In this episode of “Facts, Values, and Flourishing,” we’ll consider the so-called “is–ought” or “fact–value” dichotomy, the notion that you can’t derive moral principles (“oughts”) from the facts of reality (what “is”). We’ll see how this alleged impossibility supports the popular claim that “If there is no God, anything goes.” And we’ll consider Sam Harris’s effort to bridge the fact–value gap via the idea that the standard of value is the “well-being of conscious creatures.”

Finally, we’ll walk through the initial steps by means of which Ayn Rand derived objective morality from perceptual reality.

Download your PDF of the course outline here.

Tune in each week at 9:00 PM Eastern Time on either Facebook or YouTube. And let your friends know about the series. They can catch up on missed episodes at either link. —Craig Biddle

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