References to pages previously covered in the course are preceded by a triangle (
). To view those pages, click on the triangle.
- altruism
- The ethical view that a
person should sacrifice his or her interest for the supposed
benefit of others. 3.5:1, 3.5:7-11
- anarchy
- A political system that does not include any
form of government. 5.3:11
- associative synergy
- See synergy of
means.
- autocracy
- Government
based on rule by
the wishes of one individual. 5.3:10
- average return
- The ratio c/f, where c
is the quantity of a consumers' good produced
by a quantity f of a given factor, with the
quantities of the other factors held constant. 4.4:46
- axiom
- A fundamental truth that must be
accepted, at least implicitly. As Rand observes, an axiom
"defeats its opponents by the fact that they have to accept it and
use it in the process of any attempt to deny it" (For the New
Intellectual). Contrasted with the term postulate in this course. 1.2:1-4
- black market
- A market consisting of exchanges prohibited by a government. 4.11:20
- borrower
- A person or organization selling future units of a good in exchange for
present units of that good. 4.7:10
- burden-of-proof principle
- The epistemological principle that
the burden of proof falls on whoever (in the last analysis)
asserts a positive claim. 1.3:72-3, 1.3:78-9
- business licensing
- A law or other governmental policy that coercively prohibits or discourages sales of
certain goods by sellers outside of a designated
class. 4.11:142
- capital good
- A means
produced at a higher stage of
production for use at a lower stage. Also
called simply capital. 4.4:5 ff.
- capital value
- See money value.
- capitalism
- See free
market.
- cardinal
- Pertaining to the measurement of quantities that are subject to
addition, subtraction, and other arithmetic operations. Cf. ordinal. 1.3:17
- causal influence
- A condition that
tends to affect the actions of humans or other entities,
indirectly either contributing to a second condition
(positive causal influence) or tending to reverse that
second condition (negative causal influence). 4.6:18 (including "Details" box)
- censorship
- The initiation of force against persons or their property with the intent or effect of repressing,
modifying, or imposing particular forms of speech or expression.
4.11:145
- certain
- Pertaining to a hypothesis or
proposition that is supported conclusively by evidence. 1.3:76
- coercion
- See initiated force.
- concept
- A mental integration of units
(either percepts or lower-level concepts) based
on their distinguishing characteristics. 1.3:9-55
- conceptual gerrymandering
- The attempt to form concepts
by means of groupings based on subjective criteria rather than
objective distinguishing characteristics. 1.3:46-7
- conscription
- Forcible seizure of a
human being's labor. 4.11:78, 4.11:86-9
- consumer regulation
- A government
policy that attempts through the use or threat of force to prohibit exchanges of particular goods in the market. 4.11:59 ff.
- consumers' good
- An entity or condition
that has subjective value as an end in itself.
4.4:5 ff.
- consumption
- The application of a good to a human being's ultimate purposes, rather
than to the generation of another good. 4.4:8
- cooperative
- A corporation whose owners share some additional function with respect
to the corporation. 4.6:42-3
- copyright
- A condition accepted voluntarily by receivers of a good, restricting uses of an idea
expressed in linguistic or coded form by that good. Cf. patent. 5.5:42-8
- corporation
- An association of
individuals (or organizations) pooling capital
goods and land for common purposes and
sharing ownership of those assets. 4.6:38
- cost
- The utility
forgone at any stage of production. The cost
is determined by the alternative purposes that the means at that stage might otherwise have served.
The term "cost" may also refer to the specific quantities of those
means. 4.4:13-6
- currency depreciation
- See depreciation.
- defensive force
- force that is used to
maintain human life or property in response to
initiated force. 4.11:3-5
- definition
- An identification of the
units subsumed under a concept. Definitions may
be either verbal or ostensive. 1.3:37-43
- demand
- The number of units of a good that one or more
buyers are willing to purchase in a market at a
given price. 4.6:8
- demand schedule
- A chart or graph
showing the relationship between the demand for
a given good in a given market and its price. 4.6:8-9
- democracy
- Government based on rule by
the "people," usually interpreted as majority rule. 5.2:62
- depletion
- Reduction of the quantity or utility of any good as it is
used. 4.4:9-10, 4.8:10
- depreciation
- A decline in the subjective value of a good,
especially paper money. 4.11:36
- differentia
- [pl. "differentiae"] A
characteristic specified in a concept's verbal definition that distinguishes its units from others
of the same genus. 1.3:37-41
- Discounted Marginal Value Product
(DMVP)
- The monetary contribution of a unit of a factor to the output of
the consumers' good, after subtracting the interest accumulated across that factor's period of production. 4.8:11-2
- dissociative synergy
- See information
synergy.
