New Ideal, from the Ayn Rand Institute: Recent Episodes
Ayn Rand Institute
The New Ideal Podcast features a curated selection of content from the pages of New Ideal, the journal of the Ayn Rand Institute. At New Ideal, we explore pressing cultural issues from the perspective of Rand’s philosophy: Objectivism, which upholds the ideals of reason, individualism and Capitalism.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e5PLKhXvF0Podcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate discuss whether heritage or creed is what defines American national identity.The American way and sense of lifeUn-American “Heritage Americanism”Irrelevant Anglo-Protestant “ethnicity”Superior “Creedal Americanism”History of “Creedal Americanism”The eroding American sense of lifeResources: Ayn Rand, Don’t Let It Go, in Philosophy: Who Needs ItAyn Rand, “A Nation’s Unity”Onkar Ghate, “Atlas Shrugged: America’s Second Declaration of Independence” Ben Bayer, “Our Iran Appeasement Reveals the Need to Declare Moral Independence,” New Ideal, July 1, 2026.Ben Bayer, “The Revolutionary, Secular Concept of Individual Rights” OCON 2024This episode was recorded on July 10, 2026. Image credit: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6XQv6S2iK0Podcast audio:The founding of America was the greatest political achievement of the Enlightenment. Knowing that their experiment would be difficult to preserve, the Founding Fathers designed a unique system of checks and balances to prevent the United States from collapsing into tyranny. An essential element of that design, however, has been forgotten.In his talk at the 2026 Objectivist Summer Conference (OCON), Dr. Onkar Ghate explains the role of the moral character of the people as a check on the government. Ghate explains why the Founding Fathers appreciated this pivotal role in preventing America from straying away from its ideal of protecting the individual’s rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.Q&A session includes the discussion of:Why are American people susceptible to pragmatism?Why are the branches of government ceding their power to other branches?When is it proper to organize politically?Are there differences between the legitimacy of the Iraq war and that of the Iran war?This talk was recorded live on June 27 in New Orleans as part of the Objectivist summer conference, and is available on The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/live/b91AlTBDODsPodcast audio:The 2026 Objectivist Summer Conference was a celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. To conclude the conference, Yaron Brook, ARI board chairman, spoke about what makes America uniquely worth celebrating — the fact that it is “the Nation of the Producer.”Brook begins by surveying the state of the world prior to the American Revolution — the backbreaking labor, the incurable diseases, and the unbearably cold winters. He then explains how the Declaration of Independence unleashed the people responsible for today’s magnificent world of abundance.Who is responsible for electricity, smartphones, and worldwide travel? Brook answers: “The responsibility lies with the amazing, unbelievably productive geniuses that have lived — and still live — amongst us.” He identifies by name — and toasts — the many titans of industry who helped create the modern, industrial, technological world.Watch Brook’s detailed, moving survey and his celebration of the producers, his full talk is here.Image credit: Hulton Archive / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw8MPZSbLXAPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Robertas Bakula and Mike Mazza discuss two major developments in the AI industry: Bernie Sanders’ proposal for an AI wealth fund and the White House’s order to block access to Anthropic’s newest models.Topics include:The Anthropic BanFear-Mongering About SecurityFear-Mongering About Jobless FutureIs there “Collective Knowledge”?Lack of Concern with Individual RightsResources: Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, “Marketing AI without Empowering Resentment”Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, “Fear of Progress: The Quest to End Autonomous Driving”This episode was recorded on June 16, 2026.Image credits: Circuit: Tatiana Sviridova / Moment / via Gettuy ImagesChatGPT: Silas Stein / picture alliance / via Getty ImagesCladue: Samuel Boivin / NurPhoto / via Getty ImagesTrump: Jim Watson / AFP / via Getty ImagesSanders: Frederic J. Brown / AFP / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXTCE3rXfH4Podcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Connor O’Leary discuss Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical about AI.Topics include:Valid questions, backwards approachConcerning near-universal acclaimDependence on religious moralityFaith-based moral conceptsAppealing to fear and resentmentHostility to human intelligenceWe need a rational moralityResources: Ayn Rand, “Requiem for Man,” Capitalism the Unknown IdealAnthropic vs. Trump: The Moral Responsibility of Tech Companies, Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, March 12, 2026Marketing AI Without Empowering Resentment, Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, April 23, 2026Ben Bayer, How to Build a Secular Morality, New Ideal, June 10, 2026 (just came out yesterday)This episode was recorded on June 5, 2026.Image credits: Pope: Carlos Alvarez / Contributor / via Getty Images; Circuit: haydenbird / E+ / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGcfnm1gELwPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Elan Journo talks with Ben Bayer, Robertas Bakula, Alex Silverman, Audra Hilse, Sam Weaver, and Keith Lockitch about their upcoming talks at OCON 2026 in New Orleans.Speakers include:Bayer: Ayn Rand on progress Bakula: antitrust is anti-production Silverman: metaphysics of productivenessHilse: publishing We the LivingWeaver: Milton’s Paradise Lost Lockitch: Descartes and Newton on the rainbow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRK4oqOHr4sPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Robertas Bakula and Onkar Ghate discuss Jeff Bezos' recent high-profile CNBC interview with Andrew Sorkin on wealth, attacks on billionaires, and government waste.Topics include:Bezos’ Admirable MindTrend of Villainizing BusinessmenThe Zero-Sum FallacyThe Incompetence of GovernmentCollectivist Defense of ProfitInequality is not a bugThe Role of IntellectualsResources: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn RandThis episode was recorded on May 28, 2026.Image credit: Michael M. Santiago / staff / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKYKHBdO6-IPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Tristan de Liège analyze Marc Andreesen’s recent controversial comments rejecting introspection.Topics include:What introspection really isIntrospection and successIntrospection and moral responsibilityEarned and unearned guiltResources: The Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on IntrospectionThis episode was recorded on May 13, 2026.Image credit: Michael Kovac / Stringer / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSyqrwXEtBQPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the war and subsequent negotiations with Iran, and Trump’s visit to China. Topics include:The war’s shifting purposeThe Hormuz evasionWhim over strategyEvading Iran’s natureStalemate as defeatProjecting weakness worldwideAbandoning American idealsThis episode was recorded on May 20th.Image credits: Trump: Saul Loeb / AFP / via Getty Images; China and Iran Flags: Viacheslav Chernobrovin / iStock / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YKNDXS3NOYPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Sam Weaver and Ben Bayer discuss the significance of President Trump’s efforts to construct new government monuments and put his name and face on federal buildings and documents.Topics Include:Trump’s initiativesWhy symbols matterHistorical monument-buildingAmerica’s distinctive historyHow Trump comparesRelation to Trump’s policiesRand on monumentsTrump’s pursuit of prestigePublic responseResources:“The Monument Builders” in The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand“Don’t Let It Go” in Philosophy: Who Needs It by Ayn Rand“The Anti-Intellectuality of Donald Trump” by Onkar Ghate“One Small Step for Dictatorship” by Onkar GhateThis episode was recorded on May 8, 2026.Image credit: Kevin Dietsch / Staff / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JW_xItSGlMPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Robertas Bakula and Onkar Ghate discuss Ken Griffin’s reaction to Zohran Mamdami's attack on his wealth and life, and the appropriate stance that individuals in Griffin's position should take against such attacks. Topics include:Mamdani’s Attack on Ken GriffinReal Threat to Griffin’s Life and SafetyGriffin’s Courageous Defense of the American DreamGriffin’s ConcessionSanction of the VictimAnimal Farm is Pro-SocialismAnthem and Atlas Shrugged as Better AlternativesA Principled Stance vs. MartyrdomResources:Atlas Shrugged by Ayn RandAnthem by Ayn RandThe Sanction of the Victim by Ayn RandThis episode was recorded on May 11, 2026.Image credits: Griffin: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP / via Getty Images; Mamdani: Spencer Platt / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62w3EFQML58Podcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer interviews Professor Bart Ehrman about his new book on the Christian roots of altruist ethics.Christian vs. pagan ethicsThe true meaning of Christian “love”Apocalyptic roots of Christian ethicsAre Christian ethics rational?Ehrman’s workResources: Bart Ehrman, Love Thy Stranger: How Christianity Transformed the Moral Conscience of the WestBen Bayer, “How Christianity Polluted the Moral Atmosphere of the West,” New Ideal, February 5, 2025.This episode was recorded on April 22, 2026.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzfiohcZhGoPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Robertas Bakula and Ben Bayer discuss the viral Red vs. Blue Button dilemma.Topics include:The Viral DilemmaThe Case for RedThe Case for BlueThe False ChoiceComparison to the Trolley ProblemAyn Rand’s Alternative Approach to MoralityResources:“Ethics of Emergencies,” Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness “Why Today’s Ethics Offers No Real Guidance,” Ben Bayer, New Ideal, November 18, 2020Atlas Shrugged by Ayn RandThe Fountainhead by Ayn RandThis episode was recorded on April 24, 2026.Image Credit: traffic_analyzer / DigitalVision Vectors / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nZD3IdL4PYPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Tristan de Liège discuss the military draft in light of recent changes to the Selective Service System.Debating Selective Service System changesUnconstitutionality of the draftThe immorality of the draftThe impracticality of the draftPalantir’s endorsement of the draftResources: Against The Un-American Call for National Service, ARI PodcastA Central Planner's Trojan Horse: The Technological Republic, ARI PodcastAyn Rand, entry on the Draft, Ayn Rand Lexicon Ayn Rand, “Wreckage of the Consensus” in Capitalism: The Unknown IdealThis episode was recorded on April 22, 2026.Image credit: Andrew Harnik / staff / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK2AwyUtJtIPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Robertas Bakula discuss the recent New York Times podcast justifying the “microlooting” of big corporations.“Microlooting” and MacrolootingMarxist rationalizationsSigns of nihilismAnti-intellectual tribal signalingHypocrisy and altruismJustifying murderResources: Profit without Apology: The Need to Stand Up for Business, Onkar Ghate and Don Watkins The Marxists’ Exploitation Myth, ARI Podcast, Feb 26, 2025Charlie Kirk’s Murder: Who Normalized Political Violence?, ARI Podcast, Sept 12, 2025This episode was recorded on April 27, 2026. Image credit: AndreyPopov / iStock / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRML1GMxiUgPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer, Mike Mazza, and Tristan de Liège discuss major publicity campaigns launched by AI companies to combat uncertainty and fear about the disruptive power of AI.The AI PR problemValid marketing problemsValid marketing solutionsSpecial problems re: misuseThe invalid inequality concernInvalid regulatory concernsAltruism as appeasementResources: Ayn Rand, “What is Capitalism?” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, “The Age of Envy” in Return of the Primitive, and “Altruism as Appeasement” in The Voice of Reason. Threats to Regulate Artificial Intelligence, ARI Podcast, May 12, 2023Anthropic vs. Trump: The Moral Responsibility of Tech Companies, ARI Podcast, 3/12/26Don Watkins and Yaron Brook, Equal is UnfairThis episode was recorded on April 17, 2026Image credits: Altman: Anna Moneymaker / via Getty Images; Amodei: Chance Yeh / Stringer / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdy_8p75jzMPodcast audio:This talk by Mike Mazza was recorded live on July 3rd in Boston, MA as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference and is available on the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjHQq-bGX5wPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss Ayn Rand’s view of evil as fundamentally impotent, and what it reveals about Soviet Russia, Iran, and the failures of American foreign policy.The standard view of evilEvil as impotentParadox of Soviet dangerIllusion of Soviet technologyOverstating Iran’s powerAltruism empowering evilResources: Ayn Rand, Lexicon entry on Evil and Sanction of the VictimAyn Rand, “Galt’s Speech” in For the New IntellectualAyn Rand, “Altruism as Appeasement” in The Voice of ReasonAyn Rand, “The Anatomy of Compromise” in Capitalism: The Unknown IdealOnkar Ghate and Elan Journo’s, Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: What Went Wrong After 9/11Elan Journo, Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic TotalitarianismThis episode was recorded on 04/10/2026.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU5EJxVtorkPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss recent conspiracism about Israel’s role in the Iran war.Topics include:Facts conspiracists distortFacts conspiracists evadeThe conspiracist mentality An anti-conceptual cultureDecades of unprincipled foreign policyTribalism and conspiracismEvading America’s deadly moralityResources: Ayn Rand Lexicon entries on the anti-conceptual mentality, the arbitrary, and tribalismAyn Rand, “For the New Intellectual” in For the New IntellectualThis episode was recorded on April 8, 2026.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opUGimR5nr0Podcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss recent conspiracism about Israel’s role in the Iran war.Facts conspiracists distortFacts conspiracists evadeThe conspiracist mentality An anti-conceptual cultureDecades of unprincipled foreign policyTribalism and conspiracismEvading America’s deadly moralityResources: Ayn Rand Lexicon entries on the anti-conceptual mentality, the arbitrary, and tribalismAyn Rand, “For the New Intellectual” in For the New IntellectualThis episode was recorded on April 8, 2026Image credit: STR / AFP / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8snaqpmo24Podcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Agustina Vergara Cid and Mike Mazza discuss the launch of Artemis II and the future of space exploration.Topics covered:The cultural reaction the launch of Artemis IIWhy it took 50 years to go back to lunar spaceThe reactions to the achievements of private space companiesHow NASA is slowing down progress in spaceMentioned in the discussion were Mike Mazza’s articles “Freedom to Launch: How Deregulation Created a Space Renaissance,” “Space Renaissance: How Freedom Created Progress in the Space Industry,” and “NASA’s Plan to Impede Space Commercialization.”This episode was recorded on April 2, 2026.Image credit: Chip Somodevilla / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T3Zekd7xfEPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Robertas Bakula and Onkar Ghate discuss California’s Billionaire Wealth Tax proposal.California’s budget and welfare crisisChallenging the "fair share" narrativeInjustice of retroactive taxationProductive ability vs. the welfare stateThe role of business visionariesThis episode was recorded on March 19, 2026.Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKAe7rMPwjEPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss recent developments in the Iran war.Topics covered:IntroMoral vs. stated reasons for the warThe Trump administration’s arbitrarinessThe government’s attacks on freedom at homeThe risks in leaving the war earlyThe reaction of Trump’s base to the warOur un-American foreign policyThis episode was recorded on March 20, 2026.Image credit: PeterPencil / DigitalVision Vectors / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUha6pLRumYPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Don Watkins and Sam Weaver discuss Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent speech at the Munich Security Conference and the tribal conception of Western civilization that he advocates.Civilization as a projectRubio’s superficial viewChristianity vs. civilizationRacist undertonesNationalist false alternativeResources: Ayn Rand, “Man’s Rights”Ayn Rand, “Racism”Elan Journo, “The Virulent Pull of Tribalism”Onkar Ghate, “Finding Morality and Happiness Without God”This episode was recorded on March 12, 2026.Image credit: Alex Brandon / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh7hO-q_gb4Podcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Mike Mazza discuss the recent standoff between Anthropic and the Defense Department over military use of AI technology, and the moral questions faced by those creating weapons of war. Anthropic’s reasoningAuthoritarian threatsAyn Rand’s “To Young Scientists”Moral sanctionResources: Ayn Rand, “To Young Scientists”Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on the sanction of the VictimBen Bayer, “Effective Altruism’s Faith-Based Sacrifice for the Future”This episode was recorded on March 6, 2026. Image credit: Pavlo Gonchar / SOPA Images / LightRocket / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZV5I8YRYvIPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer interviews Elan Journo about the American and Israeli attack on Iran. Topics include:The Institute’s Position on Iran;Answering critics;Congressional approval;Evaluating Trump;Prospects for Success or Failure.Resources: ARI Resources on the American Conflict with IranThis episode was recorded on March 3, 2026. Image credit: U.S. Navy / Handout / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mzUUDz14AcPodcast audio:In this special podcast episode, Yaron Brook and Elan Journo interview Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a Hamas founding leader who became one of Israel’s most valuable intelligence assets. Raised within the movement, Yousef recounts how his experiences led him to break decisively with Hamas and oppose it at great personal risk.The conversation centers on the ideological nature of Hamas, an aspect often evaded by its apologists. Drawing on firsthand experience, Yousef describes a movement rooted in a culture of sexual repression and the subordination of women. He argues that these are foundational aspects of the religious Islamic ideology that suppresses dissent, encourages mass murder, and brutalizes its own people.One of the most striking aspects of the interview is Yousef’s account of the conscious moral choice that guided his transformation: the choice to protect human life. In contrasting Hamas with Israel, he identifies a fundamental difference in values between a movement that glorifies death and a society that values human life.Topics include:Yousef’s defection from Hamas;The ideology of Palestinian brutality;Indoctrination in Palestinian society;Palestinians’ repeated rejections of peace;Risks of working with Israeli intelligence;October 7;Q&A.This podcast was recorded live on February 18, 2025, and is available on The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image credit: Noam Galai / via Getty Images.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmnux6MriXEPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the recent decision in Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump, striking down the President’s expansive “Liberation Day” tariffs. The majority’s reasoningThe major questions doctrineStatutory interpretation and legislative intentThe dissent’s plausibilityThe separation of powersA stopgap against eroding separation of powersScrutinizing deprivation of economic liberty, propertyEmergency powersResources: Ben Bayer, “Ayn Rand on Free Trade, the 'Essence of Capitalism’s Foreign Policy'”Ben Bayer, “The Constitutionally Dubious Law Empowering Trump’s ‘Emergency’ Tariff Authority”Ben Bayer, “The Lawyers Defending Trump’s Tariffs Know They’re Un-American. Here’s How We Can Tell”This episode was recorded on February 25, 2026.Image credit: Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDKszEjACFAPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer interviews Agustina Vergara Cid and Brandon Lisi about their new article: “’I Chose to Be an American:’ Ayn Rand’s Immigration Story.”Topics include:Motivation for the article;Why Rand chose America;Obstacles Rand faced;How Rand pushed America to live up to its values;Archival resources consulted;Most surprising facts about Rand’s story;Impact of the article.Read the article here: “’I Chose to be an American:’ Ayn Rand’s Immigration Story.”This episode was recorded on February 23, 2026, and posted on February 24, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89gUQLWQGG0Podcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the role of Trump in today’s rise in political violence.Topics include:How Trump’s campaign demonized fellow AmericansConnection between tribalism and violenceTrump’s whitewashing of violenceTrump’s targeted political attacksTrump’s comfort with political force and strongmenHow “crisis narratives” legitimize the use of forceThis episode was recorded on February 13, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image credits: Zach D Roberts / NurPhoto via Getty Images; Brent Stirton / News / via Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch / Staff / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49b6O7nOtZIPodcast Audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Robertas Bakula and Mike Mazza discuss the opposition to autonomous vehicles.Topics include:Why some people oppose autonomous vehicles;The safety of autonomous vehicles;Economic costs of automobile Accidents;Fear of displacing jobs;The “common man” argument;Divine right of stagnation.Resources:Nathaniel Branden’s essay “Divine Right of Stagnation” in The Virtue of SelfishnessThis episode was recorded on January 12, 2026, and posted on February 12, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image credits: Waymo: Mario Tama / Staff / via Getty Images; Hawley: Chip Somodevilla / Staff / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOtmQv3O7T8Podcast audio:It is common to think of values as things we “discover” about ourselves — pre-packaged preferences waiting somewhere deep inside. We speak, for example, of “discovering our passion” or of finally realizing “what we were meant to do,” as if these priorities had been there all along. On this view, valuing is automatic: we simply respond to our needs, desires, or emotions.In his 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference talk, titled “Conceiving Values,” Gregory Salmieri offers a different account. Drawing on Ayn Rand’s distinctive view, he argues that valuing is not passive or instinctive. It is an active, cognitive achievement — something we must choose, learn, and practice.Values, Salmieri explains, are goals within an ongoing process of self-sustaining action. Other organisms act to preserve themselves, but only human beings can conceptually identify and plan out their values.To concretize this process, Salmieri turns to the work of creators. An architect does not discover