Wednesday, June 11, 2014

STUDY-GROUP ON INDUCTIVE METHOD OF THINKING, ITS FOUNDATION

About the Platform: "Study Group For Objectivists"(SGO)[1] is for serious students of Objectivism from various age groups and professions. The study is specialized and involves particular texts(not necessarily Objectivists), mainly in the fields of philosophy and history. The student, after studying the text can give summary, outline, or detailed analysis and synthesis of select sections(referred to as chewing by Ayn Rand). Rigrous etiquettes, timebound schedules for various sections and advance notice enables better discipline, and therefore productive study. Based on personal experience, I can vouch for the same.

Purpose of Platform: These study groups intend to achieve for Objectivism, what various intellectuals and philosophers did post Acquinas in the West. Explore various writings to understand rational philosophy across length, breadth and depth of intellectual spectrum, and unleash the new era of Renaissance and Enlightenment. Spiritual awakening that begins with the minds of participants, fulfilling their lives with knowledge, understanding, wisdom and therefore joy. Unleashing "The New Intellectuals" into current ruins of philosophy, to redeem its lost foundations and for cultivating the seeds for future movements.
To put it succintly, this is the stock exchange for trading rational ideas, one text at a time.

Current Study Group: Coming to the current study group, it is on the subject of philosophy, epistemology to be more specific.

As Ayn Rand puts it,
"A political battle is merely a skirmish[small battle] fought with muskets; a philosophical battle is a nuclear war."

As is clearly communicated in many Objectivist forums, Epistemology is the foundation of more visible philosophical aspects like Politics, Ethics and Aesthetics. And ultimately foundation of every subject ranging from physical sciences to economics to history to psychology to even technology(like logic in computers).

Ayn Rand's Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology(ITOE), her other works to lesser extent, and portions of Dr. Peikoff's Objectivism : Philosophy of Ayn Rand(OPAR) focus on Epistemology. You can also add Dr. Peikoff's lectures on "Art of Thinking", "Objectivism through Induction", and recent How we Know by Dr. Harry Binswanger. Yet this important branch has largely been understudied in this potentially world changing movement.

This studygroup intends to take step in that direction. Attempting to redirect focus to its roots, Epistemology that is. We will study foundation of aspect that has been least touched in Objectivist epistemology, inductive method of thinking.

Very briefly, inductive method involves integrating universal generalizations like principles and laws from a set of particulars or lower level generalizations. The text will introduce and explore important terms of inductive method, and what these refer to. Primary referents of the terms being methods of discoveries of Galileo, Newton, and Benjamin Franklin's electricity.

We will study "The Logical Leap - Induction in Physics" by David Harriman. Chapter studied will be the first chapter "The Foundation". 
Namely the following sections 
1    09/08/2014 - 09/14/2014         The Nature of Concepts
2    09/15/2014 - 09/21/2014         Generalizations as Hierarchial
3    09/22/2014 - 09/28/2014         Perceiving First-Level Causal Connections
4    09/29/2014 - 09/05/2014         Conceptualizing First-Level Causal Connections
5    10/06/2014 - 10/12/2014         The structure of inductive reasoning
6    10/13/2014 - 10/19/2014         Review and summary


Apart from this central material, preperatory material can be
1. Chapter 1. "Cognition and Measurement" from "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology".
2. Chapter 2. "Concept-Formation" from "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology".
3. Section on "Causality as Corollary of Identity" from chapter 1 "Reality" of OPAR.
4. Introduction and Preface of "The Logical Leap - Induction in Physics".

Conclusion: So primarily for fulfilling your appetite of rational method, and changing course of civilization in the process, I urge you to consider participation here.
"Study Group for Objectivists" - http://www.studygroupsforobjectivists.com"

Note: After you register, activation can take few days. Please go through the etiquettes and archives once registered.

[1] Study group for Objectivists(SGO) - http://www.studygroupsforobjectivists.com
[2] Further details on the importance of SGO - http://aristotleadventure.blogspot.in/2008/08/study-groups-for-objectivists-sgo_29.html

1 comment:

  1. The weekly reports of study-groups were also posted in these open forums, which also resulted in few specific discussions.
    In total there have been more than 3500 views in these forums
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    http://forum.objectivismonline.com/index.php?showtopic=27497
    http://forums.4aynrandfans.com/index.php?showtopic=14183
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