's Articles
Announcements, LevelUp News
What People Say About OSI's Conferences
Jackson Upmann March 14, 2023
LevelUp 2023 could be the highlight of your year—and the time to register is now! Early-bird pricing, which will save you 20–50% on registration, ends March 15. Here’s an indication of what past attendees say about the conference.
Arts & Culture, Reviews
What’s Love Got to Do With It? Directed by Shekhar Kapur
What’s Love Got to Do With It? is a well-written and refreshingly thoughtful film that shows the crucial importance of honesty and independent thinking in achieving happiness. It is a sensitive yet incisive study of the clash between Islamic and Western cultures—and between collectivism and individualism.
Announcements, LevelUp News
Who Is Max Lugavere?
Jackson Upmann March 10, 2023
Max Lugavere teaches nutrition for optimizing brain health through his bestselling books, including Genius Foods and The Genius Life, as well as his podcast. At LevelUp 2023, Max will discuss the science on nutrition as it currently stands in “Foods for Flourishing.”
History, Reviews
The Stasi Poetry Circle: The Creative Writing Class That Tried to Win the Cold War by Philip Oltermann
Timothy Sandefur February 28, 2023
The Stasi Poetry Circle offers an unusual glimpse of the relationship between communist totalitarianism and the poetic impulses of both its victims and their victimizers.
Announcements, LevelUp News
The LevelUp 2023 Program Is Announced!
Jackson Upmann February 23, 2023
The program for LevelUp 2023 has been posted. Register now for your chance to learn from and engage with world-class thinkers on philosophy, self-development, cultural issues, politics, and the arts.
Announcements, Ayn Rand & Objectivism
From the Editor, Spring 2023
Jon Hersey February 21, 2023
Welcome to the Spring 2023 issue of The Objective Standard. This begins the journal’s eighteenth year in publication, and I’d like to extend a tremendous thanks to everyone who subscribes and supports our work.
Arts & Culture, Politics & Rights
The Terrifying Prescience of George Orwell’s 1984
Andrew Bernstein February 21, 2023
First and foremost a magnificent novel, George Orwell’s 1984 is also a terrifyingly prescient political commentary. Written by an Englishman in 1949, it substantially mirrors the trajectory of American politics today.
Arts & Culture, Philosophy, Reviews
Babylon 5: Pioneering, Philosophic Science Fiction
Thomas Walker-Werth February 21, 2023
Babylon 5 is a unique science-fiction series that tells an epic story rich in philosophic ideas and moral messages. These make it timeless and well worth watching for anyone interested in complex drama.
Philosophy, Politics & Rights
Freedom’s Furies: Timothy Sandefur on the Importance of Isabel Paterson, Rose Wilder Lane, and Ayn Rand
Jon Hersey February 21, 2023
Isabel Paterson’s The God of the Machine, Rose Wilder Lane’s The Discovery of Freedom, and Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, all published in 1943, launched the modern American liberty movement. Freedom’s Furies by Timothy Sandefur is the first book-length exploration of these women's relationships and context.
Arts & Culture, Politics & Rights
Taylor Swift Fans Should Celebrate Her Becoming a Billionaire
Justyna Piątek-Pawłowska February 21, 2023
Contra those who think it’s not possible to ethically accumulate so much wealth, Taylor Swift has done so by trading value for value—never resorting to force or fraud. She created that wealth, and fans upset about this “need to calm down” and acknowledge this fact.
Announcements, LevelUp News
Early-bird pricing for LevelUp is extended to March 15
Jackson Upmann February 18, 2023
Because we’re still finalizing the (amazing!) program for Objective Standard Institute’s LevelUp, we’ve extended early-bird pricing to March 15. So you can still save 20–50%.
Philosophy, Reviews
Knock at the Cabin, Written, Produced, and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Knock at the Cabin depicts the vile notion that it is moral to sacrifice the person you love most—your highest value—for the benefit of others and/or to appease God.
History, Politics & Rights, Reviews
And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham
Timothy Sandefur February 13, 2023
What many of Lincoln's contemporaries—and many today—mistook for paradoxes or even contradictions more often reflected the prudence of a leader facing the horrendous task of guiding the United States toward a philosophic principle when unprecedented bloodshed made it sometimes seem safer to disregard that principle.
Education & Parenting, Politics & Rights
Bad Schools and What to Do about Them, with Andrew Bernstein
Jon Hersey February 1, 2023
Dr. Andrew Bernstein, author of Why Johnny Still Can’t Read or Write or Understand Math: And What We Can Do About It, recently joined me to discuss the problems with American schools today, along with some inspiring solutions.
Politics & Rights, Reviews
Free Speech: A Global History from Socrates to Social Media by Jacob Mchangama
Michael Dahlen January 25, 2023
Recently, a growing chorus of voices has become increasingly hostile to free speech. Certain speech, we are told, must be suppressed in order to combat “hate speech,” stop misinformation, and “protect democracy.” But, as Jacob Mchangama explains in his book, Free Speech: A Global History from Socrates to Social Media, these arguments are not new.