their buildings ready-made in the world; a novelist does not stumble upon finished stories; each must actively conceive a guiding idea and gradually give it concrete form. Likewise, valuing involves choosing long-range commitments that give direction to one’s actions and define the course of one’s life.Topics covered in Salmieri’s talk include:Conventional view of values vs. Objectivism’s;Values and life;Conceptual values in human beings;Knowledge and goals in valuing;Q&A.This talk was recorded live on July 5th in Boston, MA, as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, and is available on The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g8n9_LOSwcPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Sam Weaver and Ben Bayer discuss a new policy in Texas A&M University that restricts professors’ ability to teach topics related to gender and sexual orientation, which resulted in one professor being prevented from teaching Plato’s Symposium.Topics include:Texas A&M’s policy;The case of Plato’s Symposium;Relation to intellectual freedom;Who should decide in public universities;Motives behind the policy.Resources:Ayn Rand’s essay “Fairness Doctrine for Education” in Philosophy: Who Needs ItOnkar Ghate and Sam Weaver’s article “Trump vs. Harvard: Intellectual Freedom in the Crosshairs”This episode was recorded on January 27, 2026, and posted on February 5, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image credit: Jon Hicks / Stone / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twCDUSXZMWwPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Tristan de Liège discuss the confusions involved in the conventional conception of sacrifice.Topics include:Examples of Sacrifice;Investment vs. Sacrifice;Value Hierarchy;How to Rank Values Objectively;‘Sacrifice’ as a package deal;The false appeal of sacrifice.Resources: Ayn Rand’s book Atlas ShruggedAyn Rand’s book The FountainheadAyn Rand’s essay, “The Ethics of Emergencies”The Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on sacrificeThis episode was recorded on December 30, 2025, and posted on January 29, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyYlYiLE7YPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the implications of the killing of Renee Good for the rule of law. Among the topics covered:Topics include:ICE operations resembling military operations;The immediate aftermath of the shooting;The administration’s contempt for the rule of law;ICE is not real police;They way ICE conducts arrests;The argument that the Constitution doesn’t apply to immigrants;The administration playing to its base’s tribalism;The administration’s loyalty tests;The shooting of Ashli Babbitt;The future of America.Resources:Synchronized videos of Renee Good’s shootingThe White House’s January 6 timeline The shooting of Ashli Babbitt Harry Binswanger’s essay “ICE vs. the rule of law, not of men” Podcast episode: ICE Raids vs. Rule of Law: Interviewing Institute for Justice’s Josh Windham This episode was recorded on January 21, 2026, and posted on January 22, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDnD9GWdLaIPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate examine why Iran’s ongoing uprising may be the regime’s most serious challenge yet — and why it deserves far more moral support from the free world.Topics include:The nature of the protests;Moral versus military support;Trump versus Obama and Biden;The benefits of a free Iran;The roots of Western silence.Resources:Failing to Confront Islamic TotalitarianismWhat Justice Demands"The U.S. has Appeased Iran for Decades”This episode was recorded on January 13, 2026, and posted on January 14, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image Credit: Carlos Jasso / AFP / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTl2m5StrvQPodcast audio:The crimes of the French Revolution have long been regarded as indicting Enlightenment ideals. Its Reign of Terror has been seen as the product of an overconfident belief in reason, liberty, and human perfectibility. The American Revolution, by contrast, is said to have succeeded only because it was more moderate and traditional.In his 2025 OCON talk, “Enlightenment on Trial: The Real Lessons of the American and French Revolutions,” Don Watkins challenges this narrative.What history shows, Watkins contends, is that Enlightenment ideals in France were largely confined to intellectual elites within a rigid, hierarchical society. French culture was also shaped by powerful anti-Enlightenment currents — notably Rousseau’s elevation of passion and the collective over reason and the individual. These ideas later fueled the Terror. By contrast, many American colonists read thinkers such as Locke, Montesquieu, and Franklin and had long practiced self-government, giving Enlightenment ideals real cultural depth.Watkins highlights a further, crucial difference between the two revolutions. The French were fundamentally motivated by hatred towards the ancien régime. French mob violence was widespread and brutal, since it sought, above all else, to eradicate the nobility, the clergy, and every other symbol of the past. Similar unrest was relatively limited and contained in America, where Americans resisted British rule with a positive aim: to establish a government that protected individual rights.Among the topics covered:Narratives about the French Revolution; The rise and fall of the Revolution; Two Revolutions compared; Contrasting motivations. This talk was recorded live on July 5th in Boston, MA, as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, and is available on The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28TpOvna_78Podcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer discuss the recent American attack on Venezuela to capture Nicolas Maduro.Topics include:Invalid “international law” objections;An act of war;Drug, “narcoterrorism” and oil excuses;Nationalistic “spheres of influence”;The altruistic conception of “self-interest”;Contempt for the Constitution;Ayn Rand on the Roots of War.Resources: Ayn Rand, "The Roots of War"ARI Podcast, "How Drug Boats Could Be Used to Rationalize an Unjust War with Venezuela," December 11 ARI Podcast, “Trump’s Anti-Capitalist Control Over Business,” Sept 18, 2025Onkar Ghate, "Saving the Enlightenment," OCON 2025This episode was recorded on January 7, 2026, and posted on January 8, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image Credit: Tomas Ragina / iStock / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shwbIXkaZPsPodcast audio:This talk comparing Newton and Descartes approach to mathematics by David Bakker was recorded live on July 2nd in Boston, MA as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference and is available on the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credits: Newton: GeorgiosArt / iStock / via Getty Images. Descartes: ilbusca / DigitalVision Vectors / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClmXn3-j2t4Podcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss a recent essay by Steven Pinker and Marian Tupy (“The Golden Age of Humanity? We’re Living In It”) that aims to offer a secular alternative to the recent resurgence in religious culture.Topics include:The Anti-Enlightenment Phenomenon;Pinker and Tupy’s secular strengths;A weak critique of Christian morality;Christian morality and antisemitism;Understanding the crisis of meaning;Unphilosophical moral foundations;Alternative, Pro-Enlightenment moral foundation.Resources: “The Objectivist Ethics,” Ayn Rand“Finding Morality and Happiness Without God,” Onkar Ghate“Debunking the Supernaturalism That Haunts Secular Ethics,” Ben BayerThis episode was recorded on December 16, 2025, and posted on January 2, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image Credit: Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt / AFP / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hJO4ofx6VUPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, originally released on December 23, 2024, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid explore the true meaning of Christmas by examining the history and philosophical significance of our holiday practices.Among the topics covered:The secular meaning of Christmas;A proper view of Christmas’s commercial aspects; Why some people are antagonistic towards the Christmas spirit; How the doctrine of original sin undermines Christmas joy.Mentioned in this podcast are Ben Bayer’s articles “Give the Gift of a Guilt-Free Christmas” and “The Meaningful Delights of a Worldly Christmas" and Onkar Ghate’s essay “An Atheist’s Tribute to Christmas”.This podcast was recorded on December 18, 2024 and released on December 23, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI3qhwVi1EgPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Samantha Watkins interviews Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and a senior scholar at the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University, about the alarming trend of anti-vaccine irrationality coming from government leaders.Topics include:The state of vaccine scienceHepatitis B vaccineCovid vaccineThe cause of conspiracismThe real-world impact of conspiracismA healthy culture’s approach to vaccine scienceResources: “A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease” by Onkar Ghate, in which he shares ARI’s view of the role of government with respect to infectious diseaseThis episode was recorded on December 15, 2025, and posted on December 18, 2025.Image Credit: Alex Wong / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBSu1A2_BSgPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the recent American attacks on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and scrutinize pretexts for war with Venezuela.Topics include: “War crimes” and international law;The fake “terrorist” threat;The “war on drugs”; The Venezuelan military “threat”;Authoritarian presidential power.Resources: Ayn Rand, “The Roots of War”This episode was recorded on December 9, 2025, and posted on December 11, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image Credits: Venezuela flag: Kryssia Campos / Moment / via Getty Images; Trump: Chip Somodevilla / via Getty Images
Podcast audio:This talk by Alex Silverman was recorded live on July 2nd in Boston, MA as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference and is available on the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KEOmlA-YRoPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Agustina Vergara Cid interviews Josh Windham, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, about the Trump administration’s immigration policy and its violations of constitutional rights.Topics include:The Garcia Venegas case;Arbitrary “mass deportations”;Kavanaugh on permissible profiling;Qualified immunity;DHS’ denial of reality;Precedent for current enforcement;American principles betrayed;Standing up to authoritarianism.This episode was recorded on December 2, 2025, and posted on December 4, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image credits: Police: Octavio Jones / AFP / via Getty Images; Constitution: Tetra Images / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgur8cEOpnkPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and ARI’s senior intellectuals make a deep dive into the moral crisis of the conservative movement.Topics include:Moral sanction;“Cancel culture” and free speech;Conservative tribalism;How ARI is different.Resources:Onkar Ghate’s lecture On Moral SanctionThis episode was recorded on November 19, 2025, and posted on November 22, 2025.Image Credits: Carlson: Leon Neal / via Getty Images; Fuentes: William Edwards / AFP / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uCwg6ADk4sPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Onkar Ghate discuss the implications of Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York. As the country takes another step towards authoritarianism and tribalism, is there any hope to put a stop to the downward cultural and political spiral?Topics include:Mamdani’s evil;Mamdani and populism;The downward spiral of tribalism;The education system gave us Mamdani;Is there a hope for the future?Resources:Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, How NOT to Explain Mamdani’s Socialist RevivalThis episode was recorded on November 17, 2025, and posted on November 21, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image Credit: Michael M. Santiago / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgeCG_fGFrkPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Robertas Bakula examine the key arguments supporting the President’s tariffs before the Supreme Court and expose their un-American hostility to the rule of law. Topics include:Background on the case;Defying the rule of law;Hostility to objective legal interpretation;Tariffs are not foreign policy powers;The absence of an “intelligible principle”;Striking down unconstitutional laws;Un-American arguments and policies;Likely and desirable outcomes.Resources: Ayn Rand Lexicon, “Law, objective and non-objective”Ayn Rand, “The Nature of Government”Ben Bayer, “The Constitutionally Dubious Law Empowering Trump’s ‘Emergency’ Tariff Authority”Ben Bayer, “The President Has No “Foreign Policy” Discretion To Impose Sweeping Global Tariffs”Ben Bayer, “The Lawyers Defending Trump’s Tariffs Know They’re Un-American. Here’s How We Can Tell”This episode was recorded on November 13, 2025, and posted on November 19, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image Credit: David Talukdar / Moment / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4zPY_XnfS8Podcast audio:The Enlightenment’s commitment to reason, individualism, and the power of knowledge sparked unprecedented progress in human life. Yet, despite this achievement, contemporary Western societies face deepening crises — mounting political violence, the collapse of alliances of free nations, and a growing support for authoritarian movements. What accounts for this reversal? In his talk, “Saving the Enlightenment,” delivered at ARI’s 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, Onkar Ghate diagnoses the problem at its root: our cultural crises are the aftermath of a crucial philosophical gap left by the Enlightenment. Ghate argues that a key feature of our cultural landscape is “a blind rebellion against an orgy of self-sacrifice.” Crises like 9/11, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the widespread embrace of DEI initiatives marked the unfolding of self-sacrificial policies that cost American lives. Many who now condemn their leaders do not realize how those policies reflect the same moral code they still accept. They embrace alternative ideologies (like nationalism) that channel the same code. So they don’t know their real target: their rebellion against “elite” demands for self-sacrifice is “blind.” This blindness, Ghate contends, stems from the Enlightenment’s failure to articulate a morality of self-interest. While its philosophers championed reason in science and politics, they never provided an alternative to the ethical frameworks that demanded individuals subordinate their welfare to collective duty. Consequently, modern culture lacks a coherent philosophy that sanctions the individual’s right to pursue happiness. To secure the Enlightenment’s legacy, Ghate urges, requires adopting an ethical system that validates rational self-interest and personal happiness as moral goods — principles that only Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism fully articulates. Objectivism, in his view, provides “the new morality that's necessary to cement the achievements of the Enlightenment.” Among the topics covered:The Enlightenment and its failure The grip of self-sacrifice Self-sacrifice in the 21st century Today’s pseudo-selfishness Objectivism completes the EnlightenmentThis talk was recorded live on July 2nd in Boston, MA, as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, and is available on The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1sggf9exTQPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Samantha Watkins challenge Zohran Mamdani’s plan to phase out NYC’s Gifted & Talented program — a move that would hold back advanced students from the education they need to thrive — and replace it with universal free childcare.Topics include:NYC’s Gifted & Talented ProgramMamdani’s Reasons to End G&T Mamdani’s Universal Childcare ProposalThe Goal Is Punishing Gifted KidsThe Reaction to Mamdani’s ProposalsEducation Is Not Zero-SumResources: Ayn Rand, “The Age of Envy,” Return of the PrimitiveAyn Rand, “The Comprachicos,” Return of the PrimitiveThis episode was recorded on November 5, 2025, and posted on November 13, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image Credits: [Child]: Catherine Delahaye /DigitalVision / via Getty Images[Mamdani]: Stephanie Keith / Stringer / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnyS0vpTh_kPodcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer, Tristan de Liege, and Mike Mazza discuss Jeremy Sherman’s book, Neither Ghost Nor Machine: The Emergence and Nature of Selves.Topics include:Science and Philosophy;Deacon’s Autogen Theory;Other Theories of the Origin and Nature of Life;Implications for Understanding Free Will;Implications for Moral Philosophy.Resources: Harry Binswanger, The Biological Basis of Teleological ConceptsThis episode was recorded on October 10, 2025, and posted on November 11, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:This talk by Robertas Bakula was recorded live on July 2nd in Boston, MA as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference and is available on the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMJR3ja3s5sPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Tristan de Liège and Gregory Salmieri discuss friendship as a moral and philosophical value and explore the relationship between friendship, egoism, and altruism.Topics include:Friendship in Rand’s fiction;Visibility in friendship;Egoism and Friendship; Valuing Friendship;Altruism and sacrifice;Unconditional love;Compromise and reciprocity.Resources:Tristan de Liège’s lecture “How to Value Friendship” A Companion to Ayn Rand, edited by Gregory Salmieri and Allan Gotthelf.This episode was recorded on October 6, 2025, and posted October 30, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image Credit: Compassionate Eye Foundation/Steven Errico/DigitalVision via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuyhO8xssYYPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Tristan de Liège, Mike Mazza, Gregory Salmieri and Ben Bayer discuss Kevin Mitchell’s book, Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will.Topics include:The locus of free will;Moral responsibility;The relevance of quantum mechanics;Determinism;Aristotle;Randomness and indeterminacy;“Agent causation” vs entity causation;Blank slate.Resources:Harry Binswanger’s essay “Volition as Cognitive Self-Regulation.”This episode was recorded on October 9, 2025, and posted on October 24, 2025.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-L271Y9HPAPodcast audio:In this Ayn Rand Institute Podcast episode, Mike Mazza and Samantha Watkins analyze objections to new embryo screening technology.Orchid’s new technologyMoral status of embryosGenetic tradeoffsThe “Eugenics” smearViews toward the disabledLosing our humanityResources:Ayn Rand’s essay, “The Anti-Industrial Revolution” in The Return of the Primitive; Ayn Rand’s essay, “Of Living Death” in The Voice of Reason;Ben Bayer’s essay, “The Absurdity at the Heart of the Alabama IVF Controversy”; Ben Bayer’s book, “Why the Right to Abortion is Sacrosanct”.This podcast was recorded on September 17, 2025, and posted on October 23, 2025.Image Credit: mihailomilovanovic / E+ / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zg_ANzngT0Podcast audio:The American attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities was met with intense public debate about the proper course of U.S. foreign policy. The Objectivist philosophy offers a distinctive framework for thinking about such issues.In his 2025 OCON talk, “Principles of a Proper Foreign Policy,” Peter Schwartz, an Objectivist intellectual and former chairman of ARI’s board, argues that a nation’s foreign policy should be guided by the principle of individual rights and aimed at protecting the nation’s freedom.Schwartz explains why this approach requires the consistent application of moral judgment. He criticizes the dominant diplomatic approach, which forbids pronouncing moral judgment and has led to decades of disastrous consequences as a result.Among the topics covered:Individual rights as the guiding principle of a nation’s foreign policy;Why justice and moral judgment are crucial for a proper foreign policy;Why Trump’s foreign policy is against America’s interests;How to address threats from Iran and elsewhere;Why diplomacy has failed, and why a principled policy of self-interest is urgently needed;Miscellaneous questions about foreign policy:How close we are to World War 3;Whether appeasement works sometimes;How people can sympathize with Hamas and Iran;Whether individuals should be allowed to trade with hostile countries.This talk was recorded live on July 2nd in Boston, MA, as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, and is available on The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.Image Credit: Vadim_Nefedov / via Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi8sRxe21qoPodcast audio:In this Ayn Rand Institute Podcast episode, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss the recent ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.Overall evaluation of the deal;Evading Hamas’s evil goals;The injustice of the deal;Altruism enables the injustice;Enemies of freedom must be defeated.This podcast was recorded on October 15, 2025, and posted October 20, 2025.Image credit: Suzanne Plunkett / Pool / via Getty Images.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZCJXTdch2EPodcast audio:In this episode of ARI Bookshelf, Sam Weaver, Ben Bayer, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Ibis Slade critically examine America’s Cultural Revolution by Christopher Rufo and The Identity Trap by Yascha Mounk.Among the topics covered:Nature of “woke” ideology;“Domino” view of ideological influence;Influence of right-wing ideas;Rufo’s authoritarianism;Mounk’s egalitarianism and collectivism;Books’ perspectives on real injustices;Merits of Mounk’s book;Weakness of Rufo’s critiques;Rufo’s un-American tribalism;Influence of postmodern epistemology;Why “woke” ideology isn’t MarxismRecommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand's essay “The Left: Old and New”, Rand’s book Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, and Leonard Peikoff’s book The DIM Hypothesis.This episode was recorded on October 3, 2025, and posted on October 10, 2025.
This talk by Steven Warden was recorded live on July 3rd in Boston, MA as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference and is available on the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream.Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V6c-9O3UHkPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Tristan de Liège and Ben Bayer discuss the widespread claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.Among the topics covered:Decoupling from the confusion of “international law”Validating the concept of “genocide”;The invalid collectivist elements of the concept;The absurd UN definition of “genocide”;Why the valid concept does not apply to Israel;Sidebar on the issue of just and unjust war;The genocidal intent of HamasRecommended in this podcast is Elan Journo’s book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Ben Bayer's essay "We Ignore the Unconditional Right to Self-Defense at Our Peril", and the podcast with Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopolous, "Did Israel Steal Palestinian Land?"The podcast was recorded on October 3, 2025, and posted on October 7, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
Intimidating broadcasters with the “public interest” standard is a worse abridgement of free speech than censorship.
