Contextual Knowledge

[Mike Renzulli]

Does anyone know of any good books or lectures done by TAS or maybe ARI about the subject of contextual knowledge?

[Dennis Hardin]

Does anyone know of any good books or lectures done by TAS or maybe ARI about the subject of contextual knowledge?

The contextual nature of knowledge is obviously directly related to the hierarchical structure of knowledge. The expanded second edition of Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology includes extensive discussions with Ayn Rand regarding the contextual nature of knowledge. The first two chapters of David Harriman’s excellent book, The Logical Leap, also deal with this topic. The fourth chapter of Objectivism, The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff discusses this at length.

In addition, two CDs are available from the Ayn Rand Bookstore: The Hierarchy of Knowledge, by Gregory Salmieri, and Contextual Knowledge, from Peter Schwartz. I found both of these lectures very worthwhile.

[Dennis Hardin]

Incidentally, if you glance at the “look inside” feature of Amazon’s listing of Wendy McElroy’s The Reasonable Woman, you will note that McElroy discusses the issue of the contextual nature of knowledge in several places. I vividly recall that George H. Smith discussed contextualism at length during the Foundations of Reasoning course I took in 1975. Rather than buy Wendy’s “ghost-written” text (so to speak), you would be better served to purchase George H. Smith’s original material, available here:

I am selling xerox copies of my FOR transcripts (98 pages, single spaced) for $40. People who purchase these transcripts will be able to locate all the plagiarized passages in TRW. If you are interested, write to me at: smikro@comcast.net.

Ghs

I believe Barbara Branden’s lectures on The Principles of Efficient Thinking also dealt with this topic. However, I could not find a current listing for her excellent lecture course at Laissez Faire books. I do not know if it is available elsewhere.