Dr. John Lewis on "For the New Intellectual: A Study in History"
A typical college history text begins its chapter on Medieval Civilization with "The Traditional Orders of Society: Those Who Pray, Those Who Fight, Those Who Work, and Those Left Out." But it was Ayn Rand, in her seminal essay "For the New Intellectual," who identified those truly left out as the voiceless producers who kept everyone else alive.View the flyer for this event.
Her identification that the development of the West is related to the mind / body distinction in philosophy provides a fundamental explanation for centuries of ghastly savagery. Ayn Rand's seminal achievement was to show the importance of the Producers--the Businessman and the Intellectuals--in human life, and to explain their liberation in the Industrial Revolution. This lecture will dive into this important text, consider its claims in the light of several examples from history, and celebrate the opportunity it offers for the future.
Dr. John Lewis is Assistant Professor of History at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio. He is holder of an Anthem Fellowship for Objectivist Scholarship. He received his PhD in Classics from the University of Cambridge, has taught at the University of London, and has been a visiting scholar at Rice University and Bowling Green State University. Dr. Lewis has published in academic and Objectivist journals. His book Solon the Thinker: Political Thought in Archaic Athens is forthcoming from Duckworth Press, and he is completing a book Nothing Less than Victory: Military Offense and the Lessons of History. His encyclopedia articles include an entry on Ayn Rand, at www.LiteraryEncyclopedia.com.