Objectivism 101
by Joseph Rowlands
Today I announced the birth of a new website, Objectivism101. It's an educational site dedicated to explaining Objectivism at multiple levels. You can find it at http://Objectivism101.com.
The front page of the site is aimed at people who know nothing about Objectivism. It is designed to give a feel for the philosophy and the website, without putting pressure on the reader. The goal is to show and explain, allowing the reader to come to his own conclusions. The front page links to additional introductory texts written at a level hopefully understandable by anyone.
The initial part of the site is designed as an outreach project. My goal was to create a site that people would be proud to send their friends and relatives to as a way of introducing Objectivism. Rebirth of Reason couldn't satisfy that need because the articles and topics are really geared towards someone with a pretty deep familiarity with the philosophy. The subtitle of the new site is "Tools for Living", which highlights the practical usage of the ideas presented.
If the reader is interested, there are additional resources. At the mid-range, I've added an Objectivist Glossary, which gives one-sentence definitions of common Objectivist words, and links to more detailed explanations. Many of these words have a different meaning than is commonly used in the culture, and I explain why the differences exist.
I also mirrored one of my previous projects, ImportanceOfPhilosophy.com, on the site. It is a valuable resource for gaining some breadth in the philosophy, as well as seeing how the different ideas affect our lives. With it, I put up the Philosophy Dictionary, which is an interesting description of many philosophical terms, broken into Genus and Differentia.
In the most advanced section, I have what I call the Objectivism 101 Lectures. This is the online lecture series that I started in 2004 and presented to a group of 13 students. The series is completed now, and available in full for anyone to read. This is a systematic approach to understanding Objectivism, but does expect some minimum background with the philosophy, including reading Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.
While the site starts off as an outreach program, it should be clear that by the time someone gets to the Objectivism101 lectures, it's aimed more at inreach. The goal is to slowly make a transition between the two. The intent is that the reader will make the same transition, moving from an outsider to an insider as he gains a better understanding of the ideas, and hopefully begins to accept them as true.
I want to give a special thanks to Angela Hedges for her help with the site. She designed the graphics and general look and feel of the site. She did a fantastic job and put in a lot of hard work. Thanks Angela!
I welcome feedback on the project idea, as well as comments on the implementation. If you would like to help with this site, let other people know about this valuable resource. Go to http://Objectivism101.com/banners.html and add a link to your own website.
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