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Ep 151: ”Objectivist” ”Epistemology” - The errors of objectivism

Ep 151: ”Objectivist” ”Epistemology” - The errors of objectivism

FromToKCast


Ep 151: ”Objectivist” ”Epistemology” - The errors of objectivism

FromToKCast

ratings:
Length:
64 minutes
Released:
Sep 20, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

Here I read from Ayn Rand's work "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology" and reflect upon it by comparing it to actual epistemology (how knowledge is created). We explain the misconceptions in the view that knowledge is all about the goings on in minds and how Rand's epistemology is root-and-branch subjectivist. Ayn Rand is an excellent defender of free trade and capitalism, the inherent value of people: her ideas are pro-human and broadly optimistic. However the epistemology is fundamentally flawed containing pure speculation about how people learn (so-called "concept formation") and disconnected from problems in (for example) science and where knowledge is being constructed. Her examples are highly abstract rather than being based in the concrete reality of the history of ideas and for this reasons she reaches the same conclusions as almost all other philosophers on this topic. Namely that knowledge is derived from reality through our senses (empiricism) and is induced by noticing similarities between objects. This is not explanatory, it is not insightful and it is demonstrably false - as I explain.
Released:
Sep 20, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

This is a podcast largely about the work of David Deutsch and his books "The Beginning of Infinity" and "The Fabric of Reality".