"My 30 Years With Ayn Rand" by Leonard Peikoff

Leonard Peikoff at the Ford Hall Forum - Lesson 6 of 14
Course playlist: • Leonard Peikoff at the...
This lecture was delivered at Boston’s Ford Hall Forum in 1987.
Watch the rest of the lectures in this course: bit.ly/2OqM3ce
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My 30 Years With Ayn Rand: An Intellectual Memoir
In 1951, when he was just a teenager, Leonard Peikoff visited Ayn Rand in her home, at her invitation. This was the beginning of a friendship and professional association that would last until Rand’s death in 1982. In this 1987 lecture delivered at Boston’s Ford Hall Forum, Peikoff offers personal insights into the real Ayn Rand-the thinker, the artist, the teacher, the passionate valuer of the best within man.
“Ayn Rand was unique-as a mind and as a person,” Peikoff observes. “If I could be granted a wish outside my power, it would be to meet and talk to someone like her again; unfortunately, I do not expect this wish to come true. The root of her uniqueness, which I had abundant opportunity to experience and enjoy in my thirty-year friendship with her, was the nature of her mental processes.”
When he first met Rand, Peikoff was immediately struck by her passion for ideas, which would be a thread through their thirty-year friendship. “When you were with her, you always felt poised on the brink of some startling new cognitive adventure and discovery.”
The Q & A that follows the lecture expands on its subject matter and also touches on the following topics:
Intelligence and IQ tests
Biographies on Ayn Rand’s life
Whether geniuses are isolated from others
Plans for an Atlas Shrugged movie
Changing the culture
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Пікірлер: 107

  • @volition51
    @volition51 Жыл бұрын

    He's talking about the rational. Thank you, Aristotle, Ayn Rand, and Leonard Peikoff!

  • @badgerlife9541
    @badgerlife9541 Жыл бұрын

    Rand Never had children, but you can tell that her students and debate partners were like children to her. She was a mentor to many.

  • @conw_y
    @conw_y5 жыл бұрын

    Rand was solid gold. 🧡 And thank goodness we still have Peikoff.

  • @conw_y
    @conw_y5 жыл бұрын

    Listening to this account of Rand’s thought process leads me to think that when neuroscientists talk about ‘flow state’ what they’re perhaps observing is the smooth, unencumbered operation of a properly functioning mind, and the joy that results. To have lived and thought that way from early childhood is a glorified existence. I would wish that every human would live that way, though many/most sadly don’t.

  • @ZhonLord

    @ZhonLord

    5 жыл бұрын

    Agreed. I have only recently become confident enough in the philosophy of Objectivism to begin debating it with others (online no less), and my first attempt was a resounding failure because, despite my preparations and study, I still couldn't fully convey the principles without getting buried in concretes. For someone to have been able to think and act that way from beginning to end is absolutely incredible. What I wouldn't give to have known her in person even half as well as Dr. Peikoff came to.

  • @Avidcomp

    @Avidcomp

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@houseofmargot2871 You only wrote that scurrilous remark out of hate. Had you stopped for one minute to give it thought and reasoned it through you might have well even used the internet that you're own and did some proper honest digging and provided context. You would have discovered that in her time, taking these prescription medications for such things as to work longer hours, was a service doctors would provide. It was not a sordid thing, which is exactly what you were trying to suggest. All you've achieved is your own self abasement in the process of elevating her mind over your own.

  • @dagmawigutu243

    @dagmawigutu243

    Жыл бұрын

    there's nothing I wouldn't trade for such a mind! sadly though, those who have a healthy one ,never use it.

  • @anthonydecarvalho652
    @anthonydecarvalho6523 жыл бұрын

    Wonderful. I too regard her as an authentic genius. Wish I could have met her.

  • @FutureSapien
    @FutureSapien5 жыл бұрын

    Ayn Rand and ARI inspired me to get a B.A in Philosophy a few years ago; I'm in my last semester and they just made a subject on Kant mandatory. This lecture gave me some much needed motivation, thanks.

  • @mughat

    @mughat

    5 жыл бұрын

    It's good to know Kant so you know your enemy.

  • @FutureSapien

    @FutureSapien

    5 жыл бұрын

    mughat I won't deny, I had been avoiding Kant till now. You're right though, understanding his position will only strengthen my own.

