Schedule

	The Houston Objectivism Society is an organization dedicated to spreading the ideas of Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism in the Houston area.
	Here is the planned schedule for HOS meetings in 2009:
	January	Annual planning meeting.
	February	Art Museum Field Trip: This meeting was inspired by our meeting last November on “How to Analyze and Appreciate Paintings.” At that meeting, we looked at art work and used a process of analyzing paintings that Dianne Durante developed. Now we will take this process and apply it to real paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts. We will first review this process by analyzing a pre-selected painting together. (Thus, if you weren’t able to attend last November’s meeting, you can still learn the process.) Then members will explore the museum looking for their favorite painting. When they decide upon their favorite, they will carefully analyze it using Durante’s process. Afterwards, we will have dinner at the museum’s café and describe our favorite painting to the other participants.
	March	Ominous Parallels 2009: For the meeting, Eric Westphal will summarize Leonard Peikoff’s book The Ominous Parallels. We will then review both how well the principles identified in The Ominous Parallels have held up and what current cultural trends (including bank nationalizations, “volunteerism,” global warming and others) may indicate about America’s future. Members will be encouraged to re-read The Ominous Parallels before the meeting, though Eric will provide guidance as to the specific sections that would be most beneficial to read.
	April	Barack Obama Exposed: Over the course of the presidential campaign last year, I’m sure that most of us couldn’t avoid hearing a speech or two by Obama. Even though it’s fairly easy to identify his political views as socialism, in his speeches he doesn’t explicitly reveal where he stands on metaphysics or epistemology or his view of the nature of man. In order to uncover his philosophical roots, Janet Lee Westphal will read some of the books that he has written (The Audacity of Hope, Change We Can Believe In, and perhaps Dreams from My Father) and find passages that are more philosophically revealing. During the meeting, the members will read and do some philosophical detection on specific passages to form a more complete understanding of Obama’s philosophical underpinnings.
	May	Pragmatism—Recognizing and Combating It: Based on the Kantian view that certainty is impossible to man, pragmatism has become the dominant replacement for reason as a method of thinking. Because of pragmatism’s primary appeal to practicality, its true nature goes unrecognized. In her article entitled "The Menace of Pragmatism" as presented, first as an OCON lecture and followed by an article in the autumn 2008 issue of The Objective Standard, Dr. Tara Smith exposes pragmatism for the pervasive cultural force of destruction that it truly is. Tom D. will recap Dr. Smith's article, link it with related statements by Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff on the subject and, hopefully, facilitate the recognition of and tactics for rejecting and combating the use of pragmatism.
	June	Objectively Speaking - Ayn Rand Interviewed: This new book, a compilation of Ayn Rand's public interviews, spanning her career from the 1930's through the most active period of the 1960's and 1970's, is a rich source of interesting elaborations on her philosophy. Since interviews generally involve discussions of current events and narrower concretes than philosophical writing, Ayn Rand is given the chance to show how her philosophy applies in practice. She is often brilliant, and the clarity of her thinking comes through in these interviews. Several members will present highlights of interviews that most interested them.
	July	Health Care Activism: Now that the Democrats have gained a majority in both houses of Congress, the risk of an outright nationalization of medicine is a much greater threat. Rather than passively allow this to happen, HOS members voted to engage in intellectual activism. We want to contact politicians, doctors, and rational co-workers and family members and present the moral argument opposing the government take-over of medicine.
	August	History of Medicine: This presentation is motivated by the expected assault on the medical profession from the newly elected government. Most people do not understand the consequences of regimenting and nationalizing medicine, thinking they can have their medical cake and eat it, too. By reviewing the history of medicine, we will remind ourselves of the conditions that gave rise to the success of American medicine, in particular the enormous wealth created by capitalism and the relative freedom of medical practitioners up until recent decades. The facts and historical perspective brought out in this discussion should provide valuable material to members for letter writing and intellectual activism in defense of free medicine.
	September	PoetryShare: This month we are going to have a poetryshare, conducted in a similar format as our popular bookshares. We will begin be reviewing the essential elements of a poem: rhyme and rhythm. Leonard Peikoff describes poetry as “the form of literature whose medium is the sound of concepts.” It is an auditory art form, using sound to concretize our view of life. Each person attending will bring a favorite poem to share with the group. Be prepared to read or recite the poem out loud and also to share why you like that particular poem. After all presentations, we’ll vote on the poem “Most Likely to Be Added to Your Collection” and the winner will receive a prize.
	October	The Man Behind the Mouse: In his cartoons and movies, Walt Disney constantly developed new and innovative ways to entertain and amuse viewers. In his real life ventures, he sought even more. He wanted to create and shape worlds that would entertain, educate and inspire his guests--while at the same time creating customers for life. He was not so concerned with the way things were, “beyond the berm”, but rather how they could and should be, inside his “World”. Walt Disney World was the culmination of years of hard work, setbacks, frustration, and hard lessons learned. This talk will focus on the forces that helped to shape the development of Disney World, and how Walt’s vision and determination made it the outstanding success it is today.
	November	Manifest Destiny and Democracy: The doctrine of Manifest Destiny was used to justify and encourage westward expansion of the United States. But this doctrine was more than a rallying cry for America to control the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It served as justification for the expansion of government powers, and set the stage for the beginning of federal regulations of business. This talk by Brian Phillips will examine the doctrine of Manifest Destiny and the role it played in transforming America politically.
	December	The HOS Christmas Party: We will once again end the year enjoying the true meaning of Christmas—spending time with people we value and hopefully getting a nice present! We may also have to challenge our winners in the Top Objectivist Chef contest with Round Two. Start thinking about those favorite recipes...
Note: Visitors interested in trying out HOS may attend one or two meetings without joining, but are expected to become HOS members and pay the $20 annual dues if they come to further meetings.
Contact us for more information about HOS.