Announcing a New Book by Dr. Peikoff: The Art of Thinking

The Ayn Rand Institute Press is happy to announce the release of a new book based on Dr. Leonard Peikoff’s 1992 lecture course of the same name The Art of Thinking. The book is the fourth of Dr. Peikoff’s lectures edited by Dr. Michael S. Berliner, senior adviser to the Ayn Rand Archives and former ARI executive director. In The Art of Thinking, Dr. Peikoff explains how to apply Objectivist epistemology to everyday thinking processes.

 “Dr. Peikoff’s writings and lectures are core to ARI’s educational programs,” said Elan Journo, who leads ARI’s publishing ventures. “And one pattern we’ve noticed with incoming students: the most serious students of Objectivism listen to his courses, again and again. So we’re delighted to bring out The Art of Thinking, making that invaluable material easier to access, reference, and study.”

The book consists of six chapters, corresponding to the original lectures, each ending  with questions from lecture attendees and Dr. Peikoff’s answers. Lecture topics include how volition can be a means to clarity, how to connect one’s thoughts to perceptual data, how to think in essentials and in principles, and how to achieve certainty. The final chapter — “Thinking versus Writing” — explores the relationship between thinking and writing, and offers guidance from Dr. Peikoff on the writing process.

The Art of Thinking is an excellent resource for students who want to deepen their understanding of Objectivist epistemology after having read Ayn Rand’s Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology and Dr. Peikoff’s Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand.

“A special note of thanks is owed to Dr. Berliner, who started with hours of audio transcripts and judiciously edited that text into a vital new book,” observed Elan Journo.

You can read the introduction to the book here. The Art of Thinking is now available in paperback and Kindle formats on Amazon.

Additional Leonard Peikoff books adapted from lectures and audio

In recent years the Ayn Rand Institute began the process of making all of Dr. Peikoff’s lecture courses available on our website and has assisted in turning some of them into book form.

Why Act on Principle? (ARI Press)

Founders of Western Philosophy: Thales to Hume (ARI Press)

Principles of Grammar (ARI Press)

Keeping It Real: Bringing Ideas Down to Earth (ARI Press)

Discovering Great Plays: As Literature and As Philosophy (ARI Press)

Teaching Johnny to Think (ARI Press)

Understanding Objectivism (Penguin)