Tara Smith to Speak in Irvine, CA - May 9

[Kat]

Passing Judgment: Ayn Rand's View of Justice

Who: Dr. Tara Smith, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas and a long-time speaker for the Ayn Rand Institute.

What: A talk and Q & A examining Ayn Rand's view of justice and how it can enable each of us to live more successful, happy lives.

Where: Hyatt Regency Irvine, 17900 Jamboree Blvd., Irvine, CA

When: Tuesday, May 9, 2006, at 7:00 PM

The public and media are invited. Admission is FREE.

Summary: It is commonly believed that to be a just person, i.e., one who treats others fairly, one must be selfless. Ayn Rand demonstrated that nothing could be further from the truth. She held that justice is a selfish virtue.

In "Passing Judgment: Ayn Rand's View of Justice," Dr. Tara Smith will explore Ayn Rand's unique conception of justice. After explaining why it is in one's self-interest to be a just person, Dr. Smith will explore several related topics, including: the emphatic need to judge other people; how today's pervasive egalitarianism is completely anti-justice; and when, if ever, forgiveness and mercy are justified.

A fuller understanding of the virtue of justice, Dr. Smith believes, can enable each of us to live more successful, happy lives.

Bio: Tara Smith is professor of philosophy at the University of Texas, where she currently holds the Anthem Foundation Fellowship. She is the author of "Moral Rights & Political Freedom;" "Viable Values: A Study of Life as the Root and Reward of Morality;" and "Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist."

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Dr. Tara Smith is available for interviews now and after her talk.

Contact: Larry Benson

E-mail: media@aynrand.org

Phone: (949) 222-6550, ext. 213

[Roger Bissell]

I'm curious. Suppose you were able to participate in the Q-A session following Dr. Smith's talk. What would you most like to ask her about justice and passing judgment?

REB

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Roger,

Hows this:

Is there a dialectical standard in Objectivism for passing moral judgment?

//;-))

Michael

[Roger Bissell]

I'm sure Tara Smith would be amused. NOT.

I'm interested in what would get her to engage with a real dilemma that seems to infect humanity, rather than a rather parochial squabble.

What I had in mind was more along the lines of: is there a general principle that explains why, over and over again throughout history, moral judgments made by members of intellectual and religious movements seem to be more harsh and uncompromising against people within their same frame of reference than against outsiders with whom their differences are much greater? E.g., Freud and Jung, Stalin and Trotsky, Catholics and Protestants. Why such virulent animosity in the purges and schisms within the movements, as compared to their antagonism against people outside the movement -- like Christians against Moslems?

REB

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Roger,

The answer to that is psychological, not ethical.

People only hate what they know. They fear what they don't know.

For a blatant example, hatred is present in racism only when there has been a lot of contact with the hated race. White supremacists in the south do not hate Orientals like they do blacks.

Add to that, you know what someone familiar is capable of. You don't know what someone unfamiliar will and can do.

Mostly, schisms are a form of cowardice by the perpetrator. He wants to fight, but he is afraid of the real enemy. So he attacks one of his own.

It's safer.

(These reasons are by no meas the full story, but I believe they are at the core.)

Michael

[Roger Bissell]

Becky and I went to Tara Smith's lecture last Tuesday night. It was fairly well attended, and Dr. Smith did a good job, both in a fairly spontaneous sounding delivery and in handling questions (along with Yaron Brooke). The event will be posted as an audio (with video?) file on the ARI website, for at least a few weeks, and eventually it will be available from the Ayn Rand Bookstore as a CD and DVD, which I plan to obtain.

If Smith's book weren't so deucedly expensive (almost $80 even with the discount from the ARB), I'd suggest that we each get a copy and do a study group (chapter by chapter). It's a college textbook, so it's not as much of an "ouch" for college kids compared to the other books they have to buy. But for us plebian philosophy consumers, used to buying books for $15 to $30, there's a bit of sticker shock there!

REB

[Kat]

Passing Judgment

by Tara Smith

(ARI Lecture Series; May 9, 2006)

Tara Smith's May 9 lecture in Irvine was taped and ARI is already taking orders for the DVD of the lecture. Order through the ARI Bookstore. Preorder now for expected delivery in June.

It is commonly believed that to be a just person, one who treats others fairly, one must be selfless. Ayn Rand demonstrated that nothing could be further from the truth. She held that justice is a selfish virtue.

In this talk, Dr. Smith, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas and author of Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist, explores Ayn Rand's unique conception of justice. After explaining why it is in one's self-interest to be a just person, Dr. Smith explores several related topics, including: the emphatic need to judge other people; how today's pervasive egalitarianism is completely anti-justice; and when, if ever, forgiveness and mercy are justified.

A fuller understanding of the virtue of justice, Dr. Smith believes, can enable each of us to live more successful, happy lives.

(DVD; approx. 2 hrs., with Q & A) $26.95

[Philip Coates]

Roger, two questions: How many people attended her lecture? -and- did anyone ask/did she explain why she believes benevolence is not a virtue...or did she just break it down into components - civility, generosity, etc. - and explain whey those separately would not be major virtues? A very different question.

[Roger Bissell]

1. I think that about 100 people attended the lecture.

2. Becky and I left after about 30-40 minutes of the QA, and as of that point, no one had asked about benevolence. However, she has a chapter about the conventional virtues, and I would be happy to digest that for the group sometime in next several days, if there is interest in reading my "chewed" version of that part of her $80 book.

REB

[SherryTX]

I know this is an old post - but I wanted to make the comment that I watched the video when it was available on ARI for free - and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was very new to Objectivism at the time (about a year in I believe - not that I am not still "new" now, haha), and I actually learned a lot from this one lecture alone. In fact, it really got me thinking about how I treating my kids. In terms of justice, I remember she specifically pointed out that an important part of justice is giving some their due (as in positive comments) when they deserve it. It got me thinking? Is this something I am doing enough? After much introspection, I realized that with one child in particular (who kinda had a "big head" about her accomplishments at the time) I was not, because I was so worried about her ever expanding ego.

That one lecture literally helped me realize what was something I considered a major flaw in my parenting.