The Advanced Seminar is a meeting of professors, graduate students, independent scholars, and advanced undergraduates that focuses on new writings on Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. The purpose of the seminar is to encourage the development of a high-quality scholarly literature on philosophical topics that is written from an Objectivist perspective. It also has the purpose of helping to create a community of scholars working in and around these ideas.

The Advanced Seminar typically has 15-25 participants, and each session focuses on a single paper. Each paper is the focus of a formal comment and an extensive moderated seminar discussion which allows plenty of time to wrestle with the issues it raises. The seminar discusses arguments critical and supportive of past Objectivist literature in an atmosphere of rational tolerance and debate. Methodologically, it seeks to integrate Objectivist emphases on essentialistic reasoning and attention to context with high academic standards.