1. The Ayn Rand University press recently published Harry Binswanger’s 1975 doctoral dissertation, The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts.
2. The ARU press also published a collection of essays by Binswanger, Ayn Rand’s Philosophic Achievement and Other Essays. You can read the Philosophic Achievement essay here and here. I found this interesting:
Ayn Rand’s esthetics depends upon her entire philosophical base, from metaphysics through ethics. Yet her basic explanation of art is quite simple: “What an art work expresses, fundamentally, under all of its lesser aspects is: "This is life as I see it." ...
The history of esthetics is perhaps even bleaker than the general history of philosophy. The 2300 years stretching from Aristotle’s Poetics to The Romantic Manifesto is practically a void; philosophers of art have seemed to be discussing some mysterious, inaccessible entity — not art. Their sterile disquisitions on “the sublime and the beautiful” and their contrived theories of “art as play” or “art as pure form” bear no discernible relationship to the actual paintings, dramas, symphonies, and sculptures that constitute the history of art.
The history of esthetics isn’t my strong suit, but I doubt nothing useful was written for 2300 years and that no one ever said something to the effect that art expresses, “this is life as I see it.” Binswanger’s essay is rather abstract so it’s difficult to critique. Some years ago I did a series on Ayn Rand’s originality. See here, here, and here.
3. Objectivist Conference 2025 is happening in July in Boston.
4. James Valliant is interviewed about the Leonard Peikoff and Kira Peikoff situation.
-Neil Parille
4 comments:
Kira responded. In part:
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As to the claim that I’ve never read Ayn Rand’s work: My dad gave me The Fountainhead on Ayn’s birthday—photo below. We discussed it at length. My husband and I read Atlas Shrugged together and had many conversations about it with my dad. If he no longer remembers that, it sadly reflects the poor state of his memory, not my integrity.
—On the repeated claim that my dad is “proven to be of sound mind”: James is deliberately misrepresenting the medical records. The court-ordered independent neurologist found in 2024 that he has declined cognitively from his baseline level, primarily in memory, but also has impairments in his ability to attend and concentrate, and in his ability to plan, organize, and carry out actions in his own rational self-interest. And crucially, that he is susceptible to undue influence.
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– James claims he’s “known” my dad for 42 years, but I had barely heard of him until 2023. I lived with my father for 18 years. My dad’s secretary said he had not been in touch with or seen James for at least the last eight years she worked for him. He wasn’t part of our lives.
– I’m not “holding my father’s relationship with my children hostage,” as James claims, or “denying his access.” My dad has not asked once to speak with them in nearly two years. In fact, I have sent periodic emails to him with their pictures and updates. He has ignored them. He is now only framing his interest in speaking with the kids as a bargaining chip, at my cost of signing a legal document relinquishing the truth. Not as something he himself desires independently. My children are not bargaining chips, nor a legal concession.
Shelley Jones, LP's Assistant (Until Recently):
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I hired Grace (a big regret now, obviously) from an agency as an RN, which was specifically requested because Carl Barney wanted "only the best for Leonard". She was paid as an RN, referred to as such with everyone, and her resume sent to us was as an RN.
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LP said in his interview with Valliant last year that Grace was his nurse.
Note: Jones is responding to Valliant's claim that Grace was not hired as LP's nurse but as a care coordinator.
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