In a newly uncovered recording, Ayn Rand explains why Atlas Shrugged is not a prophecy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6vA9ensrzwPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos critique a recent Wall Street Journal article that tries to explain Zohran Mamdani’s rise and the persistence of socialism in American politics.Among the topics covered:Why socialism is not an innate impulse or the product of ignorance of history;Why idealism alone does not explain socialism’s popularity;How miseducation about capitalism contributes to the endurance of socialism;Why you can’t fight woke ideology while upholding Christianity’s altruistic ethic;How to defeat socialism.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, her article “Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World,” the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on Socialism, and Bayer’s articles “The Dishonesty of ‘Real Socialism Has Never Been Tried’” and “The Old Morality of the New Religions.”The podcast was recorded on August 25, 2025, and posted on August 28, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkOadbwUP5sPodcast audio:America is a country that prizes freedom and the rule of law. Yet every day, we hear news of ICE raids on construction sites, Venezuelans shipped to foreign prisons without hearings, and sports tattoos treated as proof of criminality. As Agustina Vergara Cid warns in “Immigration Enforcement and the Betrayal of Due Process,” Americans have been turning a blind eye to this lawless, even authoritarian treatment. Delivered at the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, her talk is now available online.While the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has made the headlines recently, Vergara Cid shows that the same lawlessness has spanned decades. The Obama administration, notorious for its record deportations, simply carried forward policies Congress had long codified.Trump’s crackdowns threaten to further erode due process, which Vergara Cid identifies as the crucial legal safeguard which “stands between you and authoritarianism.” Today’s victims are peaceful immigrants; tomorrow, the target could be any American who dares to challenge the state.Among the topics covered:The immigration crackdown’s flagrant violation of due process;Why everyone should care about due process;How our authoritarian immigration system became normalized;How, despite the bleak reality, America still welcomes immigrants.(Since recording, the men sent to El Salvador’s CECOT were released to Venezuela in a prisoner swap on July 18, 2025, after four months of imprisonment. Several now allege torture, and at least one alleges sexual assault.)This podcast was recorded live on July 5th in Boston, MA as part of OCON 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wig7ja6GLlUPodcast audioIn this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Elan Journo, Nikos Sotirakopoulos, and Tristan De Liège explore how altruism clouds moral clarity about the Israel-Hamas war, undermining Israel’s righteous cause and whitewashing Hamas’ evil. Among the topics covered:How the media coverage of the war has become egregiously deferential to Hamas and Hezbollah;How altruism corrupts journalism by distorting moral judgment;Why media deception deliberately aims to manipulate emotions;The nature of Hamas’s totalitarian ideology;Why genocide claims flout serious thinking about innocents in war;How altruism cripples Israel's moral confidence in its cause.Recommended in this podcast is Elan Journo's book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.This podcast was recorded on August 13, 2025, and posted on August 21, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwT-unSQu_8Podcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Samantha Watkins and Ben Bayer tackle the common criticism that Ayn Rand is "anti-family" and analyze its philosophical roots. They examine claims that Rand's novels omit discussions of having children and explore what her actual views on parenting reveal about living a rational, selfish life.Among the topics covered:● Debunking the notion that Rand ignores children and parenting;● Rand’s actual view on children and parenting;● How choosing to be a parent can be a rational value;● Why parenting doesn't require sacrifice;● Why "fertility crisis" concerns don't justify treating individuals as means to societal ends.Recommended in this podcast are Gregory Salmieri's lecture "Reproduction and the Objectivist Ethics" and Ben Bayer's article "The Fountainhead and the Spirit of Youth."This podcast was recorded July 30, 2025 and posted on August 14, 2025.Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky3VGO4AI-gPodcast audio:In this episode of The ARI Bookshelf, Tristan de Liège, Ben Bayer, Don Watkins, and Robertas Bakula discuss What Went Wrong with Capitalism by Ruchir Sharma.The book examines the history of government bailouts, Federal Reserve policy, and the growing reach of the regulatory state. Contrary to popular belief, Sharma argues, government intervention in America didn’t shrink after Reagan — it kept growing. He also offers proposals for reversing these trends.The discussion covered:How Sharma refutes the myth that America has moved towards free markets in the last fifty years;How the government and the Federal Reserve created distortions and downturns;How the regulatory state expanded and decreased productivity;Why the book’s treatment of inequality is self-defeating;How the book’s views on capital misallocation and antitrust are contradictory;How the book lacks sufficient philosophical perspective.The video was recorded on July 17, 2025 and posted on August 8, 2025.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm7PICSLkhcPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid take a wide-ranging look at abortion bans since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, examining their destructive effects on the lives and freedoms of women and medical professionals.Among the topics covered:Ayn Rand’s distinctive defense of abortion rights;How abortion bans have impaired women’s lives;How anti-abortion laws impose arbitrary constraints against sound medical judgment;The unfortunate rise of pregnancy-related prosecutions;How abortion restrictions jeopardize doctors' freedom and careers;Why signs of resistance show abortion bans can be reversed;Evidence that the anti-abortion movement is motivated by a dark anti-sex agenda.Recommended in this podcast are the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on Abortion, Bayer’s book “Why the Right to Abortion Is Sacrosanct,” and his article “The Dark Form of Control Even Anti-Abortion ‘Moderates’ Want.” The podcast was recorded on July 28, 2025 and posted on August 9, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33MpmtvMKs0Podcast audio:In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Marek Michulka and Onkar Ghate examine the Trump administration's actions against CBS — including a billion-dollar lawsuit and FCC investigation — and argue that the FCC’s regulatory power is incompatible with free speech. Among the topics covered:How Trump's actions against CBS are targeting them for their content;How censorship in a free country relies on self-censorship; Why many critics of Trump’s actions miss the essential issue;How antitrust is being used to force editorial rooms to cater to the whims of bureaucrats;Why the realm of ideas can’t be separated from the realm of production and trade;How elite universities’ “public interest” rhetoric opened the door to government control;What the future holds.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand's essay “Have Gun, Will Nudge,” her talk “Censorship: Local and Express,” and her novel, especially Part II Chapter 5. This podcast was recorded on June 11, 2025 and posted on July 31, 2025.Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDVOG6tX8b8Podcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Don Watkins unveil their new book, Profit Without Apology: The Need to Stand Up for Business. This book is the latest publication of ARI’s new initiative, Atlas Circle, an intellectual project aimed at standing up for business and helping business stand up for itself.Among the topics covered:Why Ayn Rand saw business as central to her moral defense of capitalism;The philosophical roots of today’s anti-business culture;How most people ignore the hard thinking that goes into business;Why understanding the morality of the profit motive is essential to standing up for business;The role of intellectuals in fostering a pro-business culture.Recommended in this podcast are the Atlas Circle’s manifesto, “Profit Without Apology: The Need to Stand Up for Business,” the title essay of the book Profit Without Apology.The podcast was recorded on July 22, 2025 and posted on July 24, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hGvQj376UwPodcast audio:The 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, held in Boston, Massachusetts, wrapped up two weeks ago, and now you can get a taste of the wide range of topics and speakers featured at the event in a new highlights video.The compilation includes clips from the following talks:“What is Western Civilization?” by Yaron Brook;“Revolutionary Constitutionalism” by C. Bradley Thompson;“Enlightenment on Trial: The Real Lessons of the American and French Revolutions” by Don Watkins;“Saving the Enlightenment” by Onkar Ghate;“The Road to Fascism (And Are We on It?)” by Nikos Sotirakopoulos;“Immigration Enforcement and the Betrayal of Due Process” by Agustina Vergara Cid;“Principles of a Proper Foreign Policy” by Peter Schwartz;“America Should Declare Independence from Altruism” by Ben Bayer;“Conceiving Values” by Greg Salmieri.In addition, we have published two full-length lectures from the conference: Tal Tsfany’s annual address to ARI supporters, covering the Institute’s progress over the past year and its plans for the future; and Ben Bayer’s Independence Day talk, “America Should Declare Independence from Altruism.”
https://youtu.be/9PCQRzAMohQPodcast audio:As the Ayn Rand Institute marks its 40th anniversary, its mission to spread Objectivism through education has never been more urgent. In his 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference presentation, "Spreading Objectivism: A Vision for ARI's Future," President and CEO Tal Tsfany laid out a bold vision of the “big swings” ARI is taking to bring Objectivism into the cultural mainstream.At the heart of this expansion are major advances in ARI’s educational offerings. Tsfany announced that ARI is ahead of schedule in pursuing accreditation for a Master of Arts in Objectivist Studies, aiming to become an accredited university by 2028. Meanwhile, the new ARI Live Courses program will offer quarterly classes at dramatically reduced prices. And a newly launched Intellectual Incubator will help students develop as intellectual entrepreneurs.Meanwhile, ARI is scaling its cultural outreach. The Books for Teachers program aims to distribute 500,000 books annually by 2026 utilizing a streamlined ordering system. Supporting this outreach is a new AI-enabled Institute website launching this fall, which will provide personalized learning tracks for 750,000 annual visitors.To further Rand’s vision of an alliance between businessmen and intellectuals, ARI launched the Atlas Circle, invitation-only intellectual retreats bringing together leading businessmen and Objectivist thinkers. The Circle's first publication, Profit Without Apology: The Need to Stand Up for Business, calls on productive businessmen to push back against moral vilification.ARI’s crowning project will be the Ayn Rand Center in Austin, TX, opening September 2, 2028. In addition to improved archival storage for the Ayn Rand Archives, the center will feature a cutting-edge interactive introduction to Rand’s novels, the Ayn Rand Immersive Experience.As Tsfany emphasized, these bold initiatives represent the unity of thought and action that Rand envisioned, scaled for our time.To learn more about ARI's efforts to fight for your values, watch Tal Tsfany's 2025 OCON talk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e-3oeMO-0w&t=4sPodcast audio:Ayn Rand viewed the American founding’s enshrinement of individuals rights as the greatest political achievement in human history. Yet the rising statism of the twentieth century dramatically undermined those ideals. In Rand’s view, America needed a moral revolution: one that renounced the ethics of altruism and embraced the morality of self-interest.What would it take to achieve such a transformation? On Independence Day at the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, ARI fellow Ben Bayer took up this question in his provocative talk, “America Should Declare Independence from Altruism.”Bayer argues that it is not enough just to affirm the morality of self-interest in words. Most people — even those who claim to support liberty — remain psychologically dependent on the morality of self-sacrifice and so are unwilling to defend freedom on principle.To illustrate this dependency, Bayer offers an in-depth case study of the COVID lockdowns. He reminds us that these policies were imposed not just by Democrats but also by Republicans, the alleged defenders of American freedom. Republican leaders were cowed by moral pressure to impose shutdowns but have now worked hard to memory-hole their involvement.Bayer argues that Republicans’ evasion of their own commitment to altruism dramatized underappreciated insights from Ayn Rand’s views on the psychology of altruism. One of Bayer’s most thought-provoking points is that the common pejorative use of the term “virtue signaling” reveals a lingering psychological dependence on altruism: critics mock those who merely signal “virtue” because they are unwilling to challenge the content of the signalers’ moral beliefs directly.In the Q&A period, Bayer addresses such topics as:How altruism shaped America’s post-9/11 foreign policy;Whether sweeping lockdowns can ever be justified;The enduring relevance of Rand’s idea of the sanction of the victim;The problems with the concept of “woke.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtW5q-7XaTwPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss how arbitrary immigration laws strangle American business.Among the topics covered:How immigration restrictions impose a form of economic central planning;The role of the mixed economy in fueling the interest-group battle for legal carve-outs;How ICE raids are used to terrorize businesses and hard-working immigrants;How the Trump administration's visa rollback reveals its affinity for central planning;Why arbitrary immigration enforcement threatens to cripple every major American industry;Why supporting American business means defending the freedom to hire and trade.Recommended in this podcast are Vergara Cid’s article “Immigration Regulations Strangle American Businesses,” her OCON 2023 talk “The Immorality of the U.S. Immigration System,” and Bayer’s article “Ayn Rand on Free Trade, the ‘Essence of Capitalism’s Foreign Policy’.”The podcast was recorded on June 23, 2025 and posted on July 2, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5csuEpTn69oPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Samantha Watkins interviews Dr. Matt Bateman, philosopher at GT School, co-founder of Higher Ground Education, and ARU instructor, about the school choice movement and the philosophical case for education freedom.Among the topics covered:What the expanding reach of school choice programs means for parental freedom; Why parents, not the government, should invest in education;Why the school choice movement should refocus its arguments on parental rights; How bureaucratic accountability measures undermine school choice efforts;Why Rand’s tax credit proposal is better than a voucher system;The worst thing about the public school system;Rand's influence on Bateman's approach to parenting and education.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand's essays "Tax Credits for Education," "The Comprachicos," and "Art and Moral Treason."This podcast was recorded Jun 3, 2025 and posted on June 26, 2025.Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDj_LhwM0VwPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss two major recent events: Israel’s war against Iran and the political assassinations in Minnesota.Among the topics covered:The Israel-Iran WarWhy Israel's war against Iran is a positive development;Why a self-interested American foreign policy must break from the legacy of 9/11;The Minnesota assassinationsHow political violence is becoming a broader cultural trend;How political violence is a tribal phenomenon.The podcast was recorded on June 19, 2025 and posted on June 20, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMepGP0ehPoPodcast AudioIn this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Elan Journo interviews ARI intellectuals about their upcoming talks at the Objectivist Summer Conference, taking place July 1-5 in Boston, Massachusetts.Among the topics covered:Audra Hilse’s talk, “Revised Blueprints: Early Versions of Part II of The Fountainhead,” which will draw on archival material to offer insights into Rand’s creative process;David Bakker’s talk, “Newton Versus Descartes on the Exactness of Mathematics,” which will examine how their contrasting views on mathematical precision shaped the development of modern science;Ben Bayer’s talk, “America Should Declare Independence from Altruism,” which will argue that America’s responses to 9/11 and Covid reflect a deep-rooted evasion of altruism’s moral flaws;Don Watkins’ talk, “Enlightenment on Trial: The Real Lessons of the American and French Revolutions,” which will challenge conventional narratives about both revolutions to reframe how we understand the Enlightenment’s true legacy.Registration is open for both in-person and virtual conference passes.The podcast was recorded on June 9, 2025 and posted on June 11, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YchKm3DnUFoPodcast Audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the ongoing mass protests in Los Angeles and how the Trump administration’s response also shows a disregard for the rule of law.Among the topics covered:The scale of the violence;Evidence that the rioters do not care about immigrants’ individual rights;Why the right to peaceably assemble does not imply a right to mass protest;The bad jurisprudence that supports the alleged right to mass protest;The lawlessness of Trump’s immigration policies;What a proper response to Trump’s lawless immigration policy looks like.Recommended in this podcast are The Ayn Rand Lexicon’s entry on free speech, Ghate and Bayer’s article “Ending Campus Protests Protects Free Speech,” and Bayer’s article “The Specter of Lawlessness Is Darker than You Think.”The podcast was recorded on June 9, 2025 and posted on June 11, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A28R9JnfNroPodcast audio:In this episode of The ARI Bookshelf, Elan Journo, Mike Mazza, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Robertas Bakula discuss The Technological Republic, the recent New York Times bestseller by Alexander C. Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, and Nicholas W. Zamiska, the company’s head of corporate affairs and legal counsel.Karp and Zamiska argue that America’s future greatness hinges on a renewed commitment to national industrial policy. They claim that Silicon Valley is failing the nation by prioritizing personal ambition and consumer gratification over government-directed projects. In response, they claim to offer a new model of partnership between the U.S. government and American business.The discussion covered:The plausibility of the book’s arguments;How the book is a Trojan Horse for collectivism;How the book undermines freedom and promotes central planning;How the book rehashes old ideas;Why only a free society is worth defending;The disturbing metaphysical premises behind the book’s worldview.The video was recorded on June 2, 2025 and posted on June 5, 2025.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY3NY7gFYtwPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Tristan de Liège examine Douglas Murray’s recent critique of Joe Rogan and other influencers who share their platforms with unreliable pseudo-experts. They explain why Murray fails to clarify the standards for distinguishing expert from non-expert testimony.Among the topics covered:Why Douglas Murray’s challenge to Joe Rogan’s platforming of non-experts is only partly right;The proper role of expertise;How to properly think about expert consensus as a non-expert;How Murray is unclear about the standards we need for assessing expertise;Why philosophical expertise, not simply on-the-ground experience, is crucial in evaluating the ethics of an ongoing war;Why many people distrust experts.Recommended in this episode are Gregory Salmieri’s lecture “How to Be an Objective Consumer of Science,” Ben Bayer’s talk “Being Objective About the News.”The podcast was recorded on May 27, 2025 and posted May 30, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/iVJOTxv-tWkPodcast audio:American schools have long performed dismally at providing the education children need to read well. A movement in favor of systematic phonics instruction offers hope for improvement, but while phonics is essential to teaching children to read, they need further education to become highly capable readers. This talk by Sam Weaver defines a properly aspirational goal for reading education, explores the types of knowledge and skills that go into reading, and identifies key areas beyond phonics where American schools must improve if students are to achieve a high level of literacy. Recorded live on June 17 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/o615h8druDEPodcast audio:The creation of the atom bomb during WWII was an extraordinary achievement, dramatized in part in the movie Oppenheimer. What were the three greatest challenges in making the bomb and how does the success in overcoming those very difficult obstacles illustrate the application of objectivity? Which great scientists’ work were most essential to the success of the project? As Ayn Rand said of Apollo 11, the Manhattan Project was “an achievement of reason, of logic, of mathematics, of total dedication to the absolutism of reality.” Recorded live on June 18 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/VUYooprteeUPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid analyze how the Trump administration’s immigration policy has escalated attacks on due process, legal immigration, and the broader American system of government.(Since the recording of this podcast, Rümeysa Öztürk has been granted bail by a federal judge and released after more than six weeks in detention.)Among the topics covered:How the Trump administration has ramped up mass deportations as a show of power;The chilling, unconstitutional actions targeting legal immigration;How Trump’s actions build on a long history of corrupt immigration laws and enforcement;How the attack on due process aims at scaring immigrants into self-deporting;How the unchecked abuse of executive powers threatens the American system of government.Recommended in this podcast is the previous podcast episode on “What Would Mass Deportations Mean for Freedom in America?”The podcast was recorded on May 7, 2025 and posted on May 14, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/RclwB5luKekPodcast audio:Ayn Rand denounced racism as “the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism.” She also rejected as collectivist many of the measures being advocated to combat this evil, including what became the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On the sixtieth anniversary of that law, Dr. Greg Salmieri revisited the themes of Rand’s classic article “Racism,” relating them to present-day America.Topics include the definitions of “race” and “racism,” how the rejection of free will incline intellectuals toward racism, how superficially opposed racist doctrines on the political left and right embolden one another, in what respects racism can be “institutional” or “systemic,” how statist policies (including provisions of the Civil Rights Act) perpetuate existing racial inequities, and why it is only by embracing capitalism that we can put racism and its legacies behind us. Recorded live on June 18 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/2yQWRvrbVUIPodcast audio:Foreign policy is both a political activity and a field of applied ethics. However, the metaphysical and epistemological premises held by theorists and practitioners shape their view of ethics. The lack of an objective view of the world has led to theories and policies that do not support, and are often harmful to, the role of a proper government. However, as Scott McDonald explains, an objective understanding of the global system can lead to a first-handed foreign policy. Recorded live on June 14 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/LVNSnbdEo0oPodcast audio:In this episode of The ARI Bookshelf, Onkar Ghate, Tristan de Liège, and Robertas Bakula discuss Abundance, the recent best-selling book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson that has gained traction in liberal circles.Klein and Thompson acknowledge the failings of past liberal policies and present what they call the “abundance agenda” as an alternative. The agenda emphasizes streamlined regulations alongside robust government involvement in production — an approach the authors claim will usher in a new political order.The discussion covered:The book’s central arguments;How the “abundance agenda” is unphilosophical and collectivistic;How the book’s position on environmentalism reveals its deeper philosophical problems;How the book fails to distinguish between coercion and voluntary cooperation;How the authors fail to check their premises about government;Why the book’s admiration for China is troubling.The video premiered on May 1, 2025.
https://youtu.be/0R_RjyOJeI4Podcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer, Robertas Bakula, and Tristan de Liège explore how the mixed economy enables the unjust exploitation of society’s most productive individuals.Among the topics covered:Why, contrary to Marxist claims, businesspeople are the most exploited group in a mixed economy;How antitrust laws enable the government and less successful companies to exploit successful companies;How tariffs drive the material and spiritual exploitation of producers;How farm subsidies reward stagnation at the taxpayers' expense;How Atlas Shrugged dramatizes the exploitation of producers.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s books Atlas Shrugged and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, and the recent podcast episode on “The Marxists’ Exploitation Myth.”The podcast was recorded on May 5, 2025 and posted on May 7, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/7Wjrmh8CjAkPodcast audio:As a historian and philosopher of biology, much of Dr. James Lennox’s research has focused on the philosophical foundations of history’s two greatest biologists: Aristotle and Charles Darwin. Historians and philosophers often portray these two giants as diametrically opposed in their approach to the study of life. But were they? In this talk, he provides a novel answer to that question — and guidance on how to engage with such questions objectively. Recorded live on June 18 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/sNtIs4UmXnsPodcast audio:The most pernicious ideas are often injected into the culture by the method of “package-dealing” — the attempt to integrate the unintegratable. Expanding on previous material he has presented on this subject, Mr. Peter Schwartz offers a more advanced analysis of the mechanics of the package-deal. He addresses such questions as: Can the same word stand for both a valid concept and a package-deal? What is the role of a definition in the formation of package-deals? What is the difference between anti-concepts and package-deals? This talk focuses particularly on the telltale signs one should look for in trying to identify a package-deal. Recorded live on June 15 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/S53avG169mwPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer discuss the Trump administration’s move to restart nuclear talks with Iran by rehashing Obama’s failed deal.Among the topics covered:How the Trump administration’s new Iran deal essentially recycles Obama’s failed policy;Why hopes for diplomacy with Iran evade the regime’s totalitarian nature;Why treating a death-worshipping regime as legitimate empowers its cause;The role of tribalism in stripping moral principles from America’s foreign policy;How Trump’s amoralism blinds him to the threat of foreign dictatorships.Mentioned in this podcast are “ARI’s Resources on Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East,” Journo’s book What Justice Demands, and his co-authored book with Onkar Ghate Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism.This podcast was recorded on April 28, 2025 and posted on April 30, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/Ff78OyGNA40Podcast audio:This sample class by Gena Gorlin is based on the full-length ARU course of the same name. The full course explores the major schools of thought, methods of inquiry, and empirical findings taught in a typical introduction to psychology course. But it explores how to understand and evaluate these theories, methods, and findings from an Objectivist perspective. Students learn how Objectivism can help us consume and get personal value from existing work in psychology, even when it is deeply flawed philosophically. The sample class will feature a selection of topics drawn from the full ARU course. Recorded live on June 16 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/oMFbMFvDJ50Podcast audio:In this talk, Dr. Amesh Adalja details innovative new developments in science that will enhance the lives of individuals. Topics include transplantation of pig hearts and kidneys into humans, cell-based therapies for cancer, genetically modified mosquitoes, new vaccines and vaccine technologies, AI-discovered antibiotics, CRISPR therapeutics, and more. Recorded live on June 15 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/pWpAiAioZTEPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Robertas Bakula and Mike Mazza explore the themes from Mazza’s upcoming essay, which argues that freedom, not government control, is the true engine of progress in the space industry.Among the topics covered:How NASA’s monopoly led to decades of stagnation in space innovation;How economic freedom has fueled the recent progress in the space industry;Why NASA’s role as a scientific research agency lies outside the proper scope of government;How to answer critics who claim that private space ventures are just billionaire “playgrounds”;The importance of entrepreneurial thinking in driving progress in the space industry.Mentioned and recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essay “Apollo 11” from her The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought, Mazza’s and Tristan de Liège’s podcast episode “Space: The New Commercial Frontier,” and Mazza’s forthcoming essay, which will appear in New Ideal.This podcast was recorded on April 21, 2025 and posted on April 23, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/79fT9VIDkVsPodcast audio:As Ayn Rand wrote, “The concept of individual rights is so prodigious a feat of political thinking that few men grasp it fully—and two hundred years have not been enough for other countries to understand it.” We can see this failure of understanding in the view, advanced by many conservatives and libertarians today, that the concept of individual rights ultimately derives from or is at least consistent with the Judeo-Christian morality. In this talk, Ben Bayer explores some highlights of the history of the concept to understand why it is essentially a secular innovation, even when thinkers who helped advance it held Christian views. He especially focuses on how Enlightenment views of human nature and knowledge helped untether “rights” discourse from its antecedents in religious thought. Recorded live on June 17 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/UaRhK2N8m6YPodcast audio:A continuation of Dr. Harry Binswanger’s Saving Math from Plato (OCON 2023): how the Aristotelian, perception-based approach to mathematics refutes or re-interprets wrong ideas advanced by figures such as Russell and Cantor. Topics include number, infinity, limits, and the axiomatic concepts of mathematics. (The lecture assumes no knowledge of mathematics beyond beginning algebra.)Recorded live on June 16 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/qctS25KQzrsPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Sam Weaver and Ben Bayer discuss the Trump administration's decision to cut federal funding to Columbia University in response to its handling of pro-Hamas protests. They argue that government involvement in universities makes such coercion possible and threatens intellectual freedom.Among the topics covered:How to think about the pro-Hamas protests at Columbia;The nature of Trump’s actions against Columbia;How federal funding threatens intellectual freedom;How Trump’s actions violate intellectual freedom;Why Trump’s measures are uniquely destructive;How the concept of “academic freedom” confuses the issue;How to remove force from educational institutions.Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essays “The Establishing of an Establishment” and “Fairness Doctrine for Education,” the article “More University Donors Should Go Galt,” and the podcast episode “DeSantis’s Push to Ideologically Transform Florida Colleges.”This podcast was recorded on April 8, 2025 and posted on April 16, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/VaNHaT-xlOUPodcast audio:The new ARI Bookshelf podcast series gives you a window into ARI’s educational programs by showcasing our faculty as they discuss books of recent interest. This episode discusses Ta-Nehisi Coates's book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Message. Panelists included Elan Journo, Greg Salmieri, Ibis Slade, and Mohamed Ali.
