Lectures, Debates and Appearances

[Kat]

The Ayn Rand Institute announces a free live event in Chicago.

Debate on Foreign Policy:

Dr. Yaron Brook vs. Dan Slater

Monday, January 16, 2006 at 7:30 PM.

University of Chicago; Chicago, Illinois.

Location: Kent 107.

For a map and directions, click the following link:

http://maps.uchicago.edu/

[Kat]

Unfortuately, I won't be able to go to the debate, but I would love to hear about it. Does anyone know about Dan Slater or his positions?

And why does ARI get involved in all this foreign affairs business anyway -- when they could and should be focusing their energy and resources on Objectivist philosophy and individualism rather than promoting war? I realize that ARI distances themselves from Libertarians, but in real life many Objectivistists are Libertarians, so I'd rather see bridges built than subdivide the subdivided.

I personally think ARI is not at all objective on foreign policy and this reeks of tribalistic thinking. They are putting foreign interests before American interests, and also ahead of individualism, capitalism or rational thinking. Ayn Rand was a radical for Capitalism, economics is the core emphasis of her political philosophy, not Middle East politics.

Objectivism is an integrated philosophy, not just political, but you wouldn't know it from the media appearances and lectures coming out of ARI. They have taken the objectivity out of Objectivism and it comes from the top of their organization. Their pro-Israel bias makes them hard to take too seriously on political matters. This political posturing hurts Objectivism as a movement, at least in my view.

Kat

[Philip Coates]

Hi Kat,

I would like to see balance in the work of ARI, TOC, etc. between Politics, Ethics, Esthetics, Epistemology...etc. The problem is a lot of Oists are politicoeconomic junkies...and it's easier to write about those topics and there is a large audience for them.

Phil

[Roger Bissell]

Phil, you are right that a more balanced treatment of the Objectivist philosophy would be good for all concerned. TOC was going to publish a nifty monograph on my "Art as Microcosm" essay, which would have included critiques by Michelle Kamhi and John Hospers, plus my rejoinder essay, but because of funding cutbacks, they pulled the plug on it. Both TOC and ARI have published very nice books on Rand's fiction writing in the past several years. Will Thomas's edited volume, The Literary Art of Ayn Rand, is the most recent, but ARI put out books on We the Living and Anthem which are both quite good. And each of those books contains numerous essays. It's a real feast for the literary oriented.

For this July's TOC Summer Seminar, I tried to interest Will Thomas in my talk on emotion in music. Here is what I pitched to him:

I delivered a talk in March 2004 in San Francisco called

"Serious Schmaltz and Passionate Pop: Are There Objective

Indicators of Emotion in Music?" It was very well received, and

I think an expanded version of it would be very illuminating

and entertaining for the general Summer Seminar audience.

I am attaching the fleshed-out topic outline, but I want to

propose that this talk be expanded to two (perhaps three)

sessions, so as not to be rushed, and to allow a focus on

the wealth of American popular songs and Classical

themes that illustrate my thesis.

He rejected this (and two other proposals). However, he did accept my proposal for an hour of Romantic and Jazz music by me (on trombone and vocals) and my pianist. Here is the title and description of what we will be doing the evening of July 4 in Orange, CA, along with our bios:

TITLE: Reason, Expressiveness, and Creativity in Romantic and Jazz Music: Performance and Commentary

SESSIONS: 1 60-minute session plus 15 minutes Q&A (75 minutes total).

DESCRIPTION: Join Ben Di Tosti, pianist, and Roger Bissell, trombonist-vocalist, for a session of heart-felt romantic ballads and creative jazz improvisation. Ben and Roger will explain how rational awareness, far from dampening one’s enjoyment of emotionality and creativity, actually enhances these musical experiences for the performer and the listener. They will place special emphasis on the vital role of melody, showing their audience how the performer can shape the attributes of a melody to give fullest expression to the emotional content of a ballad, and can re-compose the constituents of a melody to provide a more integrated kind of extemporaneous jazz creation.

BIOGRAPHY: Ben Di Tosti and Roger Bissell have been performing together since 1985. Their 1992 CD, “The Art of the Duo,” was released in 2003 to much critical acclaim (including the legendary Dave Brubeck). Their 1996 recording of Mancini’s music from “Victor/Victoria” is yet to be released. More recently, they have appeared together on three CDs of jazz and ballad standards by Robert Stovall, for whom Ben is the musical director.

Ben, a free-lance pianist in the Los Angeles area since 1957, has made a number of jazz recordings, including two trio albums in the early 1960s, "Ben Di Tosti Plays the Music from the Broadway Hit 'Carnival'" (Pacific Jazz) and "Out of This World" (Everest), and a recent solo album, "Solo Jazz Piano - Vol. 1" (Thematic Music, 2000). In future solo projects, Ben hopes to explore music from operatic pieces and other classical selections, as well as music by great traditional jazz composers. He also is seeking to conduct workshops on improvisation for jazz schools, as well as for classical music departments. For more information, go to http://www.jazzundiscovered.com or contact Ben at benbdt@hotmail.com.