  • @conw_y

    @conw_y

    5 жыл бұрын

    Regan Brewer I wish you every success, not just for your sake, but also for mine, as I’m seriously scared about the irrationality this world is heading into. Humanity needs reason now perhaps more than ever.

  • @meredithleavitt5815

    @meredithleavitt5815

    5 жыл бұрын

    U wasted a lot of time and even more money lol Congratulations

  • @rodneynorfolk9737

    @rodneynorfolk9737

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@mughat i do not consider either kant or rand as enemies and i have read both.

  • @Ykpaina988
    @Ykpaina9883 жыл бұрын

    What an invaluable personal and inside perspective..

  • @mauricioszwerdszarf1455
    @mauricioszwerdszarf14555 жыл бұрын

    I love listening to Leonard Peikoff.

  • @Avidcomp
    @Avidcomp5 жыл бұрын

    An amazing thing to listen to all the way through. An amazing human.

  • @saumitrsharma2816

    @saumitrsharma2816

    5 жыл бұрын

    What do you think of Nathaniel Branden?

  • @dougpridgen9682

    @dougpridgen9682

    5 жыл бұрын

    Peikoff, Rand, or both?

  • @meredithleavitt5815

    @meredithleavitt5815

    5 жыл бұрын

    Anyone who spent 30 years with that evil witch is a piece of shit

  • @exnihilonihilfit6316

    @exnihilonihilfit6316

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@dan74275 Does it matter? In both cases, (s)he's a despicable piece of shit.

  • @youreshouldoflearntgrammer8277

    @youreshouldoflearntgrammer8277

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@exnihilonihilfit6316 How so?

  • @nyneishabaratam3310
    @nyneishabaratam33104 жыл бұрын

    Excellent talk

  • @Raelspark
    @Raelspark2 жыл бұрын

    I am listening to this with headphones and reading the text from The Voice of Reason. Though Nathaniel Branden is not mention by name, there are some passages where he brings up "certain people" who stated they were loyal to Ayn Rand and then were later discovered to be disappointments to her.

  • @Shmookcakes
    @Shmookcakes5 жыл бұрын

    13 minutes in! Wonderful so far! Can't wait to listen to the rest.

  • @Shmookcakes

    @Shmookcakes

    4 жыл бұрын

    I'm not sure why I left this comment.

  • @calebtheholyman545

    @calebtheholyman545

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Shmookcakes this cracked me up 😂😂 I'm an hour in

  • @ajadamsv9208
    @ajadamsv92089 ай бұрын

    Excellent episode! Thank you

  • @areez22
    @areez22 Жыл бұрын

    Very valuable.

  • @AndSendMe
    @AndSendMe5 жыл бұрын

    Dr. Peikoff's course amplifying the material about thinking methods in this wonderful talk is called "The Art of Thinking" and is at the ARI Campus.

  • @meredithleavitt5815

    @meredithleavitt5815

    5 жыл бұрын

    Ayn rand institute lol What a fukn joke

  • @JohnDoe-hy1rj
    @JohnDoe-hy1rj Жыл бұрын

    2023 April ...NEVER WAS TODAY A REFLECTION OF HER VISION THAN ANY DAY PRIOR

  • @stephenjohnson9723
    @stephenjohnson97235 жыл бұрын

    Will these be (or are these already) released in podcast format? Is there an ARI feed?

  • @ddstar
    @ddstar4 жыл бұрын

    56:00

  • @prahamama8915
    @prahamama89153 жыл бұрын

    🎺🇺🇸❤️🆘🌻🐝

  • @ericgenaroflores7069
    @ericgenaroflores7069 Жыл бұрын

    Don't believe anything i say, verify it for yourself-Ayn Rand Now did she take the whole public arena for a ride?

  • @josephcazzuto7198
    @josephcazzuto71982 жыл бұрын

    So did she die rich or did she die poor? Every other person says different.

  • @maxragno9881

    @maxragno9881

    Жыл бұрын

    She definitely didn’t “die poor” or anything like that. She was modestly wealthy and had private nurses caring for her in her final hours. She seemed to live comfortably towards the end.

  • @exnihilonihilfit6316

    @exnihilonihilfit6316

    4 ай бұрын

    You could easily have found the answer to the welfare smear if you wanted to. "So".

  • @coverstone3762
    @coverstone37623 жыл бұрын

    Ayn Rand would have hated Trump.

  • @coverstone3762

    @coverstone3762

    3 жыл бұрын

    @Skip White Then, I'm very disappointed in Leonard.