- disutility of labor
- The cost
associated with providing labor, including the
expenditure of a worker's time and taking into account any psychic benefits or losses associated with that
labor. 4.4:23
- DMVP
- See Discounted Marginal Value
Product.
- durable
- Pertaining to a good that can render services more than once. 4.8:11, 4.8:20
- economic means
- See power over
nature.
- economic power
- See power over
nature.
- egoism
- The ethical
view that a person's own life should be his or
her highest value. 3.5:1, 3.5:4-5
- egotism
- The ethical view that a person
should pursue his or her desires without concern for the lives of others or other facts of reality. Contrasted with egoism. 3.5:1-3
- emotion
- A psychosomatic experience
reflecting an automatic subconscious evaluation of some aspect of
reality. 1.3:84-93
- epistemologically essential
- Pertaining to the
distinguishing characteristic(s) of a concept
upon which the largest number of its other distinguishing
characteristics depend, in one's current context of knowledge. Such essential characteristics form the
differentiae of proper verbal definitions. 1.3:38-9
- epistemologically possible
- Pertaining
to a hypothesis or proposition that is supported by some evidence
and not contradicted by other evidence. (Distinguished from metaphysically possible.) 1.3:74-6, 1.4:16-7
- epistemology
- The branch of philosophy
that deals with the nature and derivation of (valid) knowledge. 1.2:5-7
- equilibrium point
- The market
condition represented by the point where the supply schedule and demand schedule intersect. 4.6:15
- ethics
- The science that determines objective values and the principles by which human
beings can act to gain and/or keep them. 2.5:1
- evil
- Pertaining to self-destructive human action or to
the failure to take action necessary to one's life and well-being.
3.9:1
- exchange-value
- The utility of a good as a means of obtaining some other good through trade
in a market. 4.6:29-31
- existence
- Defined ostensively. Refers to that which exists,
i. e., reality. 1.2:1-4
- factor of production
- See means.
- faith
- Belief not derived by a process of logic from one's experience of reality. 1.3:57
- Fallacy of Political Reductionism
- The logical error that assumes that human purposes can
be attained only through the exercise of governmental force. 3.12:13
- fascism
- See national
socialism.
- feedback loop
- See positive-feedback
loop, negative-feedback loop.
- feeling
- See emotion.
- force
- Human action that directly
interferes with another person's realization of maximum subjective value on his or her value
scale. 4.5:8
- fraud
- The acquisition of another person's higher
subjective value X in exchange for a lower
value or a non-value Y by deceiving that person as to the basic
nature of Y. 4.5:10
- free market
- A market
in which the exchanges are not affected by the use of force. 4.5:15
- free will
- See volition.
- freedom
- A state of human action in
which the actor is not constrained by the coercion of others. 3.12:10
- function
- A process or role that
explains an entity's existence and by which it promotes the life of an organism. 1.4:21-2
- functional entity
- An entity whose
existence and nature are explained by the life
requirement(s) it serves for a living being. 1.4:22-9
- genus
- The portion of a concept's verbal definition that identifies the broader concept in
which it is included. 1.3:37
- good
- [adj., in value theory and
ethics] Pertaining to a well-functioning
entity or to actions or goals it may pursue in the process of
functioning well. 2.3:1, 3.2:2
- good
- [n., in praxeology] An entity or
condition having subjective value. 4.4:3 ff.
- government
- An organization that is the
ultimate arbiter of the use of force within a
geographical territory. 4.11:1
- gray market
- A market consisting of
exchanges that may not be prohibited outright by a government, but whose legal status is not clearly
defined. Cf. black market. 4.11:20
- hedonism
- The ethical view that
pleasure per se should be a person's highest value. 3.5:1, 3.5:7-9
- higher stage
- A stage
in the structure of production relatively remote
from the consumers' good. 4.4:3 ff.
