The Objective Standard: Winter 2019, Vol. 14, No. 4

by Craig Biddle, Timothy Sandefur, Lisa VanDamme

The Winter 2019 issue (Vol. 14, No. 4) features the following articles, shorts, and reviews:

• Leading an Enlightenment Life in an Anti-Enlightenment World by Timothy Sandefur
• The Life and Poetry of John Keats by Lisa VanDamme
• Selections from John Keats, compiled by Lisa VanDamme and Sarah Biddle
• The Bravery of Hong Kong’s Freedom Fighters by Timothy Sandefur
• Charles Sumner’s Principled Attack on Slavery by Timothy Sandefur
• Bravery That Broke the Berlin Wall by Timothy Sandefur
• Bernie Sanders and AOC Release Plan to End Thanksgiving by Jon Hersey and Keith Sanders
• ‘Awesome without Allah’: Helping Muslims Leave Islam by Jon Hersey
• Greta Thunberg Should Be Angry—and So Should You by Jon Hersey
• Obscure Manuscript Further Reveals John Locke’s Intellectual Honesty by Jon Hersey
• John Fogerty’s Disciplined Focus by Timothy Sandefur
• Humor and Being Human by Timothy Sandefur
• Enter The Twilight Zone This November by Timothy Sandefur
• Three Masters of Watercolor by Timothy Sandefur
• Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Important Things in Life by Timothy Sandefur
• The Great British Baking Show’s Wonderful Sense of Life by Tim White
• The Plato Cult and Other Philosophical Follies by David Stove, reviewed by Jon Hersey
• The Rediscovery of America: Essays by Harry V. Jaffa on the New Birth of Politics, reviewed by Timothy Sandefur
• One Girl One Dream by Laura Dekker, reviewed by Tim White
• The Ascent of Jacob Bronowski: The Life and Ideas of a Popular Science Icon by Timothy Sandefur, reviewed by Stephen R. C. Hicks
• Doctor Sleep by Mike Flanagan, reviewed by Tim White
• The Prometheus Connection, America’s Original Spirit: Rise, Demise, Recovery by Kevin Osborne, reviewed by Alex Bleier
• Peaceful Death Threats by Bosch Fawstin, reviewed by Nicholas Provenzo
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, reviewed by Tim White

The Objective Standard is a quarterly journal of culture and politics written from an Objectivist perspective (Objectivism being Ayn Rand’s philosophy of reason, egoism, and laissez-faire capitalism). The journal is based on the idea that for every human concern—from personal matters to foreign policy, from the sciences to the arts, from education to legislation—there are demonstrably objective standards by reference to which we can assess what is true or false, good or bad, right or wrong. The purpose of the journal is to analyze and evaluate ideas, trends, events, and policies accordingly.

We maintain that the standards of both knowledge and value derive from the facts of reality; that truth is discovered only by means of reason (i.e., through observation and logic); that the factual requirements of man’s life on earth determine his moral values; that the selfish pursuit of one’s own life-serving goals is virtuous; and that individual rights are moral principles defining the fundamental requirements of a civilized society.

We stand opposed to the notion that the standards of knowledge and value are not factual but subjective (feeling-based) or other-worldly (faith-based); that truth is ultimately dictated by majority opinion or a “supernatural” being’s will; that democratic consensus or “God’s word” determines what is moral; that sacrifice for “the common good” or in obedience to “God’s commands” is virtuous; and that rights are social conventions or “divine decrees.”

In stark contrast to these philosophic approaches, ours is a philosophy of reality, reason, egoism, and laissez-faire capitalism.

173 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 16, 2019

About the author

Craig Biddle writes and lectures on philosophical and political issues from an Objectivist perspective, Objectivism being the philosophy created by Ayn Rand. Craig also edits The Objective Standard, a quarterly journal of culture and politics. His first book, Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It, is a highly concretized, systematic introduction to Ayn Rand's ethics.

The book in progress is an introduction to the principles of good thinking and the fallacies that are violations of those principles. He has lectured and taught seminars at universities across the country, including Stanford, Duke, Tufts, UVA, UCLA, UM–Wisconsin, and NYU. Also lecture regularly at Objectivist conferences.

For a brief elaboration on the nature of Objectivism, see my essay “Introducing The Objective Standard” or Leonard Peikoff’s essay “The Philosophy of Objectivism: A Brief Summary.” To learn more about the philosophy, I suggest beginning with Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged.