Introductory Semester Schedule

The Philosophic Message of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead

Suggested campus talk

Andrew Bernstein: "Rational Egoism in Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead"

Video Recordings

Andrew Bernstein: 6-part Video Course on The Fountainhead available at aynrandnovels.com
Andrew Bernstein: "Rational Egoism in Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead"
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life

Audio Recordings

Andrew Bernstein: "Literary and Philosophic Integration in The Fountainhead" (4 lectures)

Suggested reading list

Andrew Bernstein: The Fountainhead Teachers' Guide
Andrew Bernstein: The Fountainhead Lesson plans
Ayn Rand: "The Goal of My Writing," The Romantic Manifesto
Ayn Rand: "The Moral Basis of Individualism," Journals of Ayn Rand, pp. 243-310

Note: Complete reading assignments from the novel outside of meeting times.

Start the semester with the campus talk on The Fountainhead to draw a larger meeting group. 

Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life video is more suitable as an end-of-semester activity. Or, end the semester with Ayn Rand's "Philosophy: Who Needs It" (audiotape and article) on the importance of philosophy, to bring students back next semester.

Discussion Questions 

1. When Roark comes uninvited to Dominique’s bedroom in his rough, soiled workman’s clothes, is the act that he commits rape? Why or why not?

  2.  Why does Gail Wynand, a self-made media and real-estate mil­lionaire, seek to turn men into hypocrites? Why does he make a socialist defend management and a conservative defend labor?

  3.  Why does the struggling sculptor Steven Mallory attempt to gun down a famous newspaper columnist who champions the voice­less and the undefended?

  4.  Why does Peter Keating, a celebrity architect, plead with his unsuccessful and widely condemned friend, Hoard Roark, secretly to design a crucial housing project for him? Roark is an architect of unmatched integrity who scorns Keating—so why does he agree to do it?

  5.  Howard Roark refuses a major contract when he most needs it, arguing that his action was “the most selfish thing you’ve ever seen a man do.” Why does he call this action selfish?

  6.  Why does Roark dynamite Cortlandt Homes? How does he defend his action? Is he a moral man, a practical man, both, or neither?

  7.  Both Howard Roark and Lois Cook are artists with a unique vision who are not accepted by the mainstream of society. What does Ayn Rand mean by “individualism”? Are they both individu­alists? Why or why not?

  8.  What does Ayn Rand mean by the terms "first-hander" and "second-hander"? Cite examples of each type from real life.