Abstract

The P.D.E. is a two-act play entitled Joanna, written in poetry, concretizing in the words and actions of the play's characters the philosophy of Objectivism. Since one of the purposes of my P.D.E. is to help bridge the philosophical gap between the business/science world and the world of the humanities, I made Joanna Locke, the protagonist, a scientist-businesswoman. As part of a poetic drama, she embodies both worlds. She represents my view of a Randian hero, a whole person, one appreciative of the humanities--song, dance, literature--who is concomitantly grounded in reality, acquainted with hard work, money, and worldly conflicts. ;Joanna Locke is a young genius who, with her father, co-invents an artificial heart. After her father's mysterious death, Joanna carries on his work in her high-school lab. Here she makes enemies of animal-rights activists by using guinea pigs in her experiments. Religious groups attack her atheism, while Marxists attack her capitalistic actions and statements. ;These conflicts are the vehicle for a dramatic presentation of the philosophy of Objectivism, which is atheistic and individualistic in its ethics, and which presents capitalism as a moral socio-economic system. ;Joanna also presents the Objectivist "sense of life," which is optimistic and romantic. Joanna revels in her beauty, health, and athleticism--the latter actually saves her life. She poses nude for pay; she dances for enjoyment; she exercises and wrestles to stay in condition; she enjoys music, hard work, and sex. ;Whether in her laboratory, in a friend's art studio, or in the company of her lover, Tom, Joanna continually personifies the elements of the Objectivist philosophy: a metaphysics which posits absolute principles and which accepts the validity of the senses; an ethics of this world and this life, one of rational self-interest; and an art which is romantic and optimistic, and which presents a vision of what life should be and can be, intentionally in contrast to Naturalism