𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 2

Tuesday, October 7, 2025
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 2

Emotions are something deep within us. Not every emotion is deep. But there are deep ones that matter a lot. Ayn Rand called the sum of our emotions, and the deep ones being the most important, our "sense of life". The deep ones, she said, reflect our "metaphysical value judgements". What does all that mean?

As we live, we acquire knowledge about the world and sum it up in concepts of "friendship", "freedom", "love", "accomplishment" and other terms. Those words pack a lot of data which our emotional apparatus stores in exactly the way we (think we) understand them. And that apparatus talks back to us.

When we encounter something that moves us in some way, it's exactly these concepts that get evoked in us. Our emotions say "THIS!", "THIS is how freedom looks!" or love etc. Where otherwise we would have to do hard, conscious work in particularizing our abstractions in every situation, our emotions remind us of these concretes. Before they can remind us, first, our emotions have to learn them, however.

That's where Ayn Rand places the psycho-epistemological value of art. She says art feeds us concretes to abstractions (just like emotions). It teaches us what they look like, what they sound like, what an instances of that abstraction could actually be in all its reality and details. According to her, art is in the business of communicating deep emotions, a "sense of life", "metaphysical value judgements" by giving you exactly what they require.

Art and emotions both concern themselves with emotions. The purpose of emotions and the purpose of art are tightly connected. For this topic, we will read "The Psycho-Epistemology of Art" as a preparation, in which Ayn Rand talks exactly about this psycho-epistemological role of art in "training" our emotions.

Selected paintings and musical pieces that can be used as common examples and references for the discussion to discuss our reactions to them (if any):

Paintings:
Painting 1
Painting 2
Painting 3

Music:
Clip 1
Clip 2
Clip 3
Clip 4

Read the text and come to the discussion!
https://courses.aynrand.org/works/the-psycho-epistemology-of-art

Let's talk about the purpose of emotions! Next Tuesday!

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Tuesday, October 7 2025, 6.30pm-8.30pm
Hayek Saal, Grünangergasse 1/15-1, 1010 Wien
Enter the green gate, on the left ring at Hayek Institute
Hayek Saal is on the first floor to the right