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Goals, Values, and the Implicit: Explorations in Psychological Ontology.

Robert L. Campbell examines Ayn Rand's handling of the distinction between implicit and explicit knowledge. Using interactivist developmental psychology, he shows how human knowledge and goals develop through a hierarchy of knowing levels, and elaborates a significant differentiation between what is...

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Published in:Journal of Ayn Rand Studies (Journal of Ayn Rand Studies Foundation) Vol. 3; no. 2; pp. 289 - 328
Main Author: Campbell, Robert L.
Format: Article
Published: Journal of Ayn Rand Studies Foundation Spring2002
Subjects:
Ontology
Rand, Ayn, 1905-1982
Philosophers
Developmental psychology
Goal (Psychology)
Ability
Intellectual development
Implicit learning
Psychology
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Summary:Robert L. Campbell examines Ayn Rand's handling of the distinction between implicit and explicit knowledge. Using interactivist developmental psychology, he shows how human knowledge and goals develop through a hierarchy of knowing levels, and elaborates a significant differentiation between what is subconsciously known or believed and what is merely implied. He applies these distinctions to three problem areas in Rand's treatment of the implicit: the notion of a "pre-moral" choice to live, the peculiar status of implicit concepts, and Rand's ambivalence as to whether skills constitute knowledge.