https://youtu.be/RKtLU6ntECUPodcast audio:“Socratic Wisdom” — knowing our own ignorance — is the ability to differentiate what we do not know from what we do. This is a key component of objectivity, vital for properly weighing and implementing the knowledge we possess and directing ongoing investigation and inquiry. In this talk, Jason Rheins discusses the nature and importance of this introspective clarity and how it is achieved. He covers practical methods and specific tips for identifying our ignorance and differentiating it from our knowledge. Recorded live on June 18 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/vFaDm6eo-mkPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer examine the Trump administration’s recent tariff policy and the legal, economic, and political disruptions they create.Among the topics covered:Why tariffs are not a proper foreign policy instrument to deter the threat from China;Why all justifications for tariffs are arbitrary and collectivistic in nature;How the obsession with trade deficits reveals outright ignorance of economic principles;How legal ambiguity has enabled the executive to wield authoritarian power;How Trump’s whim-driven rule is pushing the country toward authoritarianism;The economic chaos caused by the tariffs;What hopes exist for reversing the policy.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s articles “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business” and “The Moratorium on Brains.” The podcast was recorded on April 9, 2025 and posted on April 10, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/-c6W8JuZsVoPodcast audio:Oppression and authoritarianism have been constant themes in regimes that ruled in the name of Marxism. From the Soviet Union to Cuba and from Yugoslavia to China, individual rights were ignored and violently suppressed. Is such anti-individualism a feature or a bug in Marxism? What about Marx himself? How did he view the individual? Was he the one who planted the seed for the future orgy of anti-individualist violence that has been perpetrated in his name? Nikos Sotirakopoulos tackles these questions in this talk from OCON 2024. Recorded live on June 15 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/093vQKWPwvsPodcast audio:Objectivity is the key to avoiding misunderstandings and making one-to-one conversations productive. There are two contexts of knowledge, two value hierarchies, and two “crows” to consider to communicate effectively. In this talk from OCON 2024, Jean Moroney covers the topics: what constitutes subjective vs. objective goals for a conversation, the need to manage emotions as they arise rather than shut them down, and how doing this effectively by “holding all of the values with care” can get a conversation back on track and help you deal objectively with another person’s real or apparent irrationality. Recorded live on June 14 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/a3bgumyKdAAPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos dismantle the claim that “real socialism” has never been attempted.Among the topics covered:Why many young Americans support socialism;How Soviet leaders were driven by Marxist ideology;Why Joseph Stalin epitomized Marxist principles;Why dictatorship is the logical outcome of socialist central planning;How the definition of socialism has been watered down to evade its historical crimes;The persistent rationalizations used to defend socialism.Recommended in this podcast are The Ayn Rand Lexicon’s entry on socialism, Bayer’s essay “The Dishonesty of ‘Real Socialism Has Never Been Tried,’” and Sotirakopoulos’ upcoming ARU course “Marx and Communism.” The podcast was recorded on April 1, 2025 and posted on April 2, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/8wKAKmydUlgPodcast audio:Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s dramatic poem Faust is a monumental work of Romantic literature that presents one man’s ceaseless striving to transcend the limitations of human knowledge and experience. By exploring some of the most profound and moving passages from the poem, this talk by Nicolas Krusek provides a glimpse of Goethe’s grand-scale themes and characterizations, and demonstrate the rich rewards to be gained by joining his hero—the “good man” with the “darkling aspiration”—on his quest to discover the “highest wisdom” of life. Recorded live on June 18 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/HtOmp-fh-PkPodcast audio:This episode of ARI Bookshelf features Naomi Oreskes’s bookWhy Trust Science? Panelists include Ben Bayer, Jason Rheins, Mike Mazza, and Daniel Schwartz.Why Trust Science? asks when and why non-experts can trust science. It argues that it is the social character of science that makes it trustworthy.Our panelists judge whether the arguments Oreskes gives are convincing and examine her views about the value of consensus and diversity in scientists’ beliefs and values. They also discuss the philosophy of science more generally and consider how laypeople should evaluate climate science and anti-vaccine claims.
https://youtu.be/S1DL9777gfkPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate challenge the myth that America is ruled by plutocrats, exposing how fear of governmental threats drives business decisions.Among the topics covered:How CEOs’ silence in the face of Trump’s destructive tariff policies debunks the myth of plutocracy;How threats from the Trump administration instill fear in America’s top producers;How attacks on Zuckerberg and other CEOs reveal that business has no allies;Why businessmen are not the rulers of the system but the pawns;The urgent need for business leaders to stand up for themselves.Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essays “The National Interest, c’est moi” in The Objectivist Newsletter, “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Onkar Ghate’s lecture “Freedom and the Need for Business to Stand Up for Itself,” and The Atlas Circle.The podcast was recorded on March 25, 2025 and posted on March 27, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/qBTy_9VVhuEPodcast audio:Often, people make the mistake of being too passive about friendship, treating it as something that just happens automatically in life—for instance, maintaining friendships with people one just happened to know growing up, or using shortcuts, such as a shared philosophy, in choosing friends. In this talk, Tristan de Liège explores in detail what it means to pursue friendship in a philosophically minded way—integrating the value of friendship with one’s other values, pursuing them with purpose, and honoring the trade that is the spiritual foundation of friendship. Recorded live on June 15 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/9lMQ3idE9bwPodcast audio:Immigration is one of the most contentious topics on today's political landscape. But that has always been true throughout America history. Why have immigration restrictions taken hold in America since the nineteenth century? What ideas animate immigration restrictionists, and what explains their success in restricting immigration in the U.S.? In this talk, Agustina Vergara Cid takes you through the history of the immigration debate in the U.S., uncovers the philosophy behind restrictionists, and points to a solution to bring about more freedom in the U.S. Recorded live on June 16 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/3XFiAQbxtgQPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid examine the current controversy over USAID and discuss Ayn Rand’s distinctive critique of the morality behind America’s foreign aid.Among the topics covered:How recent revelations about USAID expose the agency’s absurd, if not malicious, activities;Why Rand viewed foreign aid and its justification in the name of “the public interest” as morally corrupt;The continuing relevance of Rand’s critique of the altruistic premises underlying arguments for foreign aid;How an unprincipled foreign policy has failed to protect America’s interests abroad and wasted its resources;The role of foreign aid in a proper, pro-American foreign policy.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essays “The Pull Peddlers” and “Altruism as Appeasement,” available in The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought.The podcast was recorded on March 10, 2025 and posted on March 19, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/DI1xqqIcj7kPodcast audio:How can we live more egoistically? What makes us want to live more egoistically? Not everyone does. In her talk “Egoism Without Permission – It Begins with Desire” at Objectivist Summer Conference 2024 in Anaheim, Tara Smith explored the connection between these questions, drawing material from her new book Egoism Without Permission: The Moral Psychology of Ayn Rand’s Ethics.Recorded live on June 17 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/ZhqJzc75qeIPodcast audio:A new ARI podcast series, ARI Bookshelf, gives you a window into ARI’s educational programs by showcasing our faculty as they discuss books of recent interest. This episode discusses Kennon M. Sheldon’s book Freely Determined. Panelists include Ben Bayer, Jason Rheins, Greg Salmieri, and Gena Gorlin.Freely Determined offers a psychologist’s case against popular forms of determinism and argues that mental health depends on a belief in one’s agency.Our panelists examine Sheldon’s arguments and positions from a wider philosophical perspective and indicate its strengths and weaknesses. They find value in his answers to scientific arguments for determinism but question his account of motivation. They also discuss the value of psychological research and the relationship between philosophy and the sciences.The discussion covered:Panelists’ general take on the book;The history of arguments for and against free will;How mental health may depend on a belief in one’s agency;The book’s distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation;The book’s vague conceptualization of the self;Why progress in psychology is messy.The video with the episode was originally released on September 10, 2024.
https://youtu.be/QT4O5p3oSAAPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss why ARI comments on current events and why applying Objectivism to cultural issues is central to its essence as a philosophy for living on earth.Among the topics covered:How ARI’s commentary fits its mission;Why applying Objectivism to current events is essential to understanding the philosophy;Why persuading minds about Objectivism requires distinguishing it from mainstream ideas;What is wrong with the objection that no one can speak for Ayn Rand;What to expect from ARI’s commentary in the future.Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essay “What Can One Do?” in Philosophy: Who Needs it?, and Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer’s discussion “How Can We Change People's Minds About Ayn Rand's Controversial Ideas?”The podcast was recorded on March 10, 2025 and released on March 12, 2025. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe where you get your podcasts from. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/YjhHIgZzO3kPodcast audio:In this episode of The ARI Bookshelf, Jason Rheins, Ben Bayer, Don Watkins, and Alex Silverman examine two contrasting perspectives on the influence of Christianity: Tom Holland’s Dominion and Charles Freeman’s The Closing of the Western Mind and The Reopening of the Western Mind.While Holland’s widely discussed book argues that Christianity is the foundation of science and Western values, Freeman’s books present a contrary view. Our panelists bring their expertise to evaluate the arguments in both books, assessing their historical and philosophical accuracy.The discussion covered:The central arguments of the books;Why the Church feared Aristotelian philosophy;How Freeman’s books provide a more thorough and philosophical analysis than Holland’s;How Holland diminishes Greek influence on modernity;How Holland appropriates secular ideas and thinkers into Christianity;The role of Christianity in the abolition of slavery;The relationship between Christianity and science;Why Holland’s book gained popularity while Freeman’s did not.The video premiered on March 11, 2025.
https://youtu.be/V8yIcXmoAnQPodcast audio:Fifty years ago, Ayn Rand journeyed to West Point to speak to a new senior-level course offered by the Department of English. She told the cadets — and the world — who needed philosophy, and why. Now, from Shoshana Milgram, you can learn from archival documents and new interviews why and when she was invited, which readings the course contained, how she prepared, and what about her lecture astonished her hosts. Recorded live on June 14 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/h1tIDRzi9HoPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast Ziemowit Gowin interviews Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate on Trump’s stance on the Ukraine-Russia war, which led him to call President Zelensky a dictator and publicly berate him in the Oval Office.Among the topics covered:What America’s approach to the Ukraine-Russia war should be;How Trump’s Oval Office blowup at Zelensky reveals his amorality;The mindset driving Trump’s sympathy for Putin and his approach to negotiation;When it would be proper to negotiate with an aggressor;The long-term consequences of America’s pro-Russia shift.Mentioned in this podcast is Ayn Rand’s essay “The Anatomy of Compromise” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. Recommended for further reading are Elan Journo’s essay “Why John Mearsheimer Gets Ukraine Wrong,” Ziemowit Gowin’s essay “European Appeasement Emboldened Putin’s Aggression,”and Journo’s and Ben Bayer’s essay “Putin’s War Embodies National Conservatism’s Ideology.”The podcast was recorded on March 5, 2025 and released on March 7, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/ad5KEuKz1a8Podcast audio:How does science work, and how does it differ from religion or pseudo-science? According to Karl Popper’s “falsificationism,” science, unlike religion and pseudo-science, doesn’t claim certainty; it aims only to disprove its hypotheses, and this is the source of its rationality. Popper proposed his theory as an alternative to the view that science distinguishes itself by proving its conclusions inductively. In this lecture, Mike Mazza discuss the reasons behind Popper’s anti-inductivism and falsificationism and how they undercut the rationality of science. Recorded live on June 16 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/gFXDYaKnCVwPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo examine Jeff Bezos' decision to reorient The Washington Post's opinion section toward issues of personal and economic freedom.Among the topics covered:How Bezos' move reflects a genuine appreciation for the American ideals that enabled his success;How Ayn Rand's critique of discretionary government power should concern Elon Musk;Why the new opinion section must confront the Trump administration's threats to freedom;How the backlash against Bezos overlooks the reality that business leaders are victims of government controls who ought to defend their rights;The role of the mixed economy in corrupting the American system.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essay “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business” and the resources at ARI’s new pro-business initiative, The Atlas Circle.The podcast was recorded on February 26, 2025 and posted on February 28, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/1fLxvFQCScAPodcast audio:Philosophy is for living. But how do you get the most value out of your philosophy? This is a question the panelists have been exploring from a variety of perspectives, ranging from psychology to moral philosophy to personal development. Gena Gorlin, Tara Smith, Tal Tsfany, and Don Watkins, shared their thoughts on how to leverage Objectivism for success and happiness, addressing questions such as “What are common struggles people face in trying to live by Objectivism?” and “What are underappreciated aspects of Ayn Rand’s philosophy that can empower people to enjoy life more?” Recorded live on June 15 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/UVujQHg1kZoPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos challenge the exploitation theory of value at the root of many attacks on capitalists by both the political left and right.Among the topics covered:How the exploitation theory is entrenched in mainstream political thought;How the exploitation theory fails to grasp how the capitalist produces value;How mainstream defenses of capitalists fail to grasp how they produce value;How capitalists benefit all of us immensely by increasing our productivity;Rejecting the Marxist “pyramid of exploitation” for Rand’s “pyramid of ability.”Mentioned in this podcast is Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged.The podcast was recorded on February 21, 2025, and released on February 26, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/0SSL_XThHdQPodcast audio:A new ARI podcast series gives you a window into ARI’s educational programs by showcasing our faculty as they discuss books of recent interest. The series, the ARI Bookshelf, premiered on August 6 with an episode discussing Wolfram Eilenberger’s book The Visionaries. Panelists included Ben Bayer, Jason Rheins, Greg Salmieri, and Shoshana Milgram.The visionaries of the book’s title are four mid-twentieth century female philosophers: Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil, and Ayn Rand.Through interweaving biographies of these four figures, the book aims to show, as its subtitle puts it, “the power of philosophy in dark times.” According to Ben Bayer, “this was a very interesting book to read, especially because of the kind of novelistic quality of it, where you’re not just reading about their ideas, but you’re seeing what’s happening in their lives […] against the backdrop of some pretty dramatic geopolitical events of the period.”Among the topics covered:Panelists’ general takes on the book;How Simone Weil’s philosophy causes her to martyr herself;The thematic unity of the four figures;The significance of the four figures being women;The book’s sloppy treatment and misrepresentation of Rand;How the book whitewashes evil;Why the book may be worth reading.The video premiered on August 6, 2024.
https://youtu.be/y-WB-fhVJlsPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Tristan de Liège discuss why the traditional conception of forgiveness is evil and indicate how to think of it from an Objectivist perspective.Among the topics covered:How forgiveness is conventionally understood;Why the idea of “forgive and forget” enables injustice;Why forgiving a murderous dictator like Putin would be horrific;Why a rational view of forgiveness must be rooted in justice;The story of Mosab Hassan Yousef as an example of earning forgiveness;How healing from injustice comes from maintaining a positive value context, not forgiveness;Whether there is need for a separate concept of forgiveness.Recommended in this podcast are the Ayn Rand Lexicon entries on “Mercy,” “Justice,” and “Moral Judgment.” The podcast was recorded on February 14, 2025 and posted on February 19, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/yOx0pcktQtIPodcast audio:What is at stake in the Russia/Ukraine and the Israel/Hamas conflicts? What are America’s interests in the chaotic Middle East? How do we evaluate China’s global ambitions and its claims on Taiwan? What’s the impact of foreign policy on the 2024 campaign trail? How does Objectivism help us unpack these and related issues? Panel discussion featuring Yaron Brook, Peter Schwartz, and Scott McDonald, moderated by Elan Journo, with extensive audience Q&A. Recorded live on June 16 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/9GjD66edA0gJoin one of ARI's many online educational courses. Our new "Flex" option allows you to take these courses at your own pace, whenever you have the time, while also still retaining the benefit of having your questions answered and your assignments graded by a real instructor. Browse our catalog now: https://aru.aynrand.org/ In the age of social media everyone’s a self-proclaimed pundit, tweeting or posting on current events whether or not they possess any relevant knowledge or expertise. Meanwhile, our culture is saturated with stale, conventional thinking. People are taken in far too easily by false alternatives, tribalism, and superficial perspectives utterly lacking in nuance or principle. In this sample class—based on the full-length ARU course of the same name—Yaron Brook and Onkar Ghate will share their insights into how they approach thinking about current events, how they acquire sufficient knowledge to comment meaningfully on any given topic, and how they use Objectivism as a lens to clarify even the thorniest of issues. Recorded live on June 15 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/a-SwX91pj2QPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer discuss the moral travesty of the Gaza deal and the intellectual bankruptcy it reveals in foreign policy thinking.Among the topics covered:Why the Gaza deal will not bring peace but ensure further aggression by Hamas;How the lopsided hostage release deal is a win for Hamas;How the Gaza deal is short-sighted and self-sacrificial;How Trump’s “real estate” deal would reward Gazans for their aggression;How the Gaza deal reveals a blindness to the role of ideas in motivating aggression.Recommended in this podcast are ARI’s “Resources on Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East," Elan Journo’s book What Justice Demands, and Ben Bayer’s article “We Ignore the Unconditional Right to Self-Defense at Our Peril."The podcast was recorded on February 12, 2025, and released on February 14, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get you podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/Oly3eYzZiTgPodcast audio:Accelerate your understanding of Objectivism today by joining one of our many online educational courses. Our new "Flex" option allows you to take these courses at your own pace, whenever you have the time, while also still retaining the benefit of having your questions answered and your assignments graded by a real instructor. Sign up now: https://aru.aynrand.org/ This sample class is based on the full-length ARU course of the same name by Don Watkins and Tal Tsfany. The full course explores the principles and attitudes that will help guide students in their work, career, and the world of business more generally. A major focus is on what the application of these ideas looks like, explored in part through a series of interviews and discussions with Objectivist businessmen, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, and professionals in various fields. The session focuses on the nature of a fulfilling career, how to select a career, and key tips for building a fulfilling career. Recorded live on June 17 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.
