The Art of Thinking
Date:
Jun 27, 1992
Dr. Peikoff teaches you how to make the principles of Objectivist epistemology the guide of your own daily thought processes.
Sessions:
1. Volition as a Means to Clarity - The problem of clashing contexts; why some students are unable fully to accept what they know to be the truth. The perpetual "clarity-seeker." Why the only solution in such cases is will (not more arguments or questions).
2. Hierarchy - Thought as integration. The grasp of hierarchy as an indispensable form of integration. Exercises in reducing advanced ideas to perceptual data.
3. Thinking in Essentials - Thinking in essentials as a form of unit-reduction. How to decide what is (and is not) essential in a particular case, such as a movie, book, or person. Translating commonplace remarks into terms of essentials.
4. First Question Period
5. Thinking in Principles - Principles as fundamental integrations reached by induction. The role of principles in thought; principles and essentials. Are principles inescapable or not?
6. Certainty - Commonly asked questions, including: Can one be certain about the future? Can one base predictions on statistics? If knowledge is contex- tual, must one say: "The senses are valid, or Atlas Shrugged is a great novel, in the present context ofknowledge?" Can one properly specify one's context, yet still be guilty of an error?
7. Thinking versus Writing - Pre-writing versus writing problems. Understanding a point versus knowing how to present it; what is required for the first of these-and for the second. The grave error of trying to understand through writing for others.
8. Second Question Period
psycho-epistemologylogic
Parts:
8
Handout:
none
Publications:
-
e-Store, 2012
(En)
- 871 mins
-
YouTube, 2018
(En)
- 113 mins
- Part 1: Volition as a Means to Clarity
-
YouTube, 2018
(En)
- 113 mins
- Part 2: Hierarchy
-
YouTube, 2018
(En)
- 113 mins
- Part 3
-
YouTube, 2018
(En)
- 64 mins
- Part 4
-
YouTube, 2018
(En)
- 122 mins
- Part 5
-
YouTube, 2018
(En)
- 114 mins
- Part 6
-
YouTube, 2018
(En)
- 113 mins
- Part 7
-
YouTube, 2018
(En)
- 115 mins
- Part 8
-
Campus, 2018
(En)
- 867 mins