  • @madhumohan9483

    @madhumohan9483

    3 жыл бұрын

    Ayn Rand would have loved trump

  • @constancecerullo2408

    @constancecerullo2408

    3 жыл бұрын

    Just don't think you really get it. At all.

  • @sandranorman5469

    @sandranorman5469

    3 жыл бұрын

    When Drumpf started with the pink haired lady who said she had seen god and had touched his (or Jesus) hair. Ayn hated religion. She refused to vote for Reagan because he had coddled up to religionists.

  • @maxragno9881

    @maxragno9881

    Жыл бұрын

    @@sandranorman5469 I like “Drumph” and I also like Jesus and Ayn Rand. I’d imagine Rand would’ve despised Trump as an ignoramus, a businessman with no philosophical ideas guiding him. That’s just my hunch having listened to dozens of hours of Rand speaking. Personally I like Trump because I know he’s a bulwark against communism, which is the biggest threat to Christianity. But Rand would disagree with me bigly.

  • @bretnetherton9273
    @bretnetherton92733 жыл бұрын

    Reality is not two, there can be no primacy. Awareness is known by awareness alone.

  • @mattf2545

    @mattf2545

    3 жыл бұрын

    Awareness (consciousness) requires a material form to be conscious of. Existence is identity. Consciousness is identification.

  • @loveformathematics1930

    @loveformathematics1930

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@bretnetherton9273 awareness of what? If only it's known by awareness what is anwarness? In effect you have stoled the concept of awareness and thereby made it meaninngless...

  • @bretnetherton9273

    @bretnetherton9273

    5 ай бұрын

    Awareness is known by awareness alone; is the sole irreducible axiom of reality. To put forth a syllable to the contrary is but to concede.

  • @bretnetherton9273

    @bretnetherton9273

    5 ай бұрын

    Awareness appears as an existence in the form of finite perceptions.

  • @bretnetherton9273

    @bretnetherton9273

    5 ай бұрын

    When one see's a tree that is awareness as a tree. When one see's a mountain that is awaeeness as a mountain. When one's mind is at peace that is awareness. You are that.

  • @avlieox
    @avlieox3 жыл бұрын

    Not all so called "religion" forbid lies. It's not written just vague, simple and lane like that, living place for countless contradictions. Mot a mot it's: "not to make false testimony against one close to you(as in your kind)". And something similar is forbid by common law also ... called perjury.

  • @user-yg6zm3gq2d
    @user-yg6zm3gq2d Жыл бұрын

    Ayn Rand: spectrum: Nathaniel Branden: spectrum mediated by therapy; Leonard Piekoff: spectrum; most of the "Collective": spectrum..."little professors throwing frequent tantrums and in need of constant proctoring": all. Evidently, and with copious "receipts".! Pity my days of completing theses are behind me, as this one could be most socially useful and an anti-dote to the present Republican quandry of being led by identical types with no philosophical education at all, so their toxic, pathological underpinnings are even more evident than their 20th cetury predecessors...

  • @robertromero8692
    @robertromero86924 жыл бұрын

    Interesting insight into Rand as a person. I think her associates such as Peikoff are far too hell bent on demonizing the Brandens. The affair with Nathaniel just proves that Rand was human. As Barbara said in her book, Rand was neither a devil nor a saint. it is unfortunate that this provokes such white hot outrage from Peikoff and others.

  • @exnihilonihilfit6316

    @exnihilonihilfit6316

    4 ай бұрын

    Hopefully you read James Valliant's book _"The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics: The Case Against the Brandens",_ too - not just their corrupt side.

  • @RobertR3750

    @RobertR3750

    4 ай бұрын

    @@exnihilonihilfit6316 I am indeed aware of James Valliant's book. I'm also aware of people who have responded to it, namely an essay titled "The Passion of James Valliant's Criticism". I'd ask if you've read it, but it's apparent that you won't allow your mind to be "contaminated" by a different take on things.

  • @exnihilonihilfit6316

    @exnihilonihilfit6316

    4 ай бұрын

    @@RobertR3750 I haven't, since now is the first time I hear it. Did you allow your mind to be "contaminated" by Valliant's book? (unless it's too expensive)

  • @RobertR3750

    @RobertR3750

    4 ай бұрын

    @@exnihilonihilfit6316 I've read what Valliant had to say, as well as the response to him. I certainly don't think the Brandens are saints. But neither do I consider them corrupting devils. They were human beings, no more, no less. Just like Rand herself.