https://youtu.be/wmo0zqU_dIQPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Robertas Bakula discuss the latest developments of the Department of Justice’s vicious antitrust persecution of Google.Among the topics covered:How the antitrust attack on Google is driven by hatred of its productive virtues;How the DOJ's remedies for Google's alleged crime punish their success;Google’s failure to challenge the government’s right to persecute them;Why calling out the evil of antitrust would give Google the moral high ground;How the Trump administration is just as bad as Biden’s on antitrust prosecution;What Google and other persecuted businesses can do to defend themselves.Recommended in this podcast are “Open Letter to Google’s Sundar Pichai and Team,” which is the first project of ARI’s Atlas Circle initiative, the previous podcast episode on “The Vicious Antitrust Case Against Google,” and Ayn Rand’s essay, “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business.”The podcast was recorded on February 5, 2025 and released on February 7, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/hPO8IQvENTYPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Elan Journo interviews, Bud Brigham, a lifelong entrepreneur and the founder of multiple successful companies, most notably Atlas Energy Solutions. Mr. Brigham built his career on a vision of innovation and an uncompromising commitment to individualism, values deeply informed by Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. In this interview, Mr. Brigham shares how The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged inspired him to take bold risks and create lasting value in the energy sector.Among the topics covered:Introduction to the Roundtable and to Bud Brigham;What motivates Brigham’s continuing entrepreneurship;How Brigham’s companies innovated to overcome economic and technological challenges;Brigham’s battle to build the innovative Dune Express, the world’s second-longest conveyor belt transporting fracking sand; How Objectivist ideas have inspired and empowered Brigham’s career;How Brigham works to encourage industry peers to stand up on principle against demands for regulation; Brigham’s advice for young entrepreneurs;Brigham’s favorite passage from Ayn Rand.The interview with Mr. Brigham occurred at a recent ARI Donor Roundtable on January 25, an event usually available exclusively for donors. If you'd like to participate in the next Roundtable event, consider joining ARI as a supporter.
https://youtu.be/fEOGBX9R05wPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss Trump’s blanket pardon of all the people involved in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.Among the topics covered:How Trump’s blanket pardon lets outrageous evil off the hook;How Trump’s claims about the 2020 elections and the January 6 attack are arbitrary;How Trump and many Republicans are attempting to rewrite reality;How the pardons normalize political violence and reflect the tribalism of our culture;Why the blanket pardoning is an attack on the Constitution and the rule of law.Recommended in this podcast are the podcast episodes “The Storming of the Capitol” and “The January 6 Hearings.”The podcast was recorded and posted on January 22, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/87jSEwTQLgkPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer analyze Mark Zuckerberg's recent comments on Facebook’s policy changes and whether they truly represent a victory for free speech.Among the topics covered:How Facebook’s content moderation is not a violation of free speech;How the government’s intimidation of Facebook is a violation of free speech;How both the Biden and Trump administrations intimidate Facebook;How CEOs, like Zuckerberg, morally sanction the attacks against them;Why CEOs, like Zuckerberg, need a principled defense from intellectuals.Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s article “’Have Gun, Will Nudge’” in The Objectivist Newsletter and Ben Bayer’s article “Facebook: Censor or Victim?”The podcast was recorded on January 15, 2025 and released on January 16, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/HYUiFLJ3_YgPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Tristan de Liège and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss David Goggins’ idea that suffering is central to the pursuit of values.Among the topics covered:The popular idea that embracing suffering is essential to a successful life;David Goggins’ incredible life and character;Why life is not fundamentally about overcoming suffering;What makes Goggins’ message inspiring, despite its misconceptions;Why Objectivism views happiness, not suffering, as the ultimate purpose of life.Recommended in this podcast are Ben Bayer’s “Don’t Resign Yourself to Suffering, Combat It” and the podcast episode on “Should We Accept Suffering as Part of Life?”The podcast was recorded on January 6, 2025 and released on January 9, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/duUDf-WuSVkPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss how to make one’s life purposeful, without falling for the sacrificial tropes popular in our culture.Among the topics covered:Why aiming at a challenging, effortful life should not be equated with suffering;How to evaluate Jordan Peterson’s notion that meaning is found outside of one’s life;What is wrong with pursuing purpose by bearing others' burdens;Why achievement, not suffering, is the essence of human life and morality.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.The podcast was recorded on December 17, 2024 and released on January 1, 2025. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/0hJO4ofx6VUPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid explore the true meaning of Christmas by examining the history and philosophical significance of our holiday practices.Among the topics covered:The secular meaning of Christmas;A proper view of Christmas’s commercial aspects;Why some people are antagonistic towards the Christmas spirit;How the doctrine of original sin undermines Christmas joy.Mentioned in this podcast are Ben Bayer’s articles “Give the Gift of a Guilt-Free Christmas” and “The Meaningful Delights of a Worldly Christmas,” and Onkar Ghate’s essay “An Atheist’s Tribute to Christmas.”This podcast was recorded on December 18, 2024 and released on December 23, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/2sZU9hJLFWgPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo analyze the moral significance of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and its replacement by jihadists.Among the topics covered:Why authoritarian regimes, like Assad’s, are fundamentally weak and unstable;How the future of the Middle East is constrained by anti-freedom ideologies;How the media coverage of Assad’s fall is blind to the crucial role of ideas;How altruism prevents us from seeing others regimes, like Hamas, as evil;Why America’s security depends on deterring bad actors, not nation-building.Mentioned in this podcast are Onkar Ghate’s and Elan Journo’s co-authored book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism, Journo’s book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict , and Journo’s and Yaron Brook’s coauthored essay "The Banality of Putin and Xi."This podcast was recorded on December 17, 2024 and posted on December 20, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/jSUq16CPQwcPodcast audio:In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the reaction to the assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO and the hatred towards businessmen in America.Among the topics covered:Examples of the culture treating businessmen as a persecuted minority;How CEOs provide value in health care despite government controls;Why saying that denying medical claims is violence perpetuates real violence;How seeing health care as a “right” distorts people’s view of insurance companies;How socialized medicine turns health care providers into serfs, not traders.Mentioned in this podcast is Ayn Rand’s lecture “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business,” also available in her book Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal.The podcast was recorded on December 13, 2024 and posted on December 18, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/rqSHMPIurKMPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal, Brandon Lisi and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the backstory of the newly-published “lost” Mike Wallace-Ayn Rand interview from 1960.Among the topics covered:Historical background of the “lost” interview;Rand’s role as a public intellectual during the 1960s;How Rand’s intellectual confidence shines through in the interview;How the Ayn Rand Archives recovered the recording;Upcoming projects of the Ayn Rand Archives.Mentioned in this podcast are Rand’s first and fourth interviews with Wallace, Letters of Ayn Rand and the online archive exhibit, and Rand’s letter “To Senator Barry Goldwater”The podcast was recorded on December 10, 2024 and posted on December 12, 2024. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/UA8uWCfm81kPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss Donald Trump’s promise to enact mass deportations of millions of illegal immigrants.Among the topics covered:How Trump’s plan to enact mass deportations would have massive costs;Why the Alien Enemies Act does not justify mass deportations;How the Alien Enemies Act would grant Trump immense new powers;Why mass deportations would fail to secure our borders or enhance national security;Why mass deportations would threaten the rights of American citizens;The importance of respecting the rule of law while also treating peaceful illegal immigrants justly.Mentioned in this podcast is the New Ideal podcast episode with Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid “The Absurdity of Calling the U.S.-Mexico Border Crisis an 'Invasion'.”The podcast was recorded on December 5, 2024, and posted on December 6, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/ZNmERj5xVwwPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian war in Western media.Among the topics covered:The corruption of the Western media’s reporting of the conflict;Why reporters can’t escape moral judgment;The anti-Israel bias of the media;How the conflict could be reported objectively;How altruism drives the non-objective anti-Israel reporting.The podcast was recorded on November 18, 2024 and released on November 27, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/vCiKkxLAFJYPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal, Sam Weaver and Tristan de Liège discuss Atlantic writer Derek Thompson’s idea that Americans are afflicted by a religious obsession with work that he calls “workism” and their view of the role of work in human life.Among the topics covered:Thompson’s view on work and why it's worth talking about;Why making work central to one’s life doesn’t entail adopting a religious perspective;Understanding what causes burnout and lack of fulfillment in work;The Objectivist perspective on work.Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, her essay “Causality Versus Duty”, Gregory Salmieri’s essay “The Act of Valuing (and the Objectivity of Values)” in A Companion to Ayn Rand edited by Allan Gotthelf and Salmieri, and de Liège’s Ayn Rand University course Philosophical Perspectives on Work.This podcast was recorded on November 7, 2024, and released on November 20, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4kQrSryOiQPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal, Elan Journo, Ben Bayer, and Onkar Ghate discuss the 2024 U.S. election results.Among the topics covered:Why the Democrats and Kamala Harris didn’t deserve to win;How Harris should have dealt with the failures of the Biden administration;The American sense of life vs. the view of the elites;Why Trump didn’t deserve to win;The Republican Party’s capitulation to Trumpism;How policy will change under the new administration;The Trump campaign’s appeal to the worst in Americans.The podcast was recorded on November 13, 2024 and posted on November 15, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/rPsgR0WCqxwPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer discuss Ayn Rand’s radical view on abortion rights and the debates over abortion as an election issue.Among the topics covered:Why Ayn Rand defended abortion rights as a matter of individual freedom;How to understand abortion as an election issue after the Dobbs decision;How to evaluate recent Democratic arguments for abortion rights;How state ballot initiatives on abortion fail to uphold women’s right to life;What the future holds for abortion rights as an election and moral issue.Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s entry in the Objectivist Lexicon on “Abortion,” Ayn Rand’s essay “On Living Death,” and Ben Bayer’s essay “Ayn Rand’s Radical Case for Abortion Rights” and book of essays, Why the Right to Abortion is Sacrosanct.The podcast was recorded on October 21, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/MLF5deQWbrcPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal, Aaron Smith interviews Elan Journo to discuss his critical evaluation of two popular but deeply flawed biographies of Ayn Rand: Jennifer Burns’ Goddess of the Market and Anne C. Heller’s Ayn Rand and the World She Made.Among the topics covered:The standards of objectivity that the biographies fail to meet;The authors’ disregard for how Rand thought of herself and her work;Examples of the books’ lack of objectivity;How the authors mishandled the biographies' sources;Why ignoring Rand’s philosophy makes the books less interesting and intelligible.Recommended in this podcast are Journo’s articles “‘Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right’ Is Worse than Incompetent” and “Postscript: ‘Ayn Rand and the World She Made’ Is an Exploitative, Tabloid Biography,” and Allan Gotthelf and Gregory Salmieri’s book A Companion to Ayn Rand.The podcast was posted on October 23, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/wgKovwvgEs0Podcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal, Mike Mazza and Sam Weaver discuss the enduring value of The Virtue of Selfishness, a collection of Ayn Rand’s essays on ethics, on its sixtieth anniversary.Among the topics covered:Why Ayn Rand wrote and collected the essays in The Virtue of Selfishness;How Ayn Rand’s essays address questions central to living a good life;How Ayn Rand presented a radical new way to think about morality;How Ayn Rand challenges conventional ways of thinking about morality;How Ayn Rand provided novel ways of evaluating many moral issues.Mentioned in this podcast is Ayn Rand’s essay collection The Virtue of Selfishness.The podcast was recorded on October 8 and released on October 18, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/Lsm2sRbywwgPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss Western misconceptions around October 7 and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Among the topics covered:Why the war is really between Israel and Iran;How pragmatism effects the West’s inability to understand Iran;How Palestinian grievances help pragmatists evade Iran’s ideology;Why most Palestinian grievances are deliberately made up;How October 7 demonstrates the power of philosophy.Mentioned in this podcast are Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism and Elan Journo’s book What Justice Demands.The podcast was recorded on October 4, 2024 and posted on October 7, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/IBopAUk3s4APodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal, Mike Mazza and Tristan de Liège discuss the private space industry and Ayn Rand's philosophical thoughts on the subject.Among the topics covered:How state monopolization forestalled the development of the private space industry;Why Rand saw the Apollo 11 mission as a philosophical, not a political achievement;How pull peddling threatens space entrepreneurship;How the goal of making a profit enables progress in the private space industry;What's wrong with the objection that private business will corrupt science;How space exploration benefits us.Recommended in this podcast are Rand’s piece “Apollo 11,” the essay “Common Fallacies About Capitalism” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, and Keith Lockitch’s “Ayn Rand on Apollo 11.”The podcast was released on October 2, 2024. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/5Bpu-bAQXMsPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Robertas Bakula discuss the recent antitrust case against Google and what it reveals about the nature of antitrust law.Among the topics covered:Why Ayn Rand regarded antitrust law as immoral and un-American;What evidence the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google is based on;How antitrust law is non-objective in theory and in practice;Why the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google is non-objective and unjust;How antitrust law criminalizes businesses for being successful as such;How the DOJ’s antitrust case equivocates political and economic power;Why we need to fight for the moral right of businesses to be successful.Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s articles “The Age of Envy,” “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business,” and “Antitrust: The Rule of Unreason,” as well as our previous New Ideal podcast episode “Recent Antitrust Attacks on ‘Big Tech’.”The podcast premiered on September 25, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/pKCfFCED9XAPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Agustina Vergara Cid and Ben Bayer analyze the anti-American immigration platforms of both the Trump and Harris campaigns.Among the topics covered:The tribal and arbitrary nature of Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric;Why Republicans rely on fear-mongering to push their anti-immigration agenda;Harris’s shameful evasion of the immigration topic and the racism of her opponents;How both Democrats and Republicans share a collectivistic view of immigrants;The role of altruism in shaping the anti-American approach to immigration.Mentioned in this podcast are Vergara Cid’s essay “Rethink the Term ‘Illegal Immigrant,’” Ayn Rand’s essay “‘Extremism,’ or the Art of Smearing” and her answer to “Should There Be Open Immigration?” Also referenced are the New Ideal Live episodes “The Problem With Pro-Immigration Arguments,” “A Legal Crisis in Immigration,” and “Who Is a Communist?”The podcast was recorded on September 20, 2024. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/emKgc2aO7x8Podcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal, Agustina Vergara Cid interviews Gregory Salmieri about his essay “Free Speech as a Right and a Way of Life.”Among the topics covered:What free speech is and why a defense of it is needed;How to respond to acts of de-platforming and cancellation;Why the right to free speech is absolute;How public education violates free speech;Non-governmental violations of free speech;The difference between thought and action;When protests and civil disobedience are justified;How to promote a culture of free speech.Mentioned in this podcast are Gregory Salmieri’s essay “Free Speech as a Right and a Way of Life” and Tara Smith’s book The First Amendment: Essays on the Imperative of Intellectual Freedom.The episode was released on September 18, 2024. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C-eEwx1jv0Podcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the question of whether Kamala Harris is a communist, and if not, what the real problem with her views is.Among the topics covered:The essence of the Marxist ideology;Why Harris is not a communist;How the “communist” label helps New Right tribalists hide their own anti-Americanism;The importance of using concepts precisely;How mislabeling someone as “communist” whitewashes real communism.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s article “The Left: Old and New” and Sotirakopoulos ’s lecture at AynRandCon Europe 2024 “Lessons From the Intellectual Success of Marxism.”The podcast was recorded on September 9, 2024 and released on September 14. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/FpjW9B8aE8QPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss how the failure of American post-9/11 policy led to the October 7 attacks.Among the topics covered:How the failed American response to 9/11 paved the way for October 7;How religion and altruism undermined the response to Islamic totalitarianism;How the West lies to itself about the nature of Hamas;Why there are no voices articulating a positive strategy for the Middle East;The need to rethink the philosophic principles guiding American foreign policy.Recommended in this podcast are Ghate and Journo’s book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: What Went Wrong After 9/11 and Journo’s Winning the Unwinnable War: America's Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism.The podcast premiered on September 11, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube Music. Watch archived podcasts here.
The new Right’s absurd positions cannot be explained by their adherence to any coherent ideology, but only by their tribal view of the world.
We must understand the philosophical foundations of the right to free speech to apply it to contemporary controversies.
https://youtu.be/sdNoDhkU_eAPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Harry Binswanger analyze Alexandra Popoff’s new biography, Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success, particularly its portrayal of Rand as a “Jewish thinker.” They address the false attempt to link Rand’s “ethnicity” to her philosophy.Among the topics covered:The determinism of labeling Rand as “influenced” by her ancestry vs. the central role of choice in her thought and life;The irrelevant evidence offered for Rand’s “ethnic” identity;Spurious evidence of Rand’s reaction to Soviet injustices in her political thinking;Why Rand’s novels put plot first and were not merely a vehicle for ideas;How The Fountainhead is Rand’s rejection of Nietzsche’s ideas;How Popoff’s book fails to engage with Rand’s rejection of the tribalism central to the concept “ethnicity”;Why Ayn Rand called herself a Jew in response to Antisemitism;How Popoff’s book rehashes the same errors of older flawed biographies.Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essay “What Is Capitalism?” and her lecture “Global Balkanization.”The podcast was broadcast on September 6, 2024. Watch archived podcasts here.
The West is free today because it didn’t allow even the death of innocents to impede its right to self-defense.
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https://youtu.be/fC2PeuDuR5EPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews Paul Taske, associate director of litigation at NetChoice, to discuss the Supreme Court’s recent NetChoice decision and what it means for the future of free speech in America.Among the topics covered:The Supreme Court’s decision to send the question about regulating social media platforms back to the federal district courts;Why content moderation is not censorship;How NetChoice responds to objections from the Court’s minority;How the Florida and Texas laws violate the right not to speak;Why NetChoice chose to make a facial challenge to the laws;How NetChoice responds to the idea that social media platforms are common carriers;How to think about the issue of whether the government has an interest in regulating social media platforms;How to evaluate other disagreements between the majority and the minority.Recommended in this podcast are Greg Salmieri’s article “Free Speech as a Right and a Way of Life” in Tara Smith’s The First Amendment: Essays on the Imperative of Intellectual Freedom and the previous New Ideal podcast episode “Does Social Media Censor?: A Conversation with Steve Simpson.”The podcast premiered on August 15, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/lOPRUlOyTMUPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Mike Mazza discuss why the trans movement is essentially religious and unscientific.Among the topics covered:The religious character of the trans movement;Why many of its scientific claims are dishonest;How religious conservatives reinforce the movement’s irrationality;Why debates about gender have become so contentious;How the movement relies on force and smears to advance its agenda;Evidence that the movement is uninterested in trans people's well-being;Why the science about gender dysphoria is far from settled.Recommended in this podcast are the previous New Ideal Live episodes on “Kathleen Stock’s Reasoned Critique of Gender Ideology” and “‘What Is a Woman?’ and Gender War Tribalism.”The podcast was released on August 8, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch archived podcasts here.Image credits: Smallman / Getty Images News via Getty Images, Alec Perkins / Wikimedia Commons / image on top with a white glowing effect.
https://youtu.be/WSCTJ5fxqq8Podcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Sam Weaver discuss how the introduction of both the Ten Commandments and DEI into the public school system represents an assault on intellectual freedom.Among the topics covered:How recent public-school mandates in Louisiana and Oklahoma use force to promote religion;Why the mandates are an assault on the First Amendment and our founding ideals;How the left pushes its ideas in public schools;Why efforts on both sides should be understood as an assault on intellectual freedom;Why the public education system necessarily leads to ideological disputes;How tribalism drives religious mandates.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Establishing of an Establishment” in Philosophy: Who Needs It, Tara Smith’s book The First Amendment: Essays on the Imperative of Intellectual Freedom, Harry Binswanger’s article “The Ten Commandments vs. America,” and the New Ideal Live episode on “What’s Wrong with California’s Ethnic Studies Mandate?”The podcast was recorded on August 7, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch archived podcasts here.Image credit: PeopleImages.com - Yuri A/Shutterstock.com.
https://youtu.be/1UvPyAQ6s5EPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer examines a discussion between Richard Dawkins and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, explaining why so-called secular humanists have been unable to offer a rational moral alternative to religion.Among the topics covered:Ali's rationalizations for her religious conversion;Why Western civilization is not purely Christian;How religious belief relies on arbitrary claims;Dawkins’ failure to offer a rational moral alternative to Christianity;Why a rational morality requires an uncompromising commitment to truth.Mentioned in this podcast are Bayer’s articles “The Old Morality of New Religions,” “Debunking the Supernaturalism That Haunts Secular Ethics,” and Onkar Ghate’s essay “Finding Morality and Happiness Without God.”The podcast was recorded on July 31, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Watch archived podcasts here.Image credits: Getty Images/Christian Marquardt; Getty Images/David Levenson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHXGamIEZ6gPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss how the Republican National Convention’s platform has turned away from its traditional appeal to small government and turned instead towards adopting many of the big government policies that socialists envy.Among the topics covered:The RNC platform on energy policy, regulations, and Israel;The RNC platform on entitlement programs, industrial policy, and tariffs;The Republican Party’s unprincipled view of political and economic freedom;JD Vance as a symbol of the Republican Party’s turn away from freedom;How much the Republican Party has turned away from freedom in twelve years;The new Republican Party’s turn to collectivism and central planning.Mentioned in this podcast is the New Ideal article, “Meet the Conservative Authoritarians” by Elan Journo.The podcast premiered on July 25, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/4ivJl__LyWwPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the Trump assassination attempt and the violent climate of tribalism in our culture.Among the topics covered:The evil of using physical force to settle political disagreements;Why it’s important to comment on this event;The increasing normalization of political violence in our culture;Why it is important to discuss Trump’s failure to discourage political violence;The philosophical root of today’s climate – tribalism;How tribalism is fueled by the mixed economy and attacks on reason;Manifestations of political tribalism in responses to the assassination attempt;How tribal thinking differs from the rational pursuit of truth;The role of emotions and conspiracies in tribal thinking;How to be objective in one’s thinking about political events;Why the cause of rising tribalism is philosophical, not political;The advantages of one-on-one conversations compared to group conversations.Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Missing Link,” and her Ford Hall Forum lectures “Global Balkanization” and “A Nation’s Unity.”This episode was recorded on July 17, 2024. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch previous episodes here.
