. The author shows that Peikoff hasn't deviated from official Objectivism on volition, that he advocates the same view Rand endorsed in 1976. He challenges Objectivism's claim that the choice to focus is the ultimate ground of other choices, instead arguing that the choice to focus rests on one's preference to be oriented toward reality, and that this preference precedes every deliberate decision to focus. The author insists that the cause of choices between alternatives is not a free-floating choice to (...) focus, but the strongest preference at the time of each choice, that part of oneself that determines one's action. (shrink)