APPLETON, WIS. — Objectivist author Craig Biddle discusses the principles of “rational egoism” and why those principles provide the cornerstone to personal happiness and social harmony in an address at Lawrence University.
Biddle presents “Ayn Rand’s Morality of Selfishness: An Introduction to Objectivist Ethics” Friday, April 27 at 7 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center auditorium. The event, rescheduled from a previously announced March appearance, is free and open to the public.
A Russian-born novelist and philosopher, Rand, in the 1960s, began outlining a life doctrine she called Objectivism. According to Rand, morality of selfishness — rational egoism — is the only moral code that provides a system of principles to guide an individual’s choices and actions in pursuit of life-serving goals and values. It also provides a foundation for the protection of individual rights and ultimately the establishment and maintenance of a free and civilized society.
The address will examine the tenets of rational egoism, provide real-life examples of it and explain why it should be embraced by anyone who wants to live happily and freely.
Biddle is the author of the 2002 book “Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It.” He also serves as the editor and publisher of The Objective Standard, a quarterly journal of culture and politics. In addition to lecturing on ethical and epistemological issues from an Objectivist perspective, he is working on a second book that examines the principles of rational thinking and the fallacies that are violations of those principles.
His appearance is sponsored by the Lawrence University Objectivist Club.
