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 The Houston Objectivism Society is an organization dedicated to spreading the ideas of Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism in the Houston area. |
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The HOS 2008 meeting schedule is: | |
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| January | Annual planning meeting. | |
| February | Speaker Event: Dr. Andrew Bernstein to speak at Rice University on “Religion vs. Morality" on February 7th. | |
| March | Bookshare: Our ever popular bookshare meeting will be the focus this month. For the bookshare, all attendees bring a book, either fiction or non-fiction, that they have read and would recommend to others. After everyone has presented his/her book, we’ll vote on the book “Most Likely to Be Read” with the winner receiving a prize. | |
| April |
Cultural Event—Leonardo da Vinci: Man,
Inventor, Genius: We will attend this exhibit at the
Houston Museum of Natural Science. Afterwards, we will go out to
dinner and discuss what we learned about da Vinci. Here is the
museum’s description of the exhibit:
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| May | Epistemology and Justice: We are often confronted with stories regarding public figures in which the information is incomplete and conflicting. In many such situations the public is quick to declare the person guilty or innocent (and usually it is guilty). In this meeting we will discuss what type and level of evidence is necessary to reach a rational conclusion in these situations. A current topic in the news will be selected as a practice exercise. | |
| June | HOS 20th Anniversary Party: This year marks the 20th anniversary of the formation of HOS. It is one of the longest, if not the longest, active community Objectivist clubs in the U.S. That fact alone deserves celebration. As part of the festivities, we’ll hear from the Founding Fathers themselves (no, not George and Thomas, but Warren and Brian) to learn how they started the club and what kinds of activities they had back in the old days. We’ll also hear from old-time members as they reminisce about past club events. | |
| July | Illegal Immigration: One of the most controversial issues in this year’s presidential campaign is illegal immigration. According to some, illegal immigrants pose a grave threat to America: they take our jobs; they don’t pay taxes; they burden an already-overloaded public school and medical system; they threaten our national security. How much truth is there to these claims, and are they really even valid arguments? What makes an immigrant “illegal” (or legal) in the first place? Joe Reed will lead our discussion over these issues and apply Objectivist principles in order to develop a just position on this controversial topic. | |
| August | The Founding Fathers and Democracy: America’s Founding Fathers established a republic, explicitly rejecting a democratic form of government. Despite their intentions, the nation today is largely democratic in nature. Many trace this evolution to the ideas of the Progressive Movement. Yet the ideas that gave rise to democracy were ingrained in the American culture long before the Revolution. Indeed, many of the Founders embraced ideas that were essentially democratic—some more explicitly than others. This talk by Brian will examine the ideas and the culture of the American colonies from the first settlements to the founding of the nation. The focus will be on the essential ideas of democracy that were present, as well the absence of the ideas necessary to combat democracy. | |
| September | Applying Rand’s Essays to Our Lives: For this meeting, four or five members will volunteer to choose one of Ayn Rand's essays from the nonfiction books. At the meeting, each will give a 5-minute summary of the essay and then will discuss a few ways in which the Objectivist principles in the essay apply to current topics, whether personal or in world events. Members will then discuss other applications. Finally, at the end of the meeting, we will apply the Objectivist principle of integration by discussing the relationships among the essays. | |
| October | Vote 2008: As the news media has made everyone fully aware: this is an election year. By October, we’ll know the candidates for each party, and if anyone has chosen to run independently. Will it be obvious as to who will make the best president? At this meeting, we’ll take a closer look at the platforms of each candidate and at the two political parties in general. We’ll compare these to the Objectivist view of politics and try to discern who would be the best candidate for the job. | |
| November | Workshop—How to Analyze and Appreciate Paintings: We will review Dianne Durante's methodology described in the article "How to Analyze and Appreciate Paintings," published in the Fall 2007 issue of The Objective Standard. This article presents a method of drawing the meaning of a painting from guided observation of concretes in the painting. Dianne Durante's excellent tutorial presentation, grounded in a rational approach to epistemology (relating concretes to abstractions), will help us all improve our ability to observe and draw essential conclusions from a work of art. At the end of the article, an example is left to the reader to perform. We will analyze that example in this workshop, employing the methodology. Members attending will be expected to have read the article, which is available to subscribers of The Objective Standard. Alternatively, we are attempting to negotiate a single article purchase option with the journal editor for members who are not (or who will not be) subscribers. | |
| 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. | ||