Articles by Marsha Familaro Enright
Scott Hambrick, founder of Online Great Books, discusses education, meeting Ayn Rand, and a new course to help participants read more easily in the Online Great Books courses with Marsha in his podcast here.
by Marsha Familaro Enright Abstract Ayn Rand argued that “selfish” is the correct designation for a person living according to the Objectivist Ethics, that selfishness is a virtue. The accuracy of this claim is examined along with the meaning of “selfish,” the wider implications for the Objectivist Ethics, and ethics in general. Alternatives to the … Continue reading “The Problem With Selfishness”
Written by Ronald Merrill and Marsha Familaro Enright, and edited by Enright, Ayn Rand Explained is now available at Open Court Books, Amazon, on Kindle, and in bookstores everywhere. Ayn Rand and her ideas are in the news more than ever – 50+ years after her magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, was published. What’s driving this … Continue reading “Ayn Rand Explained: From Tyranny to Tea Party”
Marsha Familaro Enright has been attracted by the pleasures and problems of education since the third grade. Trained in biology and psychology, she has written research articles on psychology, neuropsychology, development, and education for a number of publications. She founded the Council Oak Montessori School near Chicago in 1990 and has served as its president … Continue reading “Schools for Individualists: TNI’s exclusive interview with Marsha Enright, by Sara Pentz”
Philosophy & Psychology If “Emotions Are Not Tools of Cognition,” What Are They?: An Exploration of the Relationship Between Reason and Emotion Marsha Familaro Enright A Conversation with Ayn Rand “Emotions are not tools of cognition,” Ayn Rand said on more than one occasion (1961, 55; 1964, 6; 1974, 6). An emotion as such … Continue reading “If Emotions Aren’t Tools of Cognition, what are they?”
Q: How did the ideas of Ayn Rand impact your life? Marsha: I read through Atlas the summer following The Fountainhead, and all the books and essays I could get my hands on after that, over the next few years. This included Nathaniel Branden’s The Psychology of Self-Esteem, which greatly influenced my thinking in psychology, … Continue reading “Interview with Marsha Enright by Karen Minto, Full Context, Vol. 12, No. 1”
(Christmas carols celebrate the Nativity as being, above all else, an event that brings hope to mankind. “O Holy Night,” one of the most beautiful carols, makes the point explicitly: “a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.” But I suspect that Christmas is not unique among … Continue reading “The Habit of Hope”
In the following, I plan to summarize the essence of Binswanger’s argument on goal-causation, and then expand on the issues he brings up and discuss any problems or objections I have with his arguments. Time has not permitted me to be as complete and persuasive in my objections as I might like – I only … Continue reading “The Biological Basis of Teleological Causation, Chapter 6 Goal-Causation, Harry Binswanger – by Marsha Enright”
Music is an art without an apparent object – there are no scenes to look at, no sculptured marbles to touch, no stories to follow – and yet it can cause some of the most passionate and intense feelings possible. How does this happen – how can sounds from resonant bodies produce emotion (1) in … Continue reading “CON MOLTO SENTIMENTO: On the Evolutionary Biology and Neuropsychology of Music”
Navigator: Perhaps you could begin by telling us something of the history of the New Intellectual Forum. Who started it, and when? Enright: In 1985, a listing in The Objectivist Forum led me to contact Mike McCarthy of the Chicagoland Objectivist Principles Organization (COPO). My husband John and I began going to meetings of COPO at … Continue reading “Interview: How to Run an Objectivist Salon”