Roger, a free-lance trombonist and musical arranger since 1971, has played on numerous commercial and jazz recordings in Nashville and Los Angeles. In addition to his full-time job with the Disneyland Band, he has appeared with the Side Street Strutters Jazz Band on community concerts around the country, as well as on pops concerts with the Phoenix and Houston Symphony Orchestras (among others). Roger, who can be emailed at REBissell@aol.com, has lectured on improvisation and emotional expression in music, and he also spoke on the nature of art and music to the 2002 TOC Advanced Seminar. His essays, some of which have been published in the Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, are accessible from his home page: http://members.aol.com/REBissell/index.html.

So, there is hope, after all. [-o<

But it has been my long experience that aesthetics has been treated as the poor step-child of the Objectivist movement. [-X And this goes back to the late 1960s in my recollection. Ethics and especially politics just have more "octane" in driving interest in Objectivism, and they probably always will.

REB

[Roger Bissell]

Becky and I have been fortunate enough to be able to attend three ARI lectures, free to the public, in Irvine, CA this past year, including one by Peter Schwartz on Rand's ethics, one by Yaron Brook on Neo-Conservativism, and one by Keith Lockitch (sp?) on Intelligent Design. (I managed to sneak into the question period of the latter two events. :-$ )

We just got a postcard announcing lectures for the first half of 2006, beginning with Peter Schwartz, who is going to talk on Wed., Jan. 25 on "America's Foreign Policy": Self-Interest vs. Self-Sacrifice." That should be quite interesting. I wonder if any Libertarians of the non-interventionist variety will show up and get in some licks during the question period. :|

Here is the pitch for Schwartz's talk:

The United States is the world's preeminent military power. Why then are its foreign-policy efforts so regularly frustrated? From Vietnam to Lebanon to Somalia to the current morass in Iraq, why has america been so incapable of decisively defeating its enemies--enemies that are militarily far inferior?

In this talk, Peter Schwartz of the Ayn Rand Institute maintains that success in foreign policy, including success in waging war, depends ultimately on the strength not of a nation's weapons, but of its moral philosophy. And in that area, our country has been tragically deficient. The fundamental reason we have been failing to defend America's interests is that our intellectual and political leaders embrace the altruist premise that the pursuit of self-interest is morally wrong. And, Mr. Schwartz argues, unless we uphold the opposite philosophy--the view that self-interest is morally good--we will not be able to protect America's freedom against foreign threats.

The other lectures announced so far include:

March 23, 2006 Lecture by Dr. Yaron Brook

May 9, 2006 Lecture by Dr. Tara Smith

June 1, 2006 Lecture by Onkar Ghate

(all titles to be announced)

[Kat]

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Ayn Rand Institute is supporting and participating in three speaking events, which are free and open to the public.

Unveiling the Danish Cartoons:

A Discussion of Free Speech and World Reaction

March 10, 2006

UCLA

Los Angeles, California

Please RSVP for this event

UCLA's Club page

March 13, 2006

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, Maryland

April 10, 2006

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California

(Time and location TBA)

For more info see ARI's Free Speech Campaign webpage

[Kat]

Lectures in New York and Chicago have been added to the schedule.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Ayn Rand Institute is supporting and participating in three speaking events, which are free and open to the public.

Unveiling the Danish Cartoons:

A Discussion of Free Speech and World Reaction

New York University

New York, New York

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Please RSVP for this event.

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

April 25, 2006

Time and location TBA

[Kat]

Here are the details for the upcoming talk in Chicago about the Danish Cartoons.

***EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT***

The University of Chicago Objectivist Club is pleased to announce a

panel discussion in defense of the freedom of speech. Danish cartoons

depicting Muhammad have sparked a worldwide controversy. Death

threats and violent protests have sent the cartoonists into hiding and

have had the intended effect of stifling freedom of expression. The

reaction to these cartoons raises urgent questions whose significance

goes far beyond a set of drawings.

Come ask your questions about freedom of speech, the Danish cartoons,

and the issues they have raised at a panel discussion. The cartoons

will be prominently displayed throughout the event.

When: Tuesday, April 25th, 7pm. Doors open at 6:30

Where: Kent Chemical Laboratory, Room 107, on the University of

Chicago campus. The Kent Chemical Laboratory is at 1020 East 58th

Street; Chicago, IL. For maps of campus and the surrounding area, see

maps@uchicago.edu

Panelists:

Dr. Yaron Brook, president of the Ayn Rand Institute

Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry magazine

Tickets: $2, in the Reynold's Club (5706 South University) between

11am and 2pm on April 20, 21, 24. Remaining tickets will be sold at

the door. Those who find it inconvenient to purchase advance tickets

on campus may email rebkna@uchicago.edu to reserve them.