Concepts and their role in knowledge offers scholarly analysis of key elements of ayn rands radically new approach to epistemology the four essays by contributors intimately familiar with this area of her work discuss rands theory of concepts including its new account of abstraction and essence and its central role in her epistemology how that view leads to a distinctive conception of the justification of knowledge her realist account of perceptual awareness and its role in . Ayn rands theory of concept formation plays an important role in her broader program of objectivist epistemology some of the themes in her work correspond to core themes in what ian hacking calls the tradition of natural kinds in mainstream anglo american philosophy hacking 1991c in particular rands theory converges on the idea that concepts are intellectual tools forged by human beings in order to allow them to recover elements of the structure of the world around them and . Concepts and their role in knowledge reflections on objectivist epistemology published november 19 2013 allan gotthelf and james g lennox eds concepts and their role in knowledge reflections on objectivist epistemology university of pittsburgh press 2013 298pp 3000 hbk isbn 9780822944249. Concepts and their role in knowledge reflections on objectivist epistemology ayn rand soc philosophical stu objectivist theory of concepts their cognitive function their basis in sense perception and the processes by which they are formed and properly introduction to objectivist epistemology wikipedia introduction to objectivist epistemology is a book about epistemology by the . Concepts and their role in knowledge reflections on objectivist epistemology ayn rand soc philosophical stu ayn rand society philosophical studies by allan gotthelf james g lennox click here for the lowest price hardcover 9780822944249 0822944243