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https://youtu.be/GdlePIECjGcPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Adi Dynar discuss the Supreme Court's overturning of its 1984 Chevron doctrine, which held that courts should sometimes defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of a vague law.Among the topics covered:How Chevron gave the executive branch the power to make law, thereby incentivizing the passing of vague laws;How Chevron made it harder for individuals to challenge regulations;The majority opinion’s insufficient stress on the issue of the separation of powers;Why the argument that courts lack factual expertise is a smokescreen;How the practice of deference relies on a presumption in favor of government power;The Court's failure to articulate the principle of the rule of law;Why it is unlikely that this decision will cause legal chaos.The podcast was recorded on July 3, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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https://youtu.be/LaS-oLBiRbIPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo interviews Tara Smith about her new book Egoism Without Permission: The Moral Psychology of Ayn Rand’s Ethics.Among the topics covered:What Rand means (and doesn't mean) by egoism and the virtues;Why having desires and owning your emotions are crucial to having a good life, even though emotionalism is bad;Why the independent person does not seek permission for pursuing his happiness;Why self-esteem must be earned and sustained;Why self-interest means being interested in one’s values;How egoists can still fall prey to accidental sacrifices;The importance of introspection for egoism and flourishing;Smith’s message in Egoism Without Permission.Mentioned in the discussion are Tara Smith’s books Egoism Without Permission: The Moral Psychology of Ayn Rand’s Ethics and Ayn Rand’s Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist and Leonard Peikoff’s Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand.The podcast premiered on June 12, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/z5ptDg7iHlAPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Robertas Bakula interviews three of ARI's fellows to discuss their upcoming talks at Objectivist Summer Conference in Anaheim, California, which is being held from June 13 to 18.Among the topics covered:Jason Rheins’ talk “Socratic Wisdom,” concerning the value of knowing your own ignorance;Tristan de Liège’s talk “How to Value Friendship,” which will explore how the principles of Objectivism can help us deepen our friendships;Mike Mazza’s talk “Karl Popper’s Rejection of Induction,” which will address how Popper’s widely embraced philosophy of science actually undercuts the rationality of science.Virtual passes to the conference remain open for purchase through June 18.The podcast premiered on June 7, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/N3B8VRLXjegPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Sam Weaver and Onkar Ghate discuss the nature and significance of the Trump phenomenon.Among the topics covered:Why Trump’s base of support is significant;Why it’s important to study the Trump phenomenon;The meaning and consequences of Trump’s 2016 electionTrump’s anti-intellectual character;Understanding Trump’s persistent support;Analyzing Trump’s presidency;The current state of political violence in America;How Democrats and tribalism enable Trump;Bernie Sanders, Trump, and the resurgence of populism.Mentioned in this podcast are Onkar Ghate’s articles "One Small Step for Dictatorship” and “The Anti-Intellectuality of Donald Trump: Why Ayn Rand Would Have Despised a President Trump,” and two podcast episodes: “The Storming of the Capitol” and “The 2024 Elections.”The podcast was recorded on June 5, 2024 . Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.ARI has a philosophical mission, and as such its function is to analyze current events from that framework. Given our 501c3 status, our function is not to advocate for or against particular candidates.
https://youtu.be/LJ20jmhEE7sPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the Libertarian Party’s (LP) convention, especially the speeches by Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and what it reveals about the nature of the libertarian movement.Among the topics covered:Why chaos in the Libertarian Party is a result of disunity about what liberty even is;Why the one point of unity in the LP is their stance against Israel’s war in Gaza;How the libertarian movement’s lack of a coherent positive ideology led to the LP’s decision to invite Trump and Kennedy;How the LP’s acceptance of Kennedy despite his advocacy of statist policies reveals the libertarian movement’s lack of a coherent set of pro-freedom policies;How Trump’s convention speech reveals a willingness to support anarchistic authoritarianism within the LP;How Americans who believe in liberty are betrayed by the LP.Recommended in this podcast are the New Ideal Live episodes “Libertarian Apologists for Putin” and “Libertarianism: Big Tent or Big Mess?”ARI has a philosophical mission, and as such its function is to analyze current events from that framework. Given our 501c3 status, our function is not to advocate for or against particular candidates.The podcast was recorded on May 30, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXGhis0_6JwPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews Harry Binswanger, a philosopher and longtime friend of Ayn Rand’s, about his observations as a graduate student at Columbia during the 1968 protests and how those protests compare to those taking place now at Columbia and other campuses.Among the topics covered:How the 1968 protesters hoped to bring about a communist revolution;Why the university tolerated the protesters and ceded to their demands;Binswanger’s role in opposing the activists;Ayn Rand’s analysis of the student protest phenomenon;The long-term legacy of the student protests;Why today’s protests are worse than the 1968 protests.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s 1968 radio commentary “The Student Rebellion at Columbia” and Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate’s article “Ending Campus Protests Protects Free Speech.”The podcast premiered on May 15, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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The protesters are animated by the desire to destroy Israel.
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https://youtu.be/Bg9BFE1-49YPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Milton Friedman’s impact as a public intellectual and how his advocacy of the free market differed from Ayn Rand’s radical philosophical case for capitalism.Among the topics covered:Why Milton Friedman is an essentially positive influence on free market thought;How Friedman’s moral conventionality reinforced the ideas he tried to oppose;The importance of stating the ideal when advocating for gradual reform;Why questions of morality are at the root of economic issues;How Friedman’s amoralism and pragmatism blinded him to the statists’ motivation;Ayn Rand’s critical evaluation of Friedman;Why the abolitionist movement is a model for moving the world toward freedom.Mentioned in this podcast is Onkar Ghate and Yaron Brook’s course “Cultural Movements: Creating Change” and Ayn Rand’s essay “Tax Credits for Education.”The podcast was recorded on May 2, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
In the last week in cities across the West, and especially university campuses, have been flooded with anti-Israel, even pro-Hamas protesters who have sought to grind urban life to a halt, and in some cases have threatened and harassed Jewish citizens and students. What is the moral significance of these protests, and what irrational thinking leads people to support them? Join Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer to analyze the philosophical issues at stake in this developing issue.
https://youtu.be/FjsC7I-Qa4APodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Mike Mazza and Aaron Smith discuss Mazza’s recently published article about why academic philosophers tend to get Rand’s ideas wrong so frequently and the parochialism involved in many of their critiques.Among the topics covered:What Mazza aimed to explain in this article;Why responding to academic critics is important;What it means for philosophers to engage in parochialism;How the methods of academic philosophers are poorly suited to understanding Rand;The inductive structure of Rand’s arguments;The multiple factors behind philosophers’ dismissal of Rand’s ideas;Why the parochialism issue is particularly important to identify;Why historians of philosophy tend not to make the mistake of parochialism;How even Objectivists can be parochial and what they should do to avoid it.Mentioned in this podcast are the New Ideal articles “Why Can’t Professional Philosophers Get Rand Right?” by Mazza and “Why Massimo Pigliucci Gets Ayn Rand Wrong” by Smith, plus the book A Companion to Ayn Rand edited by Allan Gotthelf and Gregory Salmieri (specifically Chapter 1, “An Introduction to the Study of Ayn Rand”). The podcast was recorded on April 18, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Lm2YpZvyIPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo offers initial commentary on Iran’s April 13 attack on Israel.Among the topics covered:How Iran’s attack on Israel is a consequence of its Islamic and imperial nature;How America’s failure to recognise and confront Iran’s nature emboldens it;Why America and Israel are morally justified in replacing Iran’s evil regime.Mentioned in this podcast are Elan Journo’s book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo’s edited collection of essays Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: from George W. Bush to Barrack Obama and Beyond, and Leonard Peikoff’s article “’End States Who Sponsor Terrorism’.”The podcast was recorded on April 13, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeuU6AbIDOoPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo give a preview of ARI’s 2024 presidential election coverage and comment on some of the major political issues at stake in the election.Among the topics covered:How ARI uses Objectivism to analyze elections and the wider political culture;What the Trump phenomenon says about the state of our political culture;The unprincipled nature of the political responses to recent domestic and foreign crises;Symptoms of growing political tribalism, such as people’s increasing willingness to protest;How bipartisan attacks on tech companies reveal a deeper turn against producers.Mentioned in this podcast is Onkar Ghate’s New Ideal article “One Small Step for Dictatorship."The podcast was recorded on April 11, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/UmxjJI50gssPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo analyze Argentinian President Javier Milei’s interview at AynRandCon in Buenos Aires.Among the topics covered:How the event fell short of ARI’s goal of illuminating points of agreement and disagreement with Milei;How to evaluate Milei as a President, considering his strange statements about abortion and his mysticism;The contradiction between Milei’s ostensible rejection of collectivism and his administration's position on a military draft;How Milei’s motivation for anarchism is easier to excuse than that of other libertarians;Milei’s troubling rhetoric targeting journalists and dismissal of criticism;What is right and wrong about Milei’s defense of producers;Ayn Rand’s possible influence on Milei’s thinking about the nihilistic motivation of socialism.The podcast was recorded on April 8, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/Xh0xF5hACkwPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Sam Weaver and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the recent California ethnic studies mandate. They evaluate the ideological nature of the curriculum and its assault on knowledge, the philosophical ideas that made it possible, and why it must be opposed intellectually.Among the topics covered:How ethnic studies emerged from an activist assault on the idea of objective truth;Evidence that the proposed curriculum is non-objective;How lessons on "narratives" encourage prejudice among students;The egalitarian roots of the curriculum and its elevation of the primitive over science;Why the government monopoly on education causes violations of intellectual freedom.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essays “Global Balkanization,” “The Age of Envy,” and “Fairness Doctrine for Education,” as well as the previous podcast episode “Political Battles Over Education.”The podcast was recorded on April 4, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/L3RBJNhglekPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the recent United Nations “ceasefire” resolution. They argue it is yet another example of the West’s moral reluctance to condemn evil regimes and to provide a principled defense of Israel’s right to self-defense.Among the topics covered:The fact that Hamas seeks to destroy Israel because it is a bastion of civilization;Why the UN resolution is a pro-Hamas document;How the UN’s policy of moral neutrality enables evil regimes;Why the United States is morally complicit in whitewashing Hamas;Trump and Biden’s unprincipled support for Israel;Why defeating Hamas requires the ideological deprogramming of the Palestinian population.Mentioned in this podcast are Journo’s book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Agustina Vergara Cid’s essay “Ayn Rand’s Radical View of the United Nations,” and Bayer’s “We Ignore the Unconditional Right to Self-Defense at Our Peril.”The podcast was recorded on March 26, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/UPHqvTkKFcAPodcast audio:In this special episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the recent announcement of the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Apple and analyze the injustice of criminalizing a company for giving customers an experience they want.Among the topics covered:Why the DOJ’s antitrust case against Apple is significant to all American business;How Apple is targeted because of its business success, not its failures;How antitrust is destructive by design and how it stifled Microsoft;Ayn Rand’s analysis of antitrust as the “rule of unreason”;Why you should call your legislator if you support businesses like Apple.Mentioned in this podcast are Onkar Ghate’s essay “Drop the Antitrust Case Against Microsoft” and the New Ideal Live episode “Recent Antitrust Attacks on "Big Tech,” Ayn Rand’s lecture “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business” (also available in essay form in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal) and her essay “Antitrust: The Rule of Unreason,” which can be found in The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought.The podcast was recorded on March 22, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/07j7MQNdJhQPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the state of the immigration debate between Democrats and Republicans. They show how both parties appeal to fear and collectivism in their opposition to immigration, and explain why a proper solution to the border crisis requires policies that favor free economic migration.Among the topics covered:How both Democrats and Republicans are hostile to immigration;How the rights of American citizens are infringed by the immigration system;How Americans, individually, welcome immigrants despite political fearmongering;Biden's unserious focus on tougher security over free economic migration;Why a concern with individual criminals entering the country is not an argument for restricting legal immigration;The calculated dishonesty of Senator Katie Britt's response to Biden’s State of the Union Address;Why Americans should work hard to protect their own thinking from tribalism.The podcast was recorded on March 21, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTvoxqlq9x4Podcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos examine President Biden’s State of the Union address and what it reveals about the goals of today’s political leadership. They discuss the anti-mind premise driving both political tribes and how it leads to statist policies that destroy wealth and create economic hardship.Among the topics covered:Understanding the values of the current political leadership;Biden’s antipathy to the mind’s role in economic value creation;How contempt for the mind restricts and destroys the pharmaceutical industry;“Shrinkflation” as a distraction from the damage caused by anti-profit state policies;Statist policy effects on supply and demand as the cause of rising prices;How to think about “junk” fees and what underlies attacks on them;The true objective of Biden’s “Strike Force” as rule by fear and force;The anti-producer and anti-consumer motivations of Biden’s “Strike Force”;Why Republicans’ only response is to change the subject to the border crisis.Mentioned in this podcast are the interview “Understanding the Roots of the New Inflation: With Rob Tarr,” Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer’s New Ideal Live episode “The Pure Hatred of the New Antitrust,” and Ayn Rand’s lecture “Egalitarianism and Inflation.”The podcast was recorded on March 13, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/oV-deDzZNH8?si=MbfQzzp1Qa6D4tLCPodcast audio:In this special episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer responds to a PragerU video which argues that moral wisdom requires a “fear of God.” Bayer argues that a fear of God undercuts moral wisdom and is driven by a fear of the intellectual independence that moral wisdom requires.Among the topics covered:The proposal that a fear of God provides the basis for an objective morality;How the fear of God makes objective moral guidance impossible;Why being motivated by fear undercuts our love of moral wisdom and virtue;How faith is driven by a fear of the independence that moral wisdom requires.Mentioned in this podcast is Onkar Ghate’s article “Finding Morality and Happiness Without God.” The podcast was recorded on March 5, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts hereImage credit: Michael MLPG/Shutterstock.com.
https://youtu.be/s4xpmys7ejoPodcast audio:In this special episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo comments on Zack Snyder’s recent conversation with Joe Rogan about his admiration for Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead and why his film adaptation was rejected by Netflix. Journo discusses why so many creators like Snyder find Rand’s novels so compelling yet she is still considered “taboo,” the philosophical motives behind the hostility towards Rand, and the immense value readers can get from her heroes.Among the topics covered:Snyder's account of how the entertainment industry sees Rand as taboo;Why The Fountainhead resonates so much with active-minded audiences;What Snyder gets wrong about The Fountainhead’s origin story;Why intellectuals regard Rand as taboo;How Rand's heroes challenge our culture's deepest philosophical assumptions;The value readers can gain from Rand’s works.Recommended in this podcast are the previous New Ideal Live episodes “The Dramatic Story Behind The Fountainhead Movie” and “What Jonah Goldberg’s Rejection of Ayn Rand Reveals,” and Journo’s articles “When Tribal Journalists Try to ‘Cancel’ Ayn Rand,” and “Ayn Rand’s Devastating Critique of ‘Liberals.’”The podcast was recorded on March 8, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=SYvTdaE9zfIPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Ziemowit Gowin discuss how the Biden administration’s altruistic foreign policy undermines Israel’s war of self-defense against Hamas.Among the topics covered:How America’s inconsistent support of Israel subverts its war of self-defense;How the morality of altruism leads people to unjustly blame Israel for the fallout of Hamas’ attack;Why the altruistic decision to airdrop aid into Gaza amounts to enabling the enemy;Why calls for an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire are delusional and immoral;Why attempts at a “two-state solution” are among the causes of the current conflict;Why the conflict will continue if Israel does not decisively defeat Hamas.Mentioned in this podcast are three books: Winning the Unwinnable War (edited by Journo), Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism (edited by Journo and Onkar Ghate), and What Justice Demands (written by Journo). For more of ARI’s resources on America’s middle eastern foreign policy, go to https://bit.ly/arimideastresources.The podcast was recorded on March 6, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTntTkvIr3gPodcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the philosophical and legal implications of the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) should be considered children.Among the topics covered:The facts and reasoning behind the Alabama Supreme Court case;How the court’s decision is a logical result of anti-abortion reasoning;Why conception or human DNA is insufficient for individual rights;Why it would be inconsistent to make a legal exception for embryos;Whether this case is a violation of the separation of Church and State;The negative consequences of this case on reproductive rights.Mentioned in the episode are the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on abortion, Ben Bayer’s book Why the Right to Abortion is Sacrosanct, and Ben Bayer’s essay “Science Without Philosophy Can’t Resolve Abortion Debate.”This episode was broadcast live on February 28, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJvI1XA7Bt8Podcast audio:In this episode of New Ideal Live, Mike Mazza and Ziemowit Gowin discuss Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with Vladimir Putin, and Carlson’s attempt to undercut America by whitewashing life in Russia.Among the topics covered:Mainstream media’s reaction to Carlson’s interview;How interviewing dictators gives them an undeserved sense of moral legitimacy;How the interview only repeated Putin’s stale propaganda;Why it’s absurd to think that the only way to be informed about events in Russia and Ukraine is to interview a dictator;That Carlson’s motive is to discredit America by whitewashing life in Russia;Carlson’s shocking equivocation of governments that murder journalists and political opponents with free nations using deadly force in self-defence;The conservative rejection of abstract principles;The descent of the new generation of conservative influencers into religion and authoritarianism.Mentioned in the episode are “One Small Step Toward Dictatorship” by Onkar Ghate and “Putin’s War Embodies National Conservatism’s Ideology” by Ben Bayer and Elan Journo.This episode was broadcast live on February 22, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the problem of tribalism in our political culture. Exploring issues such as the Israel-Hamas war and the debates over immigration and abortion, they show how both the left and right are guilty of an anti-conceptual mentality that has degraded our political discourse.Among the topics covered:How tribalism has made today's political atmosphere toxic;The left's tribal support for Palestine;How the tribal mentality is motivated by opposition to a common enemy, not shared principles;The right's tribal fearmongering on immigration;How tribalism has infiltrated the issue of abortion on both sides;How attacks on reason fuel today's groupthink;What ARI does to take a principled philosophical stance on political issues.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essays “Global Balkanization” and “The Missing Link,” Bayer’s talk “Tribalism in Today’s Political Culture,” and Sotirakopoulos’ book Identity Politics and Tribalism: The New Culture Wars.The podcast was recorded on February 14, 2024. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/WK6FBGNk4CkPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss the cultural significance of two seemingly unrelated events: the bipartisan congressional hearings on online child safety and the conservative backlash to Taylor Swift’s relationship with Travis Kelce. They argue that the attacks on Mark Zuckerberg and on Swift's successful businesses reveal a tribal mentality that hates the good for being the good.Among the topics covered:The true purpose of the online child safety hearing;The Senate Committee’s shameful intimidation of Zuckerberg;How Section 230 is used to hold tech companies liable for users' criminal behavior;Why the senators' threats to control businesses are anti-law and anti-American;How Republicans use anti-intellectual tactics to pass authoritarian controls;How the hatred against Taylor Swift is driven by the same anti-success mentality;The tribal misogyny aimed at Swift;Why conspiracy fantasies seek political pandering, not the truth;How Ayn Rand’s “Age of Envy” can help combat today’s tribal trends.Mentioned in this podcast are Rand’s essays “The Age of Envy” (found in The Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution) and “Selfishness Without a Self.”The podcast was recorded on February 7, 2024. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/5xrACXUAv3gPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews Harry Binswanger about Ayn Rand’s philosophical approach to life and the invaluable lessons we can learn from the way she lived.Among the topics covered:How Rand integrated philosophy into her life;How Rand used philosophy to understand herself and others;What it was like to work with Rand on philosophical projects;How philosophy empowered Rand to continue learning throughout her life;What surprising conclusions Rand came to through her philosophy;How Rand helped Binswanger develop as a philosopher.Mentioned in this episode are "100 Voices: An Oral History of Ayn Rand" by Scott McConnell and "Ayn Rand's Philosophic Achievement (Part 1)" by Harry Binswanger.This episode was recorded on February 2, 2024. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWiQXkI0NwcPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Mike Mazza and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss and debunk as baseless three commonly heard myths about Ayn Rand: that she demonized the poor, that she uncritically praised the rich, and that she died penniless and hypocritically accepted Social Security at the end of her life.Among the topics covered:Why the claim that Rand hated the poor has no plausibility;Rand’s focus on ambition and productive ability;Why Rand didn’t praise being rich as such;Rand’s praise for true wealth creation, including the creation of knowledge;Why the claim that Ayn Rand died penniless defies all evidence;Whether it was hypocritical for Rand to accept Social Security payments;Why accepting government benefits can count as restitution;Why the false charge of hypocrisy reveals an underlying rejection of idealism.Mentioned in this episode and relevant to the discussion is Onkar Ghate’s article “What Gave Ayn Rand the Moral Right to Collect Social Security?”The podcast was recorded on January 24, 2024. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/live/l_YB67QbOkk?si=FcS4XEx1P15UbJWJPodcast audio:
In this special episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo interviews Coleman Hughes on his new book The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America. They discuss Hughes’ case for colorblindness, his critique of the “anti-racist” movement, and his views about why we need to abandon race as a meaningful category. Hughes also comments on Ayn Rand's individualist analysis of racism.Among the topics covered:How the ideal of colorblindness disappeared from American intellectual life;How the concept of colorblindness has been misunderstood;How the “anti-racist” movement perverted the concept of "racism";The meaning of the attempts to suppress Hughes’ TED talk;Hughes’ evaluation of Ayn Rand’s individualist critique of racism;How to think about racism today;Pinning down the vague notion of “systemic racism”;How universities push a perverted conception of diversity;How the “anti-racist” movement craves power, not justice;Why race says nothing about a person's identity.Mentioned in this podcast is Ayn Rand’s essay “Racism.”The podcast was recorded on January 23, 2024. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/_d0Xp0NhxC8Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss international reactions to several recent developments around the world that reveal the power of morality in human affairs.Among the topics covered:How the retreat of the good encourages evil around the world;How the “genocide” hearings against Israel exemplify the UN’s equation of good and evil regimes;Why Israel’s deference to the UN enables its own destruction;How the United Nations is designed to whitewash evil regimes;Why the Houthis have significant geopolitical influence;How the Houthis appeal to morality while the West wallows in moral uncertainty;How the West’s moral cowardice encourages its enemies;How America’s refusal to call out China as evil emboldens China;How the West betrayed Taiwan with a muted response to its elections.This episode was recorded on January 17, 2024. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJq6IzrxN8YPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Daniel Schwartz discuss the problem of plagiarism in our culture. They argue that although academic institutions assume that cheating is wrong, many academics have no intellectual argument as to why plagiarism is morally wrong or why it is necessary to uphold standards of honesty.Among the topics covered:Background on the universities’ sacrifice of academic integrity to DEI;How plagiarism is a widespread problem in the culture;How some academics view plagiarism as neither significant nor necessarily wrong;The intellectuals’ failure to explain why plagiarism is morally wrong;The fact that today's ethics offers no guidance for questions about the self;Why the value of one's own education is compromised by cheating;How Ayn Rand’s view of honesty can illuminate what’s wrong with plagiarism.Recommended in this podcast are the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on honesty, Tara Smith’s Ayn Rand’s Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist, Bayer’s “Why Today’s Ethics Offers No Real Guidance,” and the previous New Ideal episode “The Real Scandal Underlying Campus Antisemitism.”The podcast was recorded on January 10, 2024. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/lLOXyQpebRMImage credit: TSViPhoto/Shutterstock.com.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Mike Mazza discuss the emergence of the manosphere. They explore issues such as why it appeals to young men seeking guidance, how it reflects the best and worst elements of our intellectual culture, and what a positive philosophical alternative requires.Among the topics covered:Defining the manosphere;Its devolution from a self-help movement to a player in the culture wars;How the manosphere appeals to young men deprived of philosophical guidance;The deterministic and authoritarian tendencies of today’s manosphere;The toxicity of encouraging young men to adopt tribalism and rationalizations about their own failures;Why a positive alternative to the manosphere should be more philosophical.The podcast was recorded on January 4, 2024. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/lFl4WpCEpXUPodcast audio:
