Live Speaker Event Feb. 4!

The Real Goal of the Green Climate Crusade
A lecture plus Q&A session about the anti-life, anti-man ideology of the green climate movement

A talk by Dr. Keith Lockitch of the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights
Thursday, February 4, 2010
7 p.m, 102 Thomas (map)

See the Facebook event page here.
See the flyer for the event here.

Description of event:

Environmentalists claim that our use of carbon-based energy is altering the climate, making us more vulnerable to climate disasters. Human survival, they insist, requires the immediate abandonment of fossil fuels in favor of carbon-free sources. So why do environmentalist groups vehemently oppose projects involving every alternative form of energy ever proposed to replace fossil fuels–including wind farms and solar power plants? And why do they ignore the dramatic degree to which industrial development under capitalism has reduced the risk of harm from severe climate events? Before we rush headlong into drastic climate policies and energy rationing, a critical examination of these policies is urgently needed. Dr. Lockitch will address these important issues and answer audience questions.

For more information, click here.

Hope to see you there! Bring your friends!!

Next Meeting: Emotional Response

Next meeting we will start off with a discussion of the event scheduled for February 4, “The Real Goal of the Green Climate Crusade”. We’ll touch on some of the technical foundations of Objectivism and then discuss the nature of human emotions.

The January 20th meeting ended early due to poor attendance, however we had a handful of interested newcomers asking questions about Objectivism. Next week we’ll return to our official meeting place in 127 Henderson South. We will be meeting there for the rest of the semester Wednesday nights 6:30-8:30. Its easiest to access this room from the parking lot adjacent to the HUB lawn.

It will be useful to have read last weeks short reading as well as this weeks excerpt on emotions.

Reading:  Emotions

Meeting: Metaphysics

Due to expressed interest we’ll be discussing Objectivist Metaphysics this week. I have yet to receive an email confirming our meeting place on campus, so we’ll be holding the discussion in the Starbucks on Garner Street (behind McLanahans). We’ll be going over axiomatic concepts, so it may be useful for someone not involved in a mathematical/philosophical field to check out wikipedia on ‘axioms’. I’ve picked a small excerpt from Atlas Shrugged to introduce the Randian view of Metaphysics. It should only take a few minutes to read the excerpt in brief.

Meeting Time: 7:00-8:30
Location: Starbucks
Reading: Excerpt from Atlas Shrugged
Listening: Question on Consciousness – Leonard Peikoff’s Podcast 1/28/08

Last Meeting of the Semester

The last meeting of the semester will be tonight (Dec. 9) at 7.15 p.m. in 127 Henderson South.

We will be discussing several topics related to laissez-faire capitalism, further exploring the ideas proposed by Dr. Eric Daniels at the lecture event this Monday. These topics include antitrust legislation, income inequality, public education, foreign policy, etc.

We will also be watching some short interviews with Ayn Rand.

The Moral Defense for Unregulated Capitalism

The Penn State Objectivist Club is proud to host a live speaker event this coming Monday (Dec. 7) at 8 p.m. in 102 Thomas!

The title of the talk is “The Moral Defense for Unregulated Capitalism” and it will be given by Dr. Eric Daniels of The Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism.

See here for more information on the topic and the speaker.

Feel free to RSVP to the Facebook event here.

Next Meeting: The Fountainhead Movie!

The next meeting will be this Wednesday (Dec. 2) at 7 p.m. in 127 Henderson South.

We will be watching The Fountainhead movie and also planning for the speaker event next week.

Live Speaker Event: The Moral Defense for Unregulated Capitalism

The Penn State Objectivist Club is proud to host a live speaker event on Monday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. in 102 Thomas.

The title of the talk is “The Moral Defense for Unregulated Capitalism” and it will be given by Dr. Eric Daniels of The Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism.

See www.psuobjectivism.com/capitalism for more information on the topic and the speaker. Check back frequently for updates!

Next Meeting: Environmentalism

The next meeting will be this Wednesday (Nov. 18) at 7 p.m. in 127 Henderson South.

We will be discussing environmentalism. This is a topic that ranges from global warming and “clean” energy to animal “rights” and recycling. We are more than often told to make sure our actions do not harm the environment, that our carbon footprint should be as small as possible. Should this truly be our goal?

Ayn Rand didn’t think so. She saw environmentalism as anti-life and anti-man. In this next meeting, we will discuss Objectivism’s unique view on environmentalism and the real goal of the “green” agenda.

In Western Europe, in the preindustrial Middle Ages, man’s life expectancy was 30 years. In the nineteenth century, Europe’s population grew by 300 percent—which is the best proof of the fact that for the first time in human history, industry gave the great masses of people a chance to survive.

If it were true that a heavy concentration of industry is destructive to human life, one would find life expectancy declining in the more advanced countries. But it has been rising steadily. Here are the figures on life expectancy in the United States (from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company):

■1900—47.3 years
■1920—53 years
■1940—60 years
■1968—70.2 years (the latest figures compiled)

Anyone over 30 years of age today, give a silent “Thank you” to the nearest, grimiest, sootiest smokestacks you can find.

-Ayn Rand in Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution

Material to be Discussed
“No ‘Footprint,’ No Life” by Keith Lockitch, PhD
http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=22271&news_iv_ctrl=2457

“Animal ‘Rights’ vs. Human Rights” by Andrew Bernstein, PhD
http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5106&news_iv_ctrl=1084

“Reject Environmentalism, Not DDT” by Keith Lockitch, PhD
http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=13355&news_iv_ctrl=1084

Next Meeting: Love & Sex

The next meeting will be this Wednesday (Nov. 11) at 7 p.m. in 127 Henderson South.

We will be discussing love, sex, and all things related. Topics include (but are not limited to):

-should love be selfish?
-is unconditional love a virtue?
-the “rape” scene in The Fountainhead
-femininity vs. masculinity
-”rough sex” in the novels vs. Ayn Rand’s conception of sex
-what obligations does a man hold toward his children?
-abortion
-in Atlas Shrugged, was it wrong for Rearden to have an affair with Dagny?
-love vs. sex

Next Meeting: What are Rights?

The next meeting will be this Wednesday (Oct. 28) in 127 Henderson South at 7 p.m.

We will finish watching the debate from last week. As a follow-up, we will also discuss man’s rights.

Nowadays “rights” is a term used loosely. According to most, we have a “right” to many things, such as health care, housing, food, jobs, education, and even the Internet. Thomas Jefferson wrote in a Founding Document of this nation, however, that people only have the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Why didn’t the Founding Fathers include a right to health care or a right to a job in the Declaration of Independence? Why didn’t they say that it was the government’s job to make sure everyone was able to purchase a house, regardless of whether they could afford it or not?

In this next meeting, we will discuss the nature of man’s rights and why material objects, such as health care, food, or education, cannot be a right because if they are, they will require the sacrifice of other people’s rights.

The most profoundly revolutionary achievement of the United States of America was the subordination of society to moral law. The principle of man’s individual rights represented the extension of morality into the social system—as a limitation on the power of the state, as man’s protection against the brute force of the collective, as the subordination of might to right. The United States was the first moral society in history.
-Ayn Rand in “Man’s Rights”

Material to be Discussed:
“Man’s Rights” by Ayn Rand
Text online:
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ari_ayn_rand_man_rights