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Featuring Dr. Leonard Peikoff
Also appearing: Kira Peikoff and Dr. Yaron Brook

Objectivist history was made on September 30, 2003, when Dr. Leonard Peikoff spoke to the faculty and cadets of West Point Military Academy.

Twenty-nine years after Ayn Rand addressed the graduating class of West Point, the faculty of the Philosophy and English departments of that institution responded to the demand of their cadets to have Dr. Peikoff speak at this prestigious facility on the topic of "What Is a Just War?" In this talk Dr. Peikoff presents in compelling terms the rational basis of the morality of self-defense and how the war in Iraq was not only "the wrong war" but also fought by the utterly wrong means (a war based "not on self-defense but on love"). Dr. Peikoff presents the Objectivist position on the topic of war in clear, unambiguous terms, which results in fireworks from certain faculty members in attendance.

Also included is Dr. Peikoff's general overview of Objectivism, and the Objectivist position on key issues such as abortion, selfishness, altruism, and the Objectivist alternative to the two common intellectual schools of Skepticism and Religion. He shared these ideas with a core group of dedicated West Point cadets. Dr. Peikoff goes on to make clear the need for selfish, rational values specifically in a soldier's life. This documentary records all of the action, drama and power of the Objectivist philosophy, and when he had concluded, Dr. Peikoff became the second Objectivist to receive a standing ovation from the West Point cadets.

While Ayn Rand told the cadets that everybody needs philosophy, Dr. Peikoff returned to tell them which philosophy they need (Objectivism) and why Objectivism is the only philosophical system that provides a rational defense of the American values of life, liberty, property and the pursuit of personal happiness—the values that these cadets will be putting their lives on the line to defend in the months and years to come.

For those seeking an answer to the deeper questions of the nature of war, and who desire a concise presentation of the essentials of Objectivism, this is a film that will be reached for again and again.

(DVD; approx. 2 hrs.)