In this end-of-year episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos celebrate another year of unique cultural analysis and commentary by the intellectuals at the Ayn Rand Institute.Among the topics covered:How our unique perspective on the culture flows from the principled philosophical framework developed by Ayn Rand;Why we do not fight primarily against bad ideas, but for positive ideals;How Rand’s understanding of the power of philosophy enabled her to predict the present decline of Western civilization;How our analysis at New Ideal is shaped by our conviction that philosophical ideas have the power to shape human affairs, for good or ill;Why we aim to reach active-minded people who are open to new and challenging ideas;Our appreciation for all the donors who make our work at ARI possible.This episode was recorded on December 22, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmIcKmrGU_MPodcast audio:Image credit: Ruslan Grumble/Shutterstock.com.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Sam Weaver discuss the humanities "crisis" in American universities. They explain the most common arguments in defense of the humanities, why they are not compelling, and the vital role that these studies play in an individual's life and the culture.Among the topics covered:How the humanities curricula shape our intellectual culture;Why the mere reduction of humanities majors does not necessarily imply a "crisis";Why learning critical thinking skills is not unique to the humanities;How the emphasis on "empathy" in the humanities leads to a dangerous relativism;Why focusing on citizenship is too impersonal and uncritical;Why saying that the humanities have intrinsic value is a non-argument;Philosopher Agnes Callard’s confession of ignorance about the value of the humanities;The humanities' role in guiding a successful human life;The universities’ failure to give students the tools to answer life's questions.Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essays “For the New Intellectual” and “The Psycho-Epistemology of Art,” and the previous New Ideal Live episode “The Real Scandal Underlying Campus Antisemitism.”The podcast was recorded on December 20, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/Zbxo2MFkfMkPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss the recent congressional hearings of the presidents of America’s most prestigious universities about the explosion of campus protests. They question whether the charge of hypocrisy is a proper conceptualization of the problem, and propose that it’s the deeper anti-justice worldview that explains the state of campuses today.Among the topics covered:Background on the president’s answers to Rep. Stefanik’s questions;Why the controversy is not about free speech but the dominant moral standards taught in universities;How campus antisemitism is driven by altruism and its hatred of success;How campus protests are rooted in the anti-justice morality of egalitarianism;The nihilistic parallels between the campus protests and the George Floyd protests;Why the charge of hypocrisy leaves unchallenged the universities’ systemic egalitarianism;How tribalism motivates both political and campus antisemitism.Mentioned in this podcast are Ghate and Journo’s previous podcast “What Antisemitism Is” and their op-ed “More University Donors Should ‘Go Galt’.”The podcast was recorded on Dec 13, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/ax4BDqoJesoPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos interviews Don Watkins about his new book Effective Egoism: An Individualist’s Guide to Pride, Purpose, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Nikos and Don discuss the need for moral guidance on how to make the most of your life, why we need principles to guide our actions, and six lessons for living your best life.Among the topics covered:How philosophy can give you a framework for living your best life;Why your life matters;How to take charge of your life;How to pursue your happiness;Why you need reason to pursue happiness;How to create deep and lasting values;Making the case for egoism;Why pleasure is necessary for a meaningful life.The podcast was recorded on December 7, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU_Z7edBO8kPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss recent controversies surrounding immigrants and allegations that they are abusing the welfare state, and they explain what an objective approach to thinking about immigration and welfare involves.Among the topics covered:How to evaluate the purported data about immigrants and use of welfare services;How to avoid falling into pragmatism and collectivism in the debate on immigration and the welfare state;The abundance of misinformation about immigration and where it comes from;The perverse views of both the right and the left on this issue;The migrant crisis in New York City;The importance of distinguishing between asylum seekers and immigrants who come seeking a better life;The welcoming attitude toward immigrants in America that the welfare state threatens;Milton Friedman’s views on immigration and the welfare state;The proposal of preventing immigrants from accessing the welfare state;The importance of making it easier for immigrants to work.The podcast was recorded on December 1, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.Image credit: David Peinado Romero/Shutterstock.comhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=2vqNr07ibaoPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the recent election of Javier Milei as President of Argentina.Among the topics covered:How Peronism turned Argentina from one of the richest countries in the world to one of the poorest;Milei’s academic background and turn towards libertarianism;The extent to which Milei is actually influenced by Ayn Rand;The flaws in Milei’s mongrel libertarian philosophy, including his support for anarchism;Milei’s opposition to abortion;Why the path towards liberty in Argentina is precarious, but there is room for cautious optimism.Mentioned in this episode and relevant to the discussion are “A New Ideal for Latin America” by Agustina Vergara Cid and “Libertarianism: Big Tent or Big Mess?,” a previous episode of the New Ideal podcast.This episode was broadcast live on November 22, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqbDVt8-BcgPodcast audio:Image credit: picture alliance via Getty Images.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss the recent rise of antisemitism. They analyze why the conventional view of religious or racial animus is insufficient in explaining the explosion of overt hatred, how Ayn Rand’s identification of “hatred of the good for being the good” exposes the true nature of modern antisemitism, and what is needed to rationally combat it.Among the topics covered:Why today’s antisemitism can’t be understood in religious or racial terms;The anti-effort mentality driving the hatred towards Israel;The antisemitic hostility against Israel’s culture of achievement;How Islamic totalitarianism and tribalism rationalize their hatred of Israel;How DEI's egalitarian philosophy enables antisemitism;The role of religious tribalism in fueling antisemitic prejudice;The long-term educational vision needed to uproot antisemitism.Mentioned in this podcast are Journo’s book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Journo and Ghate’s op-ed “More University Donors Should ‘Go Galt,’” and Ayn Rand’s essays “Global Balkanization,” “The Age of Envy,” and “An Untitled Letter.”The podcast was recorded on Nov 21, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/wsu70x8OrhcPodcast audio:Image credit: Gari Garailde/Getty Images News via Getty Images.
In this special episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer offer the Ayn Rand Institute’s response to Jordan Peterson’s recent attack on Ayn Rand on his podcast of November 16, 2023.Among the topics covered:Peterson’s recent anti-Enlightenment conservative activism;Why Rand’s view of self-interest is not hedonistic but values-based;How Peterson argues for collectivism from the non-existence of an enduring self;How Peterson sells collectivism by packaging sacrifice with individual responsibility;Peterson’s impoverished view of the free market (and of science);His shallow reading of Rand’s characters as shallow.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion was Atlas Shrugged, free copies of which readers can order here.The podcast was recorded on November 17, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/cuBp4i3HB_0
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s recent conversion to Christianity, which they argue is the result of tribalism and fear. They discuss the unconcern for truth of many alleged defenders of the West, their bogus claims about the positive role of Christianity, and the failure of secular atheists to complete the Enlightenment project.Among the topics covered:Hirsi Ali's admirable story of emancipation from Islam;The tribalism and fear behind her conversion to Christianity;Her tribal disregard for the question of whether Christianity is true;Christianity as the very source of the Western weakness that Hirsi Ali denounces;The tribal emphasis on defeating one’s enemy regardless of the truth or falsehood of the ideas one accepts;How most of her secular critics pragmatically embrace secularized versions of Christian ethics;The failure of secular atheists to fulfill the Enlightenment promise of a rational ethics;The secularists’ appeasement of Kant's anti-Enlightenment philosophy;Why a proper defense of Western values requires looking to and expanding on the Enlightenment, not Christianity.Recommended in this podcast are Ghate’s article “Finding Morality and Happiness Without God” and Bayer’s “Debunking the Supernaturalism That Haunts Secular Ethics.”The podcast was recorded on November 15, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/2IksjnPvOCwPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ziemowit Gowin discuss international laws of war. Challenging the very legitimacy of such laws, they emphasize how “humanitarian” laws of war hamper a free country's self-defense, make them vulnerable to belligerent regimes, and make war more palatable rather than less.Among the topics covered:How international laws of war undercut a nation's right to self-defense and whitewash dictatorships;Why war is legitimate both in response to an attack and to preempt an attack;Why “humanitarian” laws of war sanitize war, making it more palatable, not less;How the principle of proportionality cripples a nation’s self-defense;Why civilians are implicated in war and not to be isolated;Why a nation should follow principles that serve their legitimate military objectives;The crucial importance of civilian control over a free nation’s army;Why international laws as such are unenforceable.The podcast was recorded on November 14, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/N-oNOjWOkDsPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Sam Weaver and Mike Mazza discuss the long-standing “reading wars” in American schools. They explore the historical background of the debate, different approaches to teaching reading, and why phonics has consistently proven to be far superior to whole language methods in instilling a love of reading in children.Among the topics covered:What phonics is and why it matters;Whole language and other alternative approaches to phonics;The “balanced literacy” approach that mixes phonics with whole language;How the debate over teaching reading unfolded over the decades;Competing underlying theories about how reading works;The evidence for the validity of phonics;The unsound arguments against phonics;Why the need for phonics derives from its use of a conceptual method;Why teachers don’t use phonics in spite of its well-established validity;The irrational philosophical premises that explain the rejection of phonics;Encouraging signs of the resurgence of phonics.The podcast was recorded on November 9, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/nt0128NFpMcPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Ziemowit Gowin discuss the right to self-defense, deaths of innocents in war, and just war theory in the context of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.Among the topics covered:Why the responsibility for deaths of innocents in war falls on the aggressor;How the right to self-defense rests on the inalienable right to your own life;How the aggressor can be morally responsible for deaths the defender caused;How the principle of “double effect” undermines the right to self-defense.Mentioned in this podcast is Onkar Ghate’s article “Innocents in War?”The podcast was recorded on November 3, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=S51PUGuNiHcPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Iran’s central role in inspiring, supporting and funding the enemies of Israel and the West.Among the topics covered:Why the Iranian Revolution of 1979 is crucial context for understanding the proliferation and boldness of Islamist groups in the Middle East;Why Iran’s explicitly expansionist goals must not be ignored or downplayed;How Iran’s imperialism is driven by its Islamist ideology;The failure of “realists” to account for the true goals of Islamist ideology;Why it is absurd to view Iran’s actions as a just response to Western interference in the region;The chaos of American foreign policy in the Middle East and how it betrays those in the region who support freedom;Why Iran and Islamism explicitly stand for a morality of death-worship.This episode was broadcast live on November 1, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu_iBHp4og8Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Don Watkins discuss Marc Andreessen’s recent defense of “techno-optimism“ in his essay “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto,” and explain why his manifesto lacks the moral foundation required to successfully defend technological progress.Among the topics covered:Andreessen’s commendable advocacy of technological progress;The philosophical foundation of technological progress;How Andreessen’s defense of technological progress rests upon altruism;Why successfully advocating for technological progress requires defending self-interest;How Andreessen’s view of competition undercuts his defense of capitalism.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are Ayn Rand’s “America’s Persecuted Minority,” Yaron Brook and Don Watkin’s book, "Free Market Revolution," the New Ideal Live episode with Tal Tsfany, Elan Journo, and Jason Crawford, “What Marc Andreessen Gets Right and What He Misses in His Article “It’s Time to Build,” and the New Ideal Live episode with Ben Bayer, Mike Mazza, and Chad Mills, “Threats to Regulate Artificial Intelligence”.This podcast was recorded on November 2, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj005O1djv4Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Elan Journo, and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the global protests in support of the Palestinian cause. They look at the philosophical motives of these protests and the nature of their moral bankruptcy, and they explain why the “anti-war” movement actually enables warfare and destruction.Among the topics covered:The protesters’ lack of positive goals;Nihilism as the driving motive behind the protests;How “anti-war” movements have historically dismissed the fundamental moral questions about war;Why any “anti-war” movement that does not oppose dictatorship is necessarily pro-war;How collectivism causes the callousness of the pro-Hamas activists;The nihilistic nature of the ideology of egalitarianism;Why outlawing support of Hamas would require moral clarity on a policy level;The right to refuse to deal with or support Hamas apologists.The podcast was recorded on October 25, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/8PMg6y9ZqHEPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos challenge the misleading narrative of the shrinking Palestinian lands and the claim that Israel has allegedly stolen them. They explore the history of how the Israeli territories were lawfully acquired, the Palestinians’ repeated failures to form an enduring, peaceful state, and the broader philosophical questions of what moral premises are necessary to validate any claim to statehood.Among the topics covered:The dishonest narrative of the “shrinking Palestine” maps;The documented history of how individuals acquired the land through trade;The Arab rejection of the two-state UN partition plan;How the very idea of a partition plan ignored the moral dimension of the Palestinian claim for statehood;Why the issue is not fundamentally about land but the type of society being established;How Israel ended up occupying the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights;How the flawed “land for peace” policy exposed the impossibility of a peaceful Palestinian state;The fact that the Palestinians' goal has never been to build a free, prosperous society.Mentioned in this podcast are Journo’s What Justice Demands and ARI’s resources on Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East.The podcast was recorded on October 26, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/btVFgqkgkzwPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the recent comparisons between America’s border crisis and the threat to Israel from Hamas terrorists. They analyze a range of claims about the alleged threat posed by immigration across the Mexican border and explain how such claims are not only unsupported but result in massive injustice and obscure the actual problems with the immigration system.Among the topics covered:The existing border crisis in America;The unsupported claims of an “open border” and comparisons to Israel;How fearmongering undercuts our ability to address actual threats;Why terrorism from illegal immigrants is not a serious threat;How to think about the threat of terrorism objectively;The threat from drug cartels;Why migrants are not a threat to national sovereignty;The hypocrisy of anti-immigration politicians;How preventing economic migration fuels illegal immigration;What is the solution to the border crisis?Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are Alex Nowrasteh’s testimony to Congress about the alleged threat of terrorism from the Southern border, the book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism by Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo, and a previous New Ideal Live podcast entitled “Dishonest Debate on Immigration and National Security” featuring Onkar Ghate and Vergara Cid.The podcast was recorded on October 25, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/SfFaLt7BFUIPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, and in the context of ongoing events in Israel and Gaza, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss how to think about civilian casualties in war.Among the topics covered:Why the brutal nature of war should not be sanitized, glamorized, or whitewashed;Why winning requires doing everything necessary to bring an end to the enemy’s military and political leadership;How Hamas uses its subjects as human shields, hoping to deter Israel from defending itself and turn wider opinion against Israel;How to think about the moral and causal responsibility of civilians for the aggression of their government;Why a proper concern for innocent people and allies in enemy territory cannot jeopardize overall war aims;Why it’s important not to think of war as a kind of legal punishment for criminal behavior;That Hamas’s goal is not freedom for Palestinians but the annihilation of Israel and the establishment of a religious dictatorship;Why it’s wrong to apply a standard of “proportionality” to military actions taken in self-defense;How altruism causes observers to put emotional reactions to images of suffering above concerns with justice and self-defense;Why Israel and the West’s appeasement of evil makes them partly culpable for the attacks they now face.Relevant to the discussion is “Ayn Rand on the Death of Innocents in War,” a recently released video on the ARI YouTube page, which documents Rand’s extemporaneous comments on the issue of civilian casualties in war.This episode was broadcast live on October 18, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_ocPaE3qIcPodcast audio:
In this episode, Brandon Lisi reads aloud his article, “Rand and Oppenheimer: The Atomic Bomb Movie that Wasn't.” In that essay, he tells the story of Rand's work on "Top Secret," a movie about the invention of atomic bomb. Lisi explains Rand's perspective on the significance of such a movie as well as her intense research on the subject, including two interviews with J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who served as scientific director of the Los Alamos Laboratory. Lisi's article was originally was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute’s journal, on August 2, 2023.Image: ullstein bild Dtl. via Getty Images
In this episode, Aaron Smith reads aloud his article, “The Suffering of Moral Saints.” In that essay, he analyzes Larissa MacFarquhar's book, Strangers Drowning: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help. The central question that MacFarquhar asks is “Is it good to live as ethical a life as possible?” As Smith shows, the fundamental problem with MacFarquhar's perspective is that she equates morality with altruism. He goes on to argue that this perspective is false — and dangerous. Smith’s article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute’s journal, on November 14, 2018.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo, Onkar Ghate, Nikos Sotirakopoulos, and Tal Tsfany discuss the recent developments in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. They assess the cultural significance of Hamas' aggression and methods, the theocratic nature of the movement, and how Western reactions have been either impotent or, worse, encouraging violence against Israel.Among the topics covered:What makes Hamas' aggression tragically significant;Tsfany's experience of how the conflict has drastically escalated over the last decades;How terrorism became a deliberate strategy of the Palestinian movement;How U.S. leaders evaded the religious nature of Hamas;The Biden Administration’s lack of moral clarity;The fact that Hamas and its Western apologists share the same irrational ideas;The academic rejection of capitalism as proof of their destructive motives;What a Hamas government would look like if it wiped out Israel;The Iranian protesters as the only real hope for positive change in the Middle East;Whether Hamas can be completely separated from the Palestinian people.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are Elan Journo’s What Justice Demands and ARI’s resources on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The podcast was recorded on October 11, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/trV6Q3fp7cEPodcast audio:
In this special episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Elan Journo, and Boaz Arad offer the Ayn Rand Institute’s response to the invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023 by Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist militant group based in the Gaza Strip.Among the topics covered:Facts about the Hamas invasion (timeline, casualties, ongoing threats);Why the invasion was a predictable consequence of moral agnosticism about Hamas;Why U.S. foreign policy is responsible for pressuring Israel to appease Hamas;How Israel’s appeasement constitutes “the sanction of the victim”;Why the moral corruption of our foreign policy is an application of the evil of altruism;The evasion of the difference between the ideas that animate both sides of this conflict;The insincerity of calls for Israel’s restraint in the name of peace.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion was Elan Journo’s book, What Justice Demands, and other ARI resources on the Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East.The podcast was recorded on October 7, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPg_PesVHt4Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Saudi Arabia’s lavish spending on sports celebrities, the recent American diplomatic overtures to Saudi Arabia, and the connection between the two.Among the topics covered:Recent sports and diplomatic deals with Saudi Arabia;Sports celebrities accepting lavish salaries from the Saudi government;An ominous proposal to strengthen U.S.-Saudi relations;The authoritarianism nature of the Saudi regime;The moral sanction Saudi Arabia seeks by investing in sports;The lack of a coherent U.S. foreign policy toward Saudi Arabia;What the Saudis want through these sports and diplomatic deals;Whether accepting lucrative salaries from the Saudi regime is self-interested;The “realist” foreign policy case for closer ties with Saudi Arabia;Whether bringing in sports celebrities supports positive social change for Saudi Arabia;Judging the moral status and direction of a country or a leader objectively.Mentioned in this podcast are Elan’s Journo’s articles “Whitewashing a ‘Pariah’ State: Biden’s Visit to Saudi Arabia,” "Biden’s Visit to Saudi Arabia Is an Affront to American Values,” “Why Trump Should Disrupt the Scandalous US-Saudi Relationship," Journo’s book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the New Ideal Live podcast “How the Qatar World Cup Abets Authoritarian ‘Sportswashing’' with Agustina Vergara-Cid and Nikos Sotirakopoulos. Also suggested is the entry on self-interest in the Ayn Rand Lexicon.The podcast was recorded on October 4, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJS2kulBcK8Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos review Matt Zwolinski and John Tomasi’s new book The Individualists: Radicals, Reactionaries, and the Struggle for the Soul of Libertarianism, and argue that the authors’ attempt to define libertarianism demonstrates that it lacks a coherent ideological identity.Among the topics covered:Zwolinski and Tomasi’s book and the liberty vs. libertarianism movements;The connection between libertarianism and the progressive left;Why libertarians share an intellectual alliance with the reactionary right;How the connections between libertarian factions are sociological rather than ideological;Why defending liberty is meaningless without a philosophical foundation;Criticizing libertarianism is not infighting but a fight over what liberty is.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion is Peter Schwartz’s 1985 article “Libertarianism: The pervasion of Liberty” in The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought, Foundations of a Free Society: Reflections on Ayn Rand’s Political Philosophy edited by Gregory Salmieri and Robert Mayhew, and a two part lecture series by Gregory Salmieri and Onkar Ghate on "Politics, Liberty, and Objectivism."The podcast was recorded on September 27, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVnVcjW6-xQPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Aaron Smith discuss the idea that our complex, division of labor society precludes real independence, and they examine what is wrong with thinking of ourselves as “interdependent.”Among the topics covered:Why Ayn Rand unequivocally rejected the idea that we are all interdependent;How globalism makes us interconnected, while only government force can outlaw our ability to function as independent individuals;How the false metaphysics of collectivism is used to push the idea that we are all interdependent;How religion and mysticism undermine our independence;The senses in which man is and is not a social animal;The meaning of the idea that man is an end in himself;The difference between accepting help and being dependent;How attacks on independence tear down individual achievements and excuse failures.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are Ayn Rand’s novels Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and Anthem, her letter to DeWitt Emory, and Harry Binswanger’s webinar “How Can One Be Fully Independent in Today’s Society?”The podcast was recorded on September 20, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No7LsvS2I08Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Dan Schwartz and Ziemowit Gowin answer reader-submitted questions about Ayn Rand’s Objectivist ethics.Among the topics covered:What are Ayn Rand’s thoughts on ambition in career?How ambition can be moral or immoral depending on the goals pursued;Career ambition versus second-handedly chasing salary increases and promotions;Career ambition in the context of pursuing values generally, including non-career values.How does Rand’s virtue of rationality differ from Aristotle’s virtue of practical wisdom?Practical wisdom as the ability to deliberate well about how to act rightly in a given situation;Why Rand does not divide virtues into intellectual and ethical virtues.Why did Rand name seven virtues, and could there be more?Why some purported virtues are not virtues at all, and others, such as courage, are aspects of virtues Rand identified;Why any additional virtues, even if valid, would not be part of Objectivism — i.e., Rand’s own philosophy.Why choose to live, and is this a moral choice?How morality provides guidance for living and is only useful for someone who chooses to live;Why the choice to live is an ongoing series of choices embodied in the act of pursuing values;How we experience life as an end-in-itself, and why the choice to live is not groundless;The sense in which morality applies to everyone, even though some do not choose to live.Should I risk my dream job to save a life?Why ethics is not primarily about resolving emergency scenarios;When, and why, you can properly offer non-sacrificial help to others.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are “The Objectivist Ethics,” “Tax Credits for Education,” “The Ethics of Emergencies,” and “Causality Versus Duty” by Ayn Rand; Ayn Rand’s Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist by Tara Smith; Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff; and “Q&A on the Best Objections to Objectivism,” a previous episode of New Ideal Live.This episode was recorded on September 11, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWR-nUuT_7cPodcast audio:
In one of her letters, Ayn Rand confesses that if she "were to select only one idea as the most depraved ever conceived by man," the doctrine of original sin "is the one I would pick." How did Rand understand this long-standing religious notion, and why did she have such a negative evaluation of it? What does she think are the implications that embracing original sin has for one's moral life? Where did she see expressions of the idea in her time and how do they still shape our culture and politics today?