- higher-order good
- A factor at a higher stage. 4.4:12 (response message)
- homesteading
- The establishment of ownership in a previously unowned item of land as a means to one's
actions. 4.5:13
- honesty
- Allegiance to the truth in
dealing both with oneself and with others. 3.10:17
- human
- A rational animal. "Rational" in this context
means not that all humans think and act rationally, but rather
that they possess a faculty of reason,
regardless of whether or not they use it. 1.3:37-41
- idea
- [in praxeology] The mental plan
underlying production, including the stages of production, the quantities of means required at each stage, and the goods produced. 4.4:6 ff.
- independence
- The recognition that reality (rather than consciousness) is primary and
that one must therefore take the responsibility of attaining truth by one's own reason. 3.10:9
- inflation
- An increase in the quantity of paper money in a market without any
corresponding increase in the good underlying
that paper money. 4.11:39
- information synergy
- Synergy that often arises from an increased flow
of information when individuals function independently or
decision-making is decentralized. 5.4:15
- initiated force
- force that is introduced into previously peaceful human relations. 4.11:2-5
- integrity
- The consistent application of one's ethical principles to all of
one's actions. 3.10:11
- interest
- The additional quantity of a
future good that is included, because of time preference, in an exchange of that good for a
present good of the same kind. 4.7:10
- intervention
- The alteration of a market by initiated force. 4.11:2
- intrinsicism
- The belief that concepts or values exist in reality (perhaps in some hidden dimension)
independently of any conceiving or valuing human being. Contrast
subjectivism, Objectivism. 1.3:13-4, 1.3:48-9
- investment
- The allocation of a good
to production instead of immediate consumption, or to a longer production process
instead of a shorter one. 4.7:5
- involuntary
- Pertaining to actions taken by a human
individual in the presence of force or
threatened force. 2.4:9
- judging
- The mental action leading to justice, by which one evaluates the actions of
an individual. 3.10:19
- justice
- The practice of dealing with
each individual in the manner merited by his or her actions,
evaluated by the standard of objective value.
3.10:19
- knowledge
- The mental grasp of some
aspect of reality (i. e., existence). 1.3:1
- labor
- A means
provided directly by human beings. 4.4:5
- laissez-faire capitalism
- See free
market.
- land
- A means
provided directly by the natural environment. 4.4:5
- law of association
- The principle that multiple participants in a free market producing the same two or more goods will all realize reductions in cost through specialization and trade. Only in
mathematically rare situations (p. 4.5:28) will such reductions not be achieved. 4.5:22-32
- law of comparative advantage
- See law of association.
- law of diminishing marginal utility
- The principle that the units of a good decline in subjective or objective value as a person's stock increases, and increase in value as the
stock declines. 4.4:29-31
- law of displacement
- The principle
that states: If a good that would otherwise be
provided by the free market is provided by the
government at a lower marginal cost to the consumer, then such provision will
tend to displace market provision of the good.
4.11:11
- law of political selection
- The principle that the highest positions in any government tend in the long run to be held by
those persons who are most skillful at obtaining and maintaining
political authority in that environment. 5.4:45
- law of returns
- The principle that
there exists an optimum quantity of any factor of
production, beyond which any additional units of the factor (with the other factors held
constant) will yield a diminishing average
return. 4.4:46-50
- legal monopoly
- A law or other governmental policy that coercively prohibits or discourages sales of
certain goods by any party other than one
designated provider. The term may also refer to that favored
provider. 4.11:128
- leisure
- Action undertaken primarily for the immediate
satisfaction it provides the acting human being. 4.4:8
- lender
- A person or organization purchasing future units of a good in exchange for
present units of that good. 4.7:10
- liberalism
- The political philosophy
that espouses individual freedom. 4.11:79, 5.2:16-39
- liberty
- See freedom.
- life
- "A process of self-sustaining and
self-generated action" (Ayn Rand). 1.4:19
- logic
- The process or methodology by
which we arrive at knowledge. 1.3:1-11
- lower stage
- A stage
in the structure of production relatively near
to the consumers' good. 4.4:3 ff.
