowledge. I subsequently invited David to accompany me and some friends to a conference, with the intention of introducing him to Rothbard and his circle. They were extremely impressed as well.

There is no question that David knows his stuff. He knows more about history, philosophy, and economics than almost anyone else on the planet. To my knowledge, however, David has never regarded himself as an Objectivist, Neo-Objectivist, or as any kind of Randian. He always treated Rand's ideas with respect, however, so his course might provide a refreshing perspective that one might not get from a Randian.

Ghs

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

George,

As ballast for my quip, I had in mind a review of The Ominous Parallels, by one David Gordon.

Michael

[Neil Parille]

Michael,

I hope this isn't off-topic but I recently posted something at ARCHN Blog that might have some relevance to this --

http://aynrandcontrahumannature.blogspot.com/2011/05/can-objectivism-be-criticised.html

No doubt some Objectivists will say David Gordon doesn't understand Objectivism.

David once said humorously that while he accused Peikoff of making all sorts of mistakes in OParallels, he (David) mistakenly said "he who runs may read" comes from Bacon, when in fact it comes from the Bible.

Neil Parille

Edited May 5, 2011 by Neil Parille

[Jerry Biggers]

There's nothing that annoys an "orthodox" (ARIan) Objectivist more than a critic of their doctrines (dogmas?) who has taken the trouble to actually read Rand, and even some of her disappointing acolytes. Most of the ARIans, with the partial exception of Leonard (and a few others, such as Tara Smith), have not often been a target of scholarly scrutiny, because the bulk of their output has been available only as rather expensive audio recordings .

I remember the review in Inquiry of The Ominous Parallels, with its rather eye-catching title, "The Butcher of Konigsburg?," but had forgotten who the author was. No doubt, some unfortunate had the duty of summarizing its content for Leonard (a practioner of "cerebral hygiene," popularized by Auguste Comte and picked up by Rand ).

Incidentally, David Gordon is also running another online course through the Mises Academy on "The epistemology of Mises," in which one of his lectures is devoted to a comparison of Mises' and Rand's theories of knowledge. Both courses sound quite interesting. More so, due to the enlightening background comments made in this thread of MSK, GHS, and NP (you know who are!).