Lecture examines reason-emotion dichotomy

The reason-emotion dichotomy that has maintained throughout more than 2,000 years of philosophical thought gained a new twist courtesy of the objectivist thinking of author and philosopher Ayn Rand.

This new twist was the subject of a lecture last night by Edwin Locke, University of Maryland professor of business and management and psychology. Locke, a member of the Ayn Rand Institute Board of Advisors, gave a lecture titled "Reason and Emotion: Ayn Rand's Solution to a 2000-Year-Old Dilemma."

The lecture, organized by the University of Michigan Students of Objectivism with the assistance of the Ayn Rand Institute, drew nearly 100 people to Angell Hall Auditorium A.

Its purpose, said Matt Johnson, a University alum and president of the student organization, was "to present an alternative to the reason-emotion dichotomy."

"People have come to separate the world of reason from the world of emotion, the world of things from the world of ideas," Locke said, adding that this dichotomy places these two concepts in constant conflict with one another.

The philosophy of Ayn Rand embodies the concept that ideas are objective and tied to reality. There can, therefore, be "a harmony between reason and emotion, theory and practice, mind and body," Locke said, adding, "it is not emotion or reason, but emotion based on reason."

Locke began his presentation with a discussion about the theory underlying age-old philosophical thought, from Plato to modern times, that a lower physical body contradicts a higher moral self.

"The truth or falsity of this dichotomy has profound implications for humanity," Locke said, because the world is based on reason and the contradiction of emotion would be a constant threat to this.

Locke said this dichotomy, which Objectivists believe to be false, has burdened humans for thousands of years. Through introspection, Ayn Rand has removed this burden - a human's belief that he or she "was split in two," Locke said. Her philosophy is one of "a total mind-body integration."

Ayn Rand is the author of the novels, "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged," among other works. Her philosophy is the focus of the UMSO.

The organization was founded at the University in 1985. "We're the oldest continuous club studying the philosophy of Ayn Rand to my knowledge in the world," Johnson said.

Johnson found the lecture to be "highly original," adding that he hopes it "offers some food for thought."

04-02-99