OAC Undergraduate Program

ARI is currently the only academic institution to offer systematic instruction in Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. The OAC’s four-year undergraduate program offers the benefits of classroom instruction from experts in their field, extensive feedback on one’s written and oral assignments and occasional one-on-one tutorials with an instructor.

The undergraduate program will teach one a proper conception of philosophy, the essentials of Objectivism as an integrated philosophical system and the art of clear, objective thinking and writing. Completing the undergraduate program is a prerequisite of the OAC graduate program.

Year One of the program explores the subject of philosophy and teaches the basics of writing. Year Two is devoted to understanding firsthand the principles of Objectivism. Year Three further explores the philosophy of Objectivism, delving into more advanced ethical and epistemological issues, with an emphasis on helping the student digest and apply the philosophy properly. Year Four focuses on further developing the student’s ability to understand and especially to communicate abstract ideas. The last two years of the program make extensive use of some of Dr. Leonard Peikoff’s recorded lecture courses. The schedule for all OAC courses runs from mid-October to early June each year.

Course Descriptions

YEAR ONE

YEAR TWO

YEAR THREE

YEAR FOUR

Year One

Introduction to Philosophy

(Online course; 9 weeks.)

This course focuses on gaining a basic understanding of the subject of philosophy by investigating some of its important topics and questions, such as free will vs. determinism, the existence of God and the foundations of human knowledge. Students learn major positions held on each issue and study the arguments in support of these positions as well as major objections raised against them. Students are asked to carefully assess the various positions and to defend their own views on the issues.

Sample syllabus

Listen to an eight-minute clip from a past class, in which the professor discusses one of the arguments that a Hard Determinist offers in support of his view. (Roughly, a Hard Determinist maintains that man does not possess free will, that any action a person takes, he had to take: his action is determined by antecedent factors and could not have been otherwise.)

Introduction to Writing

(Online course; 18 weeks.)

This course teaches the basic principles and methods of nonfiction writing. Topics include: how to organize one’s thinking during the writing process, how to break that process up into a series of manageable steps, how to ensure that an article has a clear theme and logical structure, how to make use of motivation and contrast, and how to ensure that one’s abstract conclusions are grounded in concrete evidence. Ayn Rand's The Art of Nonfiction is used as a textbook along with articles and other readings assigned in class. Students will complete assignments involving the analysis of written work, short writing exercises, and will participate in discussion forums on assigned topics.

Year Two

Seminar on Ayn Rand's Philosophy of Objectivism

(Taught via teleconference; 26 weeks.)

This course focuses on gaining a good understanding of Objectivism as a philosophical system. It pays special attention to Objectivism’s key principles in the four main branches of philosophy, focusing on the meaning and validation of each principle. The goal is for students to see the interrelations among the principles and to grasp their connection to reality and life. The textbook is Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff; students are also asked to read many of Ayn Rand’s essays. In addition to assignments and tests, students have two to three one-on-one tutorials with the instructor.

Sample Syllabus

Listen to a ten-minute clip from a past class, in which the professor begins discussion of the distinction Objectivism makes between metaphysically given and man-made facts.

Year Three

The third year further explores the philosophy of Objectivism, delving into more advanced ethical and epistemological issues, with an emphasis on helping students digest and apply the philosophy properly.

Understanding Objectivism

(Taught via teleconference; length varies.)

The main instruction in this course consists of Dr. Peikoff’s recorded-lecture course Understanding Objectivism (1983). Dr. Peikoff’s course is addressed to those who agree with the ideas of Ayn Rand, but who may experience difficulty in completely digesting them, i.e., those who want to learn how to integrate these ideas fully into their own knowledge, character and actions. The course is part theory, part demonstration and exercises. As adapted for the OAC, the course requires students to listen to all eleven of Dr. Peikoff’s lectures, to complete written assignments (which are graded) based on the lectures and to attend discussion sections led by an instructor.

Objectivism Through Induction

(Taught via teleconference; length varies.)

The main instruction in this course consists of Dr. Peikoff’s recorded-lecture course Objectivism Through Induction (1997). This course defines a new method of learning Objectivism. It is the method Ayn Rand employed to discover her philosophy—the only method (in her words) of discovering and validating principles in any field: induction. The goal of the course is to enable you to learn the principles of a valid philosophy not from books or from lectures, but independently—from reality itself. As adapted for the OAC, the course requires students to listen to all eleven of Dr. Peikoff’s lectures, to complete written assignments (which are graded) based on the lectures and to attend discussion sections led by an instructor.

Year Four

The fourth year focuses on further developing a student’s ability to understand and especially to communicate abstract ideas.

Intermediate Writing

(Taught via teleconference; live attendance required; length varies.)

This class revisits the principles and methods of nonfiction writing, but from a more advanced perspective. Having completed Years 2 and 3 of the OAC program, students will have a much deeper understanding of Objectivism and of the proper methods of thinking. Students will apply that expanded context of knowledge to the skill of writing and to the skills of analyzing and editing nonfiction writing. Students will write a number of op-ed length (700-800 word) articles and will participate in class discussions analyzing and critiquing each other’s work.

Objective Communication

(Taught via teleconference; live attendance required; length varies.)

In the first semester of this course, students listen to the lectures from Dr. Peikoff’s recorded course Objective Communication (1980). The lectures identify substantive principles of intellectual communication and their application to writing, speaking and arguing. In the second semester, students give oral presentations in which they try to apply some of the principles they have learned. The presentations are followed by instructor-led class discussion and analysis.