- marginal cost of production
- The money value of the costs of producing one additional unit
of a consumers' good, including interest costs. 4.8:2
- marginal product
- The incremental
quantity of the consumers' good that is
produced by the marginal unit of a factor. 4.4:42
- marginal productivity
- The subjective value of the marginal
product of a factor. 4.4:42
- marginal return
- The difference between the money value of one additional unit of a consumers' good and
its marginal cost of production. 4.8:2
- marginal tax
- The additional tax
incurred by an individual as a result of providing an additional
unit of labor or taking a
particular productive action. 4.11:90
- marginal unit
- The last unit in the available stock of a
factor. 4.4:42
- Marie-Antoinette syndrome
- The belief that the poor have
as wide a range of available options as the affluent and will
therefore not suffer if they are deprived of free-market choices. 4.11:35
- market
- A connected set of exchanges of
two or more goods among two or more individuals.
4.5:15
- market value
- See money value.
- means
- An entity or condition that has
subjective value not as an end in itself but
for its potential contribution toward a further end. Also called
a producers' good, a factor of production, or simply
a factor. Cf. land, labor, capital good. 4.4:5 ff.
- measurement
- The identification of
relationships among entities with respect to an attribute that is
similar in kind for those entities. 1.3:17-35
- medium of exchange
- A good sought primarily for its exchange-value. 4.6:30-1
- metaphysically possible
- Pertaining to
an action or state that is consistent with an entity's nature.
(Distinguished from epistemologically possible.)
1.3:74, 1.4:16-7
- metaphysics
- The branch of philosophy that deals with the
nature of reality (i. e., existence).
1.2:5-7
- methodological collectivism
- The analytical approach
that assumes that the source of human action is society or
particular social groupings. 2.4:12-4
- methodological individualism
- The analytical approach
that recognizes that the source of human action is the values and
purposes of individual human beings. 2.4:12-4
- mixed economy
- A politico-economic system that combines
features of capitalism with those of fascism and/or other forms of socialism. 5.3:6-7, 5.4:50-99
- monetary value
- See money value.
- money
- A medium of
exchange that acquires general acceptance in a certain market. 4.6:31
- money value
- The number of units of money for which a unit
of a good can be exchanged in the market. Also called market value,
monetary value, or (especially in the case of durable
goods) capital value. 4.8:1
- monopoly
- See legal monopoly, natural monopoly.
- national socialism (Nazism)
- A form of
socialism in which a false facade of private ownership of some or
all of the means of production is maintained. 5.3:2-5
- natural monopoly
- An individual or
business that is the only seller of certain goods and that does not obtain that position by coercion. 4.11:128, 4.11:139-42
- need
- A thing that is required to
maintain or enhance the life of an organism. 1.4:30-7
- negative-feedback loop
- A chain of two
or more conditions C1, . . .,
Cn, where Cn is a negative causal influence on C1, while every
other Ci is a positive causal influence on
Ci+1. 4.6:18 (including "Details" box)
- objective value
- An entity or condition
that one must act to gain and/or keep in order to maintain or
enhance one's life. (That entity or condition
may also be described as having objective value to that
person.) Cf. subjective value. 2.4:17
- Objectivism
- A philosophy that regards
reality as absolute and knowable only through reason.
Objectivism, first developed in detail by Ayn Rand, recognizes
that each human being is an end in himself or herself and that a
proper social system must uphold every individual's rights to life, liberty, and property. 1.2:1, 1.3:15
- ordinal
- Pertaining to the measurement by relative position (i. e.,
"first," "second," "third," . . .) of attributes that
are not subject to addition, subtraction, and other arithmetic
operations. Contrasted with. cardinal. 1.3:17
- original factor
- A factor not
previously produced. Original factors include land and labor, but not capital goods. 4.4:5 ff.
- ostensive definition
- A definition by direct reference to reality (e. g., pointing). Although most
concepts can be defined in words (that is, by
reference to other concepts), concepts referring to specific
sensations (such as "hot") and axioms (such as "existence") are defined
ostensively, thus avoiding circularity. 1.3:42
- owner
- An individual or organization
that obtains and/or keeps an item of property.
4.5:13-15
- partnership
- A corporation having a
small number of owners, known as
partners. 4.6:42
- patent
- A condition accepted voluntarily by receivers of a good, restricting uses of an idea
expressed in non-linguistic form by that good. Cf. copyright. 5.5:42-9
- peaceful
- Pertaining to human action
and human relations from which force is absent.
4.5:11-5
- percept
- The mental result of an act of
perception. 1.3:8-9
- perception
- The automatic integration of
a group of related sensations by the brain of a
human or other advanced animal. 1.3:8-11
- period of production
- The length of
time separating a particular means in the structure of production from the final consumers' good. 4.4:11 ff.
- political means
- See power over
people.
- political power
- See power over
people.
- positive-feedback loop
- A chain of two
or more conditions C1, . . .,
Cn, where Cn is a positive causal influence on C1 and every other
Ci is a positive causal influence on
Ci+1. 4.6:18 (including "Details" box)
- possible
- See epistemologically
possible, metaphysically possible.
- postulate
- An assertion assumed without
proof in a system (such as in mathematics), although it may be
rejected by other systems. Contrasted with the term axiom in this course. 1.2:2-4
- power
- A human capability of acquiring subjective values. See power
over nature, power over
people. 5.2:6
- power over nature
- The capability of
creating new subjective values through peaceful human action. 5.2:6
- power over people
- The capability of
acquiring subjective values through the initiation of force. 5.2:7
- pragmatism
- The ethical policy that
treats each new situation as an isolated case, viewed concretely
without regard to any abstract principles. 3.7:7
- praxeology
- The science that examines how human beings
act to pursue subjective values and the
consequences of such action. 2.5:1
- pride
- A dedication to achieving one's highest potential.
3.10:37
- principle
- A general truth that is
correctly integrated within the full context of one's knowledge. 1.3:63-4, 3.4:1-7
- probable
- Pertaining to a hypothesis or proposition that
is supported by the preponderance of the evidence and not
contradicted by any evidence. 1.3:76
- producers' good
- See means.
- production
- Action undertaken for the
direct or indirect purpose of generating a good
for later consumption. 4.4:8
- productivity
- See Discounted Marginal
Value Product, marginal productivity.
- property
- Subjective
values obtained and/or kept by an individual or organization
as a result of peaceful human action. 4.5:13-5
- psychic utility (or disutility)
- Utility
(or disutility) attached to an action and deriving from the mental
satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) produced by the action rather
than from its physical product. 4.4:23
- psycho-epistemology
- A person's fundamental method of
awareness. 1.3:58 (response message)
- racism
- The belief that a person's ideas, values, or
character are determined not by that person's mind but by his or
her race. 3.10:26
- rational egoism
- See egoism.
- rationality
- The consistent application of one's reason to all areas of one's life. 3.10:6
- reality
- See existence.
- reason
- The faculty that integrates percepts into concepts and measurements. 1.3:38-41
- recipe
- See idea.
- rent
- The money value of a single use
of a durable good. 4.8:20
- repression
- An automatized subconscious process whereby
certain emotions or ideas are blocked from
conscious awareness. 1.3:92
- republic
- Government representing the
interests of all of the people. 5.2:62
- responsibility
- The recognition that one must act to
produce the objective values
necessary to life and happiness and that one
must therefore accept the consequences of one's actions or
inaction. 5.4:122-5
- restitution
- Repayment to the victim by
a violator of individual rights of costs
resulting from that violation. 5.4:136-8, 5.5:60-77
- Ricardo's law of association
- See law of association.
- right
- [adj.] See good [adj.].
5.2:40-42
- right
- [n.] An ethical principle prohibiting
interference with an individual's freedom of
action. 5.2:39-42
- risk
- Uncertainty (cf. certain) as to the outcome of a human action. 4.9:1 ff.
- rule of law
- Governance by established
standards, as opposed to arbitrary, capriciously administered
power. 5.2:2 ff.
- saving
- The withholding of a good from
consumption or from allocation to another end
that would have led to earlier consumption. 4.7:5
- scarce
- Pertaining to a thing that is not available in
sufficient supply to satisfy all the uses for which it is sought.
4.4:25
- self-esteem
- A person's fundamental sense that he or she
is capable of and worthy of living. 3.11:1
- selfishness
- The pursuit of those values that sustain and
promote one's own life. 3.5:4, 3.5:12
- sensation
- The response of a sense organ
to a stimulus from reality. The response is
automatic and non-volitional. It informs the observer that
something is, but does not identify its nature. 1.3:5-8
- shortage
- An excess of demand over supply. 4.6:17
- slavery
- Seizure of another human being's life by force. 4.11:78
- socialism
- A politico-economic system in
which all means are allocated by the state, purportedly to serve the ends of "the
people" or "the good of society." 5.3:2-4
- speculation
- The intentional acceptance of high risk in order to obtain increased gains in a market. 4.10:15
- stage of production
- The smallest unit
within a structure of production, in which two
or more means are combined to attain an end.
