Harry Binswanger
Encyclopedia
Harry Binswanger is an American philosopher and writer. He is an Objectivist
and was a long-time associate of Ayn Rand
, working with her on The Ayn Rand Lexicon. His doctoral dissertation, in the philosophy of biology
, presented a new theory of the goal-directedness of living action, in opposition to the views of one of his dissertation advisers, Ernest Nagel
. The dissertation was later published as The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts. He taught philosophy at CUNY's
Hunter College
from 1972 to 1979 and at other New York City schools as well as at the University of Texas, Austin for a semester in 2002. Since 1997, he has operated a fee-based email discussion group on Objectivism. Binswanger has spoken on Objectivist philosophy at over 30 universities, across the U.S., Canada, and abroad. His television appearances have included the Glenn Beck
show, Geraldo at Large
, C-SPAN
panels, and CNBC
's On the Money
. He also appears in Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life
, the Academy Award nominated documentary by Michael Paxton
.
and Engineering
" from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(where he was instrumental in establishing the student group "Radicals for Capitalism") and his Ph.D.
in philosophy
from Columbia University
in 1973. Binswanger was a close friend of Ayn Rand
, and his subsequent philosophical work has been done in the Objectivist tradition. He edited the new material in the second edition of Rand's book, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology
, published in 1990 after her death (the first edition was published in 1979) and frequently contributes to Objectivist publications. He also compiled The Ayn Rand Lexicon, a mini-encyclopedia of Rand's views on some 400 topics in philosophy—now available online. His own book, The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts, was published in 1990. Since then, he has given many lecture courses developing Objectivist theories in metaphysics
, philosophy of mind
, and philosophy of science
. These include "Free Will", "Abstractions from Abstractions", "The Metaphysics of Consciousness", and "Consciousness as Identification," "Psycho-Epistemology," and "Philosophic Issues in Economics."
From 1980 through 1987, he published and edited a bimonthly journal called The Objectivist Forum, which was subsequently published as a hardback collection.
Binswanger is currently on the Board of Directors of the Ayn Rand Institute
, and is a professor at its Objectivist Academic Center. He also moderates and regularly posts to an email discussion group on Objectivism, called "The Harry Binswanger List," or HBL.
Binswanger is a supporter of completely open immigration, seeing it as an issue of individual rights and citing Rand (who immigrated to the U.S. from Soviet Russia) as the premier example of the benefits derivable from open immigration. In response to worries about terrorists immigrating to the U.S., he has argued that rather than impose immigration restrictions (and other limits on Americans), the U.S. should engage in total, offensive war to end the regimes that sponsor terrorism. He has long urged immediate regime change in Iran, which he regards as the mainspring of the Islamic terrorist movement. Binswanger expressed support for Israel on the Glenn Beck
program on Fox News.
Objectivism (Ayn Rand)
Objectivism is a philosophy created by the Russian-American philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand . Objectivism holds that reality exists independent of consciousness, that human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception, that one can attain objective knowledge from perception...
and was a long-time associate of Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
, working with her on The Ayn Rand Lexicon. His doctoral dissertation, in the philosophy of biology
Philosophy of biology
The philosophy of biology is a subfield of philosophy of science, which deals with epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences...
, presented a new theory of the goal-directedness of living action, in opposition to the views of one of his dissertation advisers, Ernest Nagel
Ernest Nagel
Ernest Nagel was a Czech-American philosopher of science. Along with Rudolf Carnap, Hans Reichenbach, and Carl Hempel, he is sometimes seen as one of the major figures of the logical positivist movement....
. The dissertation was later published as The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts. He taught philosophy at CUNY's
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
from 1972 to 1979 and at other New York City schools as well as at the University of Texas, Austin for a semester in 2002. Since 1997, he has operated a fee-based email discussion group on Objectivism. Binswanger has spoken on Objectivist philosophy at over 30 universities, across the U.S., Canada, and abroad. His television appearances have included the Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck (TV program)
Glenn Beck is a United States cable news show hosted by Glenn Beck that aired weekdays on Fox News Channel. The program, originally on CNN Headline News , premiered on FNC on January 19, 2009 and aired weekdays at 5:00 PM EST...
show, Geraldo at Large
Geraldo at Large
Geraldo at Large is a United States television newsmagazine, hosted by Fox News correspondent-at-large and former talk show host Geraldo Rivera.-History:...
, C-SPAN
C-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
panels, and CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
's On the Money
On the Money
CNBC's On the Money, hosted by Carmen Wong Ulrich, is a television program that focuses primarily on personal finance, a programming departure from CNBC's "investor focused" weekday programming....
. He also appears in Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life is a 1997 American documentary film written, produced, and directed by Michael Paxton. Its focus is on novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, the author of the bestselling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, who promoted her philosophy of Objectivism through her books,...
, the Academy Award nominated documentary by Michael Paxton
Michael Paxton
Michael Paxton is an American filmmaker whose feature documentary, Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life received an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Satellite Award for Best Feature Documentary of 1997.-Background:...
.
Biography
Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Binswanger received his Bachelor of Science degree in "HumanitiesHumanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
and Engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
" from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(where he was instrumental in establishing the student group "Radicals for Capitalism") and his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1973. Binswanger was a close friend of Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
, and his subsequent philosophical work has been done in the Objectivist tradition. He edited the new material in the second edition of Rand's book, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology
Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology
Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, published in 1979, is Ayn Rand's essentialised summation of the Objectivist theory of concepts and solution to the problem of universals...
, published in 1990 after her death (the first edition was published in 1979) and frequently contributes to Objectivist publications. He also compiled The Ayn Rand Lexicon, a mini-encyclopedia of Rand's views on some 400 topics in philosophy—now available online. His own book, The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts, was published in 1990. Since then, he has given many lecture courses developing Objectivist theories in metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
, philosophy of mind
Philosophy of mind
Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e...
, and philosophy of science
Philosophy of science
The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
. These include "Free Will", "Abstractions from Abstractions", "The Metaphysics of Consciousness", and "Consciousness as Identification," "Psycho-Epistemology," and "Philosophic Issues in Economics."
From 1980 through 1987, he published and edited a bimonthly journal called The Objectivist Forum, which was subsequently published as a hardback collection.
Binswanger is currently on the Board of Directors of the Ayn Rand Institute
Ayn Rand Institute
The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism is a 501 nonprofit think tank in Irvine, California that promotes Ayn Rand's philosophy, called Objectivism. It was established in 1985, three years after Rand's death, by Leonard Peikoff, Rand's legal heir...
, and is a professor at its Objectivist Academic Center. He also moderates and regularly posts to an email discussion group on Objectivism, called "The Harry Binswanger List," or HBL.
Views
Binswanger has been described as an "orthodox" Objectivist for his commitment to the ideas of his mentor, Ayn Rand, whom Binswanger considers a "once in a millennium genius."Binswanger is a supporter of completely open immigration, seeing it as an issue of individual rights and citing Rand (who immigrated to the U.S. from Soviet Russia) as the premier example of the benefits derivable from open immigration. In response to worries about terrorists immigrating to the U.S., he has argued that rather than impose immigration restrictions (and other limits on Americans), the U.S. should engage in total, offensive war to end the regimes that sponsor terrorism. He has long urged immediate regime change in Iran, which he regards as the mainspring of the Islamic terrorist movement. Binswanger expressed support for Israel on the Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...
program on Fox News.