About the Course
Is artistic taste entirely subjective? Is “to each his own” the only principle we can use when judging works of art?
Absolutely not, said Ayn Rand—one of the most popular novelists of the 20th century, whose works continue to sell hundreds of thousands of copies each year. Underlying Rand’s tremendous success was an objective philosophy of art, which she later cataloged in her treatise on esthetics, The Romantic Manifesto. Integrating observations in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, psychology, and more, she showed why common conceptions of art as the province of whim are wrong, and she offered the world a vision of what art can and ought to be.
In this reading group, Jon Hersey will lead discussions of each essay in Rand’s The Romantic Manifesto alongside supplementary readings, comparing and contrasting Rand’s views and works with those of other influential novelists, artists, philosophers, and scientists. Join the discussion for a journey into the creative world of one of the 20th century’s most influential artists.
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How This Course Works
This course is interactive and discussion-driven, so enrollment is limited. Register early to secure your spot.
The course is held live on a video conferencing app called Zoom, which you can download for free here. Sessions are video recorded, so if you miss a session (or want to review), you can watch the recording.
The course is 13.5 hours long, consisting of 9 sessions of 1.5 hours each.
Course handouts and supplementary materials are delivered via email. Course participants are invited to an exclusive OSI Courses group on Facebook, where they can post questions and engage in discussions with the instructor and other participants.
Have a question that wasn’t answered here? Read our FAQ or email us at [email protected].
Frequently Asked Questions
OSI courses are live, interactive, and discussion-driven, so enrollment is limited. Register early to secure your spot.
Courses are held on Zoom, and sessions are recorded, so if you miss a session (or want to review), you can watch the recording. You can download Zoom for free here.
Courses vary in length. And some involve homework. Please see the specific course pages for details.
Course handouts and supplementary materials are delivered via email (please register with an active email address). Participants have access to an exclusive OSI Courses group on Facebook.
Zoom is a free video-conferencing app that we use to conduct our courses. You can download it here.
Sessions are video recorded, so if you miss a session (or want to review), you can watch the recording. That said, we highly recommend attending each live session so that you can ask questions and engage with your instructor(s) and other participants.
If you do miss a session, we recommend that you watch the recording before attending the next session.
Anyone aged 29 or younger may apply for an OSI scholarship to cover the full cost of a course. For information on how the scholarships work, please visit our Scholarships page.
You can see all current and past courses here.
If you have a question that isn’t answered in the FAQ or course description, please email us at [email protected].