Ayn Rand praised the Romantic school of art and considered her own novels to be works of Romantic literature. She also articulated a new account of Romanticism as “a category of art based on the recognition of the principle that man possesses the faculty of volition.” In this episode of New Ideal, Sam Weaver interviews philosopher and ARI board member Harry Binswanger and Virginia Tech associate professor of English Shoshana Milgram about the Romantic movement in art and Rand’s relationship to it.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration reached a deal with Iran, a totalitarian Islamic regime, to release five American hostages in exchange for several jailed Iranians and the unfreezing of $6BN. Team Biden claims that this is not a ransom payment, and that Iran cannot use the funds to enable its militant ambitions. What does this deal — and Biden’s approach to Iran — reflect about American foreign policy? Join Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo as they discuss the meaning of this deal and the philosophic ideas shaping U.S. policy.
Christopher Nolan's film Oppenheimer has revived debate about America's decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Was dropping the bomb a moral atrocity or a moral necessity? Did it unjustifiably target innocent civilians, or was it a justifiable act of self-defense? What does history teach us about what alternatives might have been pursued? And what does moral philosophy teach us about the framework we should use when deciding matters of life and death in times of war? Join Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos to re-examine both these historical and philosophical questions from the perspective of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ziemowit Gowin is joined by Scott McDonald to discuss the latest events in the ongoing dispute between China and Taiwan.
Among the topics covered:
What Secretary of State Blinken’s recent visit to Beijing signals about U.S. policy toward China;
Why Taiwan matters to the Chinese Communist Party;
How the war in Ukraine is shaping hostilities between China and Taiwan;
Why China’s attempt to assimilate Taiwan will probably fail;
How classical Chinese philosophy informs Chinese foreign policy;
Whether China is an enemy of the U.S.;
How America’s interests in Taiwan can be served by taking action to prevent a Chinese invasion;
How U.S. policy on China has been reactive and unprincipled.
Relevant to the discussion is our previous New Ideal Live episode with Mr. McDonald,“What Does Xi Jinping's China Want?”
This episode was recorded on August 11, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_xskLlY6-E
Podcast audio:
In this episode, Sam Weaver reads aloud his article, “The Knowledge Gap Highlights a Failing of America’s Schools.” In that essay, he examines The Knowledge Gap, a 2019 book by education writer Natalie Wexler. Although Wexler's book sheds light on the shocking degree to which American elementary schools have abandoned teaching knowledge of the world, Weaver argues that her assessment is charitable, and that the anti-knowledge trend should be regarded as a moral crime against generations of students. Weaver’s article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute’s journal, on June 14, 2023.
Podcast audio:
Fifty years ago this summer, Americans were riveted to their televisions by Congressional hearings on the Watergate scandal. Ayn Rand was among them. In a series of five articles in The Ayn Rand Letter (not re-published in any of her anthologies) she recounted her unique observations about the hearings, analyzed the issues at stake, and drew attention to the wider context of America's political culture. How did Rand's comments on the hearings differ from more conventional commentary of the day? What can they teach us about today's political environment and about the state of the culture? Join Ben Bayer and Harry Binswanger to review Rand's distinctively philosophical perspective on this important chapter in American history.
What problems is Europe experiencing with immigration and assimilation? Would the same occur in the U.S. with a freer immigration policy? Join Onkar Ghate, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Agustina Vergara Cid as they discuss what’s happening with immigration in Europe and whether it could happen in America.
In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article, “Religious Skeptics Should Question Their Moral Theology.” In that essay, he argues that even though more secular people have rejected God and religion as such, they should take one more step and reject the conventional morality that comes from traditional religious beliefs. "Many secular people who have thrown off the religion of their parents have scrutinized at least some of their most provincial beliefs about ethics," says Bayer. His article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute’s journal, on June 17, 2023.
In this special episode, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo preview the release of scores of in-depth historical, literary, and philosophical essays on Ayn Rand’s novels. Originally included in a series of books edited by Robert Mayhew, these articles are a tremendous educational resource that can greatly add to the public understanding of Rand as a novelist and seminal philosopher.
Outlive, a new bestselling book by physician Peter Attia, attempts to provide a manual for living a longer, healthier life. However, not everyone is enthusiastic about the idea of life extension. Prominent public intellectuals argue that significant life extension would make life less valuable and threaten the fabric of society. What motivates such objections, and is there any merit to any of them? Join Dan Schwartz and Nikos Sotirokopolous for this critical analysis of the philosophical arguments against life extension.
Prominent philosopher Philip Kitcher recently authored a short book surveying the present state of his field: What's the Use of Philosophy? His answer: as currently practiced, not much. Kitcher's survey is eye-opening both for what he clearly gets right and for where he goes badly astray. On the one hand, it's refreshing that a dean of the profession is willing to turn such a critical eye on its many flaws. On the other hand, his recommended alternative path — the philosophical pragmatism of John Dewey — is an abdication of the central goals of philosophy. Join Ben Bayer, Aaron Smith and Mike Mazza to see what we can learn about the causes of philosophy's cultural decline and how it might be revived from critically analyzing this book.
Matt Walsh’s “What is a Woman?” has become one of the most watched documentaries of all time, with more than 170 million online views. It was supposed to address a real issue: how to think about sex and gender. And yet, is anyone wiser about these topics after watching the documentary?
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ziemowit Gowin and Tristan de Liège defend self-esteem against attacks and misrepresentations by presenting Ayn Rand’s distinctive view of self-esteem as a psychological and moral necessity for successful living.
Among the topics covered:
- Why we should care about how to think about self-esteem as a value;
- Rand’s view of self-esteem as portrayed in her fictional characters;
- Why self-esteem is not the result of the opinions of others or an automatic recognition of one’s inherent value;
- Why self-esteem is a necessary condition for happiness and success;
- Why self-esteem is necessary for success in work and creativity;
- Why self-esteem is necessary for success in one’s relationships;
- Rand’s view of the moral nature and necessity of self-esteem.
When discussing the impact of immigration on national security, most anti-immigration advocates focus on the alleged risks: foreign terrorists and spies living among us. But they rarely consider the positive contributions immigrants make to our national security. How do immigrants impact national security? Why is the debate on this topic biased against immigrants?
The Objectivist Summer Conference 2023 is just around the corner, so join us for a preview of some of the talks the attendees will enjoy. Meet some of our first-time speakers and hear what animates them ahead of the biggest Objectivist event of the year. Presenters include Agustina Vergara Cid, Elan Journo, Dan Schwartz, Nikos Sotirakopoulos, and Sam Weaver.
A recently published paper, “In Defense of Merit in Science,” documents the growing influence of “Critical Social Justice” ideology in major scientific institutions. This ideology opposes the idea that we can acquire objective knowledge about reality using scientific methods. Major universities and prominent scientific journals are setting policies based on this ideology and are pressuring scientists to conform to its tenets.
The idea of an "Israeli-Palestinian conflict" is misleading. Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, Israel has faced many different enemies: monarchies, military juntas, nationalists, Marxist-Leninists, theocrats, and jihadists. Its enemies' identity and ideas change, but the central goal is the same: to fight and destroy Israel. Why have such a variety of movements and regimes targeted Israel? 75 years since the establishment of Israel, how well do we understand its battle for survival? Join Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos to discuss these and other questions about the perpetual war on Israel.
In this episode, we read aloud Elan Journo’s article, “Ayn Rand’s Devastating Critique of ‘Liberals’.” In that essay, he presents Rand’s analysis of liberals’ most fundamental moral-political goals, and their consequences. Journo shows that part of the strength of Rand’s analysis is that she engaged with liberals’ ideas seriously and, above all, objectively.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer is joined by professor and clinical psychologist Gena Gorlin to discuss the widespread notion that “intellectual humility” is the rational antidote to dogmatism.Among the topics covered:How academic and popular defenders of reason have mixed up a legitimate concern for careful thinking methods with the illegitimate idea that nothing is certain;Why humility entails servility, despite failed attempts to reconcile it with the love of truth;Why intellectual ambitiousness demands working hard to attain knowledge;The difference between earned certainty, probability, and the false certainty claimed by religious mystics;How intellectual humility discourages people from being intellectually and professionally ambitious in their own lives;Why it is important to know when you are not certain, and how to deal with real uncertainty.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are “‘Intellectual Humility’ is a Copout” by Gena Gorlin, “The Old Morality of the New Religions” by Ben Bayer, and entries in the Ayn Rand Lexicon on humility and pride.This episode was recorded on May 24, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g5bHpMuu-sPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer is joined by professor and clinical psychologist Gena Gorlin to discuss the widespread notion that “intellectual humility” is the rational antidote to dogmatism.Among the topics covered:How academic and popular defenders of reason have mixed up a legitimate concern for careful thinking methods with the illegitimate idea that nothing is certain;Why humility entails servility, despite failed attempts to reconcile it with the love of truth;Why intellectual ambitiousness demands working hard to attain knowledge;The difference between earned certainty, probability, and the false certainty claimed by religious mystics;How intellectual humility discourages people from being intellectually and professionally ambitious in their own lives;Why it is important to know when you are not certain, and how to deal with real uncertainty.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are “‘Intellectual Humility’ is a Copout” by Gena Gorlin, “The Old Morality of the New Religions” by Ben Bayer, and entries in the Ayn Rand Lexicon on humility and pride.This episode was recorded on May 24, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g5bHpMuu-sPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Elan Journo discuss recent calls by Tucker Carlson and other conservative voices to resist technological and economic progress in the name of preserving traditional values and lifestyles.Among the topics covered:Conservative policy proposals that oppose economic and cultural progress;How conservatives are torn between the contradictory goals of promoting individual freedom and preserving traditional ways of life;Why traditionalism is a philosophy of stagnation, and the dynamism inherent to capitalism is the exact opposite of traditionalism;Why the constant, ambitious pursuit of new knowledge and technological advancement is a fundamental human need;Why the “right to stagnate” mentality leads to hatred of production and innovation and sets people against one another;Why a fear of progress and a desire to stagnate reveal a profound lack of self-esteem.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Age of Envy” published in Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution and “The Missing Link” published in Philosophy: Who Needs It as well as “The Divine Right of Stagnation” by Nathaniel Branden.This episode was recorded on May 18, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=299nLFmdrkAPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Mike Mazza are joined by software engineer Chad Mills to discuss recent developments in AI and the ethics of AI development.Among the topics covered:What artificial intelligence is, vs. the way AI is perceived by the public;The most impressive uses of AI technology that bring value to human life;How AI is rapidly heading towards greater user accessibility;How “artificial intelligence” differs from human intelligence;The real problems facing AI development today, vs. the doomsday scenarios;The ways we can protect ourselves against malicious people and states aiming to use AI for destructive purposes;Why the difference in kind between AI and human conceptual understanding makes an artificial intelligence “singularity” unlikely;The irrationality of the recent push to pause AI development and how it will hold back human progress;Why arbitrary fears about AI doomsday scenarios belong to science-fiction and are philosophically invalid.This episode was recorded on May 8, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0qeF1zdYo0Podcast audio:
Twenty years ago, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the United States went to war in Iraq. The Bush administration’s vision of turning Iraq into a beacon of freedom quickly proved to be a fantasy. The war was a quagmire, dragging on for more than a decade and costing thousands of American lives. What are the lessons of this war? Have they been learned? How does it compare with the Afghanistan war? The Vietnam war? Join Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo as they explore the moral-political lessons of the Iraq war.
In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article, “Effective Altruism's Faith-Based Sacrifice for the Future.” In that essay, he examines "longtermist" philosophy and its relation to "effective altruism." Bayer notices that "the more we learn about the causes the effective altruist leadership has embraced, the more we should question the moral foundation of the movement." The moral foundation of the movement, and the real source of its absurdities, is altruism. Bayer's article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute’s journal, on March 22, 2023.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the libertarian support for Putin and other authoritarian regimes. They explore the libertarian movement's decades-long sympathy for evil regimes, its anti-state, anti-American foreign policy, and how the movement's rejection of morality has led to sanctioning tyrants.Among the topics covered:Recent libertarian defenses of authoritarian regimes;How these libertarians are primarily anti-state, not pro-liberty;Murray Rothbard as the spokesman of the libertarian movement's anti-state, anti-American foreign policy;Rothbard's positive view of dictatorships as flowing from his rejection of morality;Altruism — not imperialism — as the cause of the US engaging in self-sacrificial wars;How the "big tent" approach to liberty explains the prevalence of the worst ideas within libertarianism;How Objectivism can appeal to the best people within libertarianism.Recommended in this podcast is Peter Schwartz’s essay “Libertarianism: The Perversion of Liberty” in Ayn Rand’s The Voice of Reason.The podcast was recorded on April 28, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/vAp-aQCxg1EPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss Ayn Rand’s philosophic analysis and critique of “liberals.” They explain what makes Rand’s evaluation of “liberalism” different from that of “conservatives,” why she thought “liberals” began concealing their collectivist goals, and how today’s “liberals” are different from (and worse than) those of Rand’s time.Among the topics covered:Ayn Rand’s analysis of “liberalism” as distinctive;Problems with the term “liberal” and how “liberalism” changed in the twentieth century;Rand’s critique as stemming from individualism, not anti-communism;Why Rand saw active-minded “liberals” as an audience worth reaching;How Rand saw the contrast between Objectivism, "liberalism," and "conservatism";Why Rand viewed President Kennedy as steering the country toward fascism;Ways Kennedy's policies fostered government control and the erosion of freedom;Why Rand thought “liberals” kept their ideological motives hidden;How the New Left openly embraced the collectivism the Old Left whitewashed;Whether “liberals” today are different from those of Rand’s time;Why concern for truth should be what motivates political thought and action.Recommended in this podcast are Journo’s “Ayn Rand’s Devastating Critique of ‘Liberals’” and Rand’s “The Intellectual Bankruptcy of Our Age,” “The New Fascism: Rule by Consensus,” “The Wreckage of Consensus,” “Conservatism: An Obituary,” and “The Left: Old and New.”The podcast was recorded on April 19, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/uQuprxoqZ64Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Agustina Vergara Cid and Nikos Sotirakopoulos challenge Robert Reich’s unjust crusade against billionaires. Agustina and Nikos unpack the pernicious motivations behind the attacks against successful billionaire producers and give an impassioned moral defense of their right to the wealth they have created.Among the topics covered:How widespread the attacks on the rich are in Western society;How the ‘wage-theft’ argument is based on a false, Marxist view of wealth;How attacks on billionaires conflate economic with political power;How wealth is a creation of the individual, not of exploitation or ‘society’;The anti-profit mentality is driven by hatred of successful producers;Why morally defending billionaires and their wealth is an act of justice.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion is Ayn Rand’s lecture “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business,” available on ARI Campus and as an essay in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, and Agustina Vergara Cid’s op-ed in the Orange Country Register “Why I admire the GOATs of the business world.”The podcast was recorded on April 14, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ_WIