The first lecture discusses Ayn Rand's distinctive approach to consciousness in contrast to the two basic alternative approaches in the history of philosophy. Emphasis will be placed on the practical significance of her view: how it provides the basis for the method of thinking required to grasp philosophic principles.

The second two lectures apply the Objectivist view of consciousness to philosophy's pivotal issue: the theory of concepts. They offer a detailed "chewing" of the theory of concept-formation that Ayn Rand presented in the first two chapters of Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology.