Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, published in 1967, was Ayn Rand's attempt to summarize the Objectivist theory of concepts, and to submit her solution to the problem of universals. The book deals with the mental processes of abstraction, the nature of valid definitions, distinguishing concepts from "anticoncepts," the hierarchical nature of knowledge, and what constitutes valid axiomatic knowledge.

The second edition of Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology includes an essay by Leonard Peikoff in which he argues against Immanuel Kant's theory of analytic propositions and synthetic propositions, as well as supplementary material consisting of Ayn Rand's discussions with various professors in philosophy, mathematics, and physics about her epistemology that followed a lecture series she gave on epistemology between 1969 and 1971.