Introduction to Objectivist Espistomology
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Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (1990) is the expanded, 2nd edition edited by Harry Binswanger and Leonard Peikoff and published after Ayn Rand's death. The first edition (1979) was a collection of articles by Ayn Rand and one article by Leonard Peikoff. It was edited by Ayn Rand. Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology is the most technical of Ayn Rand's books.
The articles, published in 1967, were Ayn Rand's attempt to summarize the Objectivist theory of concepts, and to submit her solution to the problem of universals. The book deals with the mental processes of abstraction, the nature of valid definitions, distinguishing concepts from "anticoncepts," the hierarchical nature of knowledge, and what constitutes valid axiomatic knowledge.
This 2nd edition is expanded, and has in the appendix a transcription made from over 20 hours of Epistemology Workshops given by Ayn Rand from 1969 to 1971. About a dozen of the participants were professionals in the field of philosophy and a few professionals from physics and mathematics. It is in the form of question-answer.
Quotes
The issue of concepts (known as "the problem of universals") is philosophy's central issue. Since man's knowledge is gained and held in conceptual form, the validity of man's knowledge depends upon the validity of concepts. But concepts are abstractions or universals, and everything that man perceives is particular, concrete. What is the relationship between abstractions and concretes? To what precisely do concepts refer in reality? Do they refer to something real, something that exist - or are they merely inventions of man's mind, arbitrary constructs or loose approximations that cannoto claim to represent knowledge?
That quote if from Ayn Rand's introduction to the first edition, which is also contained in the second edition.
Table of Contents
- Forward to the First Edition
- 1. Cognition and Measurement
- 2. Concept-Formation
- 3. Abstraction from Abstractions
- 4. Concepts of Consciousness
- 5. Definitions
- 6. Axiomatic Concepts
- 7. The Cognitive Role of Concepts
- 8. Consciousness and Identity
- Summary
- The Analytic-Synthetic Dichotomy by Leonard Peikoff
Appendix
- Foreward to the Second Edition by Leonard Peikoff
- Preface by Harry Binswanger
- Appendix Table of Contents
- Opening Remarks by Ayn Rand (opening remarks for the Epistemological Workshops)
- Abstraction as Measurement-Omission
- Concepts as Mental Existents
- Implicit Concepts
- The Role of Words
- Measurement, Unit and Mathematics
- Abstraction from Abstractions
- Concepts of Consciousness
- Definitions
- Axiomatic Concepts
- Entities and Their Makeup
- Philosophy of Science
- Concluding Historical Postscript
- Index
314 page.