Personal Information

Real Name

Kate Herrick

Description

I've been an ardent Objectivist since I discovered Ayn Rand in my first year at the University of Michigan in 1992, where I graduated with a degree in psychology in '96. My first Objectivist book was Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, and Objectivism saved me from discarding philosophy as I found it at the university: substantively inessential, methodologically bizarre, and suffering from a schizophrenic identity crisis that had metastisized into a self-oblivious dementia. Even the most orderly modern philosophic thinkers often fail to define their terms and work from pre-determined fundamentals.

I've taken Objectivist courses and attended seminars throughout my adult life, and I'm proud to be a supporter of David Kelley and the Atlas Society. I've given dozens of presentations through the club I founded in early 2002, the Mid-Michigan Objectivist Club. I took a short hiatus from that while taking graduate courses in philosophy for a year at Wayne State University (whose department is among the most analytical and emphasizes epistemology and history of philosophy).

My primary interest is moral psychology, and I've developed that interest in the direction of integrating the latest science on human nature with Objectivist analyses and positions, bowing to the most fundamental truth in any matter, which is sometimes a matter for science rather than philosophy or "common-sense" observation. Objectivism's essential contribution is its emphasis on the fundamentality of human nature for addressing normative issues, and there's no time for resting on our armchair laurels, especially since it is an era of cross-disciplinary integration in academia. I plan on going back to school in philosophy, though I don't see myself fitting into academia in the long run, as the less savory kind of politics is antithetical to my free inquiry into personal morality.

I'm currently organizing an Objectivist conference with Fred Stitt to take the place of the Atlas Society's cancelled 2009 Summer Seminar: Free Minds '09. Its theme is the Past, Present, and Future of Objectivism, and will take place in Las Vegas, June 30 - July 8. I'm hoping many people from this forum will decide to participate and enrich this dicussion.

History

Member for

3 years 13 weeks

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