  • @alisonbowles608
    @alisonbowles6083 жыл бұрын

    Well, he did want us to nuke Iran at one point. I don’t know if that was a good idea. On the other hand, I met him once. Somebody told him that I was raised with Objectivists. He said to me, “you poor thing.”

  • @alisonbowles608

    @alisonbowles608

    3 жыл бұрын

    I lived with Atn Rand’s cat after she died. She would be rolling in her grave if she knew what happened to Tommy, her cat.

  • @areez22

    @areez22

    Жыл бұрын

    Why did he say that?

  • @exnihilonihilfit6316

    @exnihilonihilfit6316

    4 ай бұрын

    Have you read the infamous article of a person complaining about being raised by Objectivists making her life hell - from over a decade ago, I think? 😅

  • @scronx
    @scronx Жыл бұрын

    I enjoyed this and admire Ayn Rand, but the way he dances around and around the adultery question for about 5 minutes is a bit embarrassing -- the gentleman doth methinks protest too much.

  • @fromthepeanutgallery1084
    @fromthepeanutgallery1084 Жыл бұрын

    Agree with a lot of Rand's philosophy, which is based primarily on Aristotle's Ethics, Politics and Poetics. Much of it appropriated and revamped. However her take on the Spiritual life is weak and greatly misguided. This is obvious because she never had a spiritual experience in her life, otherwise she would have written about it; everything was based in reality. Phenomena beyond the visible was beyond her experience and therefore beyond her understanding. For her to negate Theology and God is my disagreement with her, but understandable; heavily brainwashed and indoctrinated by her communist upbringing, was the cause and her 'sense of life' the effect.

  • @david-joeklotz9558
    @david-joeklotz95585 жыл бұрын

    The sun does NOT rise. Dr. Peikoff assumes incorrectly .....

  • @adamturner9947

    @adamturner9947

    5 жыл бұрын

    Correct it's a perceptual adage of old. The principle is that it will appear day to day as a sure thing. You may go onto say well it could go out of existence but it's contextual in this sense. Someone asked those questions initially as it was a comstant.... science then showed us more of the facts of reality

  • @rodneynorfolk9737

    @rodneynorfolk9737

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@adamturner9947 science misinforms as much or more than it reveals

  • @exnihilonihilfit6316

    @exnihilonihilfit6316

    4 ай бұрын

    Rodney, you delusional fоol, if science misinforms as much or more than it reveals, how did it reveal iron, electricity, computers and the internet, so we can "enjoy" your howlers here? *Another* "ENLIGHTENED" imbecilе with his _"PROFOUND"_ garbage... *_sigh_*

  • @SmugSuspenders
    @SmugSuspenders4 жыл бұрын

    Poor bastard

  • @alexthompson9516
    @alexthompson95165 жыл бұрын

    This is fascinating, but Dr. Peikoff is somewhat blinded by his devotion to the great Rand. Talk about rationalization. I'll take Nathaniel Branden instead.

  • @dougpridgen9682

    @dougpridgen9682

    5 жыл бұрын

    ?

  • @dougpridgen9682

    @dougpridgen9682

    5 жыл бұрын

    Well thanks for sharing your unsolicited opinion, I guess. Do you have an actual argument or just bald assertions with zero evidence to support them?

  • @damonhage7451

    @damonhage7451

    5 жыл бұрын

    Alex Thompson Pretty sure the reason Peikoff thinks she was great is because you don’t have to rationalize to accept her ideas.

  • @georgestacey9558

    @georgestacey9558

    5 жыл бұрын

    Hard call. Brandon is great and I'd find it hard not to trust his account and though Peikoff is equally great it does sound like rationalizing a bit. Personally it hurt me deep when I frist learned of her affair with Brandon. Yet, I take solace in the fact that this great movement was born out of Rand and so her imperfection in living up through out maybe due to the "awkwardness of pregnancy", founders often have the task of working out the bugs and representing the finish project all at once. She might have challenged this concept of gap between ideal and reality with regards to her self (which maybe the worse crime) but to me considering the whole context, it is a understandable gap, as long as one is honest about the struggle with it and giving effort to close it.

  • @exnihilonihilfit6316

    @exnihilonihilfit6316

    4 ай бұрын

    Did you all read "The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics: The Case Against the Brandens" by James Valliant?