To uphold and defend the principle of individual rights, one must grasp, as Ayn Rand did, that “the source of man’s rights is not divine law or congressional law, but the law of identity.” However, a great deal of observations, conceptualizations and generalizations lie between the principle of rights and the law of identity. This course concretizes and clarifies these crucial connections, zeroing in on the facts that give rise to rights, identifying the precise nature of rights, differentiating objective from “natural” and “intrinsic” rights, elucidating the moral and political implications of these principles, and demonstrating that one’s right to life, liberty, property and so on is as absolute as the fact that you are reading these words.

Attendees will expand or fortify their understanding of the source, nature and meaning of rights, and thereby enhance their ability to speak and write cogently toward the establishment of a fully free society.