[Ayn Rand University]

Dear students and auditors,

Welcome. This is an initial communication to orient you to the ITOE course, which begins next week. I look forward to meeting you all during the course.

Course Website and Live Classes
Please visit the course website now to ensure you can access it and to review the material there, which includes the link to join the live classes on Zoom. If you have difficulty accessing the course site, contact university@aynrand.org.

Live classes take place on Thursdays and Fridays, 8:30 – 9:45 am Pacific Time, beginning on April 20. I strongly encourage you to attend live for the best experience. However, the ARU administration will post recordings of live classes on the course website and the ARU App/ARI Campus usually within an hour or two after the conclusion of each live class.

A syllabus will be available at the course website by the first class.

Course Textbook
Our main textbook is Ayn Rand’s Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology: Expanded Second Edition, edited by myself and Leonard Peikoff (1990). Please make sure you have this edition of the book, as opposed to the first edition, as we’ll cover the extra material it contains in the second half of the course.

In addition, we will read Chapter 3 of Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, by Leonard Peikoff.

First Reading Assignment
For the first class, please read Ayn Rand’s “Foreword to the First Edition” of ITOE (available in either edition of the book), as well as the first 2 pages of Chapter 1 (pp. 5-6).

Schedule and Course Overview
A weekly schedule of live classes is available on the course website. There are 8 weeks of live classes in each quarter, with a lengthy break in between quarters. (I hope to see many of you at OCON during the break.)

We will read through ITOE in order, starting with the Preface. Then, the schedule is to devote 4 classes (5 hours) to each chapter. The next quarter’s class will finish up whatever of the 8 chapters has not been covered, then take up “The Analytic-Synthetic Dichotomy” and the Appendix.

About Me
You may find a copy of my bio at the Harry Binswanger Letter website.

Communication
If you have questions about anything in the syllabus or about the course, please ask in the Class Forum. You may email me (prof.Binswanger@gmail.com) for non-administrative personal matters. For personal administrative issues (e.g., inability to log on, etc.), email university@aynrand.org.

I look forward to seeing you in class. As a reminder, we’ll begin on Wednesday, April 20, 8:30 – 9:45 am PT. The link to join the live classes is on the second tab in the course website.

Sincerely,

Harry Binswanger

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This message can also be viewed on the Announcement Forum of the course ITOE.

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