4.4:3 ff.
- state
- See government.
- statism
- The belief that the demands of the state must take precedence, when deemed
"necessary," over the welfare of the individual. 1.3:86
- stock
- The units of a
good available to an acting human being at a
given time. 4.4:29
- stockholder
- An individual (or organization) sharing in
the ownership of a corporation. 4.6:38
- structure of production
- The hierarchy
of means and ends that culminates in a consumers' good. 4.4:3 ff.
- subjective value
- An entity or
condition that a human being seeks by a specific action to gain
and/or keep. (That entity or condition may also be described as
having subjective value to that person.) Cf. objective value. 2.4:17
- subjectivism
- The belief that concepts or values exist solely
in the minds of human beings, independently of reality. Contrast intrinsicism,
Objectivism. 1.3:13-4, 1.3:48-9
- subsidy
- An allocation to particular persons, businesses,
or other organizations of money or other goods acquired by taxation or
other forms of initiated force. 4.11:155
- supply
- The number of units of a good that one or more
sellers are willing to exchange in a market at
a given price. 4.6:2
- supply schedule
- A chart or graph
showing the relationship between the supply of
a given good in a given market and its price. 4.6:4-5
- surplus
- An excess of supply over demand. 4.6:19
- synergy
- A mutual enhancement that
sometimes results when agents work in combination. 5.4:15
- synergy of means
- Synergy often arising when individuals allocate
their means in a cooperative manner. 5.4:15
- tariff
- A tax imposed upon exchanges
of goods across national or geographical
boundaries. 4.11:121
- tax
- A particular policy of taxation. The term "tax" may also denote a
particular quantity of property seized under
such a policy. 4.11:78, 4.11:89-121
- taxation
- Forcible
seizure by a government of a human being's property. 4.11:78, 4.11:89-121
- theft
- Forcible seizure of a human
being's property. 4.11:78
- time preference
- The greater subjective value of a good
provided at an earlier time, compared with the same good at a
later time. 4.4:11, 4.7:1 ff.
- truth
- The recognition of reality. 1.3:70
- unemployment
- A surplus of labor. 4.11:30
- unit
- [in praxeology] The smallest
quantity of a good that satisfies all of the
ends for which it is sought by the individuals under
consideration. 4.4:28
- utility
- The potential service of a good to an individual's purposes. The utility of a
good determines its subjective value. 4.4:13 ff.
- utility ex ante
- The anticipated
utility of a thing or alternative (distinguished
from utility ex post). 4.4:32
- utility ex post
- The utility of a thing or alternative as experienced
after it is chosen (distinguished from utility
ex ante). 4.4:32
- utility scale
- See value scale.
- value
- Ayn Rand defines value as
"that which one acts to gain and/or keep." In this course, that
definition is shown to be ambiguous, and two primary concepts of
value are distinguished: objective value and
subjective value. The term may also be used in
the third sense of money value. 2.2:1-2, 2.4:17
- value scale
- The hierarchy of subjective values directing an individual's
actions at a given point in time. 4.4:19
- vertical integration
- The management of two or more
successive stages of production by one producer. 4.11:115-20
- victim
- A person who suffers directly or
indirectly from a violation of rights. 5.2:56
- virtue
- A character trait that a human being must
cultivate in order to maintain and enhance his or her life. 3.10:1
- volition
- The capacity of a human being
to select freely among alternatives in thought and consequently in
physical action. 1.4:12
- voluntary
- Pertaining to actions taken
by a human individual in the absence of force or
threatened force. 2.4:8, 4.11:7
- wage
- The price for which a unit of labor is exchanged in a market.
4.8:14
- wealth
- Goods (including services) that
are valued by human beings. 5.2:6
- well-functioning
- Effective fulfillment
by a functional entity of the need(s) that explain its existence. Other
evaluative terms, such as "good," "bad," "well," "properly," and
"poorly," may be applied to the entity or its function based on its degree of well-functioning.
2.3:1-7