The Objective Standard: Summer 2020, Vol. 15, No. 2

by Craig Biddle, Ellen Kenner, Andrew Bernstein

The Summer 2020 issue (Vol. 15, No. 2) features the following articles, shorts, and reviews:

• How to Savor Gratitude and Disarm “Gratitude Traps” by Ellen Kenner
• The White Rose: A Story of Unsurpassed Courage by Andrew Bernstein
• ‘The Earth Becomes My Throne’: Individualism in Metallica’s Black Album by Thomas Walker
• Robert Smalls: From Slave to War Hero, Entrepreneur, and Congressman by Tim White
• Miami Beach’s Art Deco Answer to the Great Depression by Joseph Kellard
• Statist Responses to COVID-19: An Interview with Michael Fumento, interviewed by Jon Hersey
• How Heroes Improve Our Lives: An Interview with Andrew Bernstein, interviewed by Jon Hersey
• Lockdowns Versus Living by Jon Hersey
• Lessons from Wisconsin’s Stand for Freedom by Jon Hersey
• COVID-19 and the Future of Educational Freedom by Kerry McDonald
• Heroes of the Pandemic by Jonathan Townley
• Silver Linings in State Responses to COVID-19 by Jared M. Rhoads
• “Stimulus” Packages: Cure or Disease? by David Veksler
• Twenty Soul-Fueling Works of Art to Check Out While You’re Stuck at Home by Tim White
• Twenty More Soul-Fueling Works of Art to Get You Through the Lockdown by Tim White
• How Teaching Benefits Teachers by Arie Vilner
• Isabella Stewart Gardner: ‘One of the Seven Wonders of Boston’ by Jon Hersey
• So Who Is John Galt, Anyway? by Robert Tracinski, reviewed by Andrew Bernstein
• America’s Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It by C. Bradley Thompson, reviewed by Jon Hersey
• The Case against Socialism by Rand Paul, reviewed by Keith Sanders
• Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein, reviewed by David King
• The Witcher by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, reviewed by Tim White
• True Grit by Charles Portis, reviewed by William Nauenburg
• Anne with an E by Moira Walley-Beckett, reviewed by Jon Hersey

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.

153 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 26, 2020

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.