Why Study Objectivism in Groups?

If you want to understand Objectivism, you must go beyond simply reading Ayn Rand's works: you must fully digest them and make them an enduring part of your life. If you want Objectivism to spread, you should encourage others to do the same. Group study, especially in campus clubs, can help reinforce both your understanding and commitment.

1. Group study encourages integration and fosters deeper understanding. Fully understanding Objectivism requires "chewing" the ideas and especially integrating them into the whole of your knowledge, including subjects such as economics, psychology, and history. Group study helps this process, because members with diverse backgrounds can contribute specialized knowledge, share connections, and pose questions and objections that others might not have thought of.

2. Group study helps keep us honest. A common mistake of young intellectuals is thinking "rationalistically": interconnecting ideas in a manner which is internally coherent but disconnected from reality. One can create an illusion of understanding about reason, egoism and capitalism by stringing together words and definitions, without connecting them to observation. In group discussions, participants can relate personal examples to help illustrate and validate abstract principles, and more grounded participants can help others connect abstract ideas to reality.

3. Group study encourages objective communication. It is useful to learn to explain Objectivist ideas to non-Objectivists. Club meetings will usually include participants who are not in full agreement with Objectivism. Learning to explain your ideas in terms of common-sense facts not only serves as practice for speaking to future non-Objectivist audiences, but further deepens your own understanding. If you find yourself having difficulty explaining an idea in this way, chances are that your own understanding is still weak.

4. Group study encourages the commitment to regular study. It is easy to make private promises to study and not be held accountable for them. A scheduled public meeting encourages participants to read or to prepare new questions about a given idea. Regular (weekly or biweekly) meetings can get participants to complete whole books and to study them actively.

5. Group study enables the reaffirmation of one's values. We live in a world which is not yet friendly to Objectivist ideas and to rational values. Study groups let us meet others who speak and act on life-based values, giving us the knowledge that these values are achievable and encouraging us to fight for the future.

In summary, group study affords intellectual benefits as well as practical and psychological benefits. Using your campus club to achieve these selfish values helps lay an intellectual foundation for the club's other activist and social activities.

This article is based on ideas and feedback shared by Ben B., a former president of the University of Illinois Objectivist Club and of the Lawrence University Students of Objectivism. He is currently a philosophy professor.