Philosophy

Roger E. Bissell

2014.12.1Journal of Ayn Rand Studies

DOI: 10.5325/jaynrandstud.14.2.0171

tlooto Summary

Rand's unit-perspective view of concepts improves propositional knowledge and explains multilayered conceptual knowledge.

Abstract

The author contends that the Objectivist epistemology has lacked a viable model of propositional knowledge for nearly fifty years, due to neglect of Rand’s unit-perspective view of concepts. This pioneering insight, he says, not only is an essential building block of her concept theory, but also welds together the three levels of logical theory and provides the clearest X-ray picture of our multilayered conceptual knowledge. Using the unit-perspective to expand Rand’s theory of concepts, the author then devises a theory of the proposition, giving considerable attention to axioms and statements about nonexistent subjects.

Citation format

BISSELL, Roger E. What’s in your file folder?: Rand’s unit-perspective, the law of identity, and the fundamental nature of the proposition. Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, 2014, 14: 171–274.