Life Is Not a Machine or a Ghost: The Naturalistic Origin of Life’s Organization and Goal-Directedness, Consciousness, Free Will, and Meaning

MARSHA FAMILARO ENRIGHT, BA biology, Northwestern University, MA psychology, The New School for Social Research, is an educational entrepreneur, teacher, and writer. Her interests are wide-ranging but always take a biopsychological bent. She has published a wide variety of articles in places such as The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Montessori Leadership, Real Clear Markets, The New Individualist, and Objectivity. These include research papers and articles concerned with psychology, neuropsychology, philosophy, education, and aesthetics, such as “Montessori: The Liberator of Children,” “The Habit of Hope,” and “The Evolutionary Neuropsychology of Music.” She has also written cultural commentary and literary reviews, such as “Capitalism: The Crucial Protector of the Smallest Minority,” “Cameron Hawley and the Romance of Business,” and “What Vision Do Young People Need?” available at marsha-familaro-enright.com. She is the editor of Ayn Rand Explained: From Tyranny to Tea Party (2013). In 1990 she founded the highly regarded Council Oak Montessori School (www.counciloakmontessori.org), which serves children ages three to fourteen. She was school head for twenty-seven years. In 2005 she founded the Reason, Individualism, Freedom Institute (RIFI) to develop a new college, using an innovative curriculum and methods. Its aim is to help young people become deeply informed graduates capable of thinking for themselves and putting thought into action to live as free persons: entrepreneurs of their own lives. For sixteen years, RIFI has sponsored weekend and weeklong seminars using these principles and content, resulting in astounding transformations for its students. Now, RIFI is working to open Reliance College (www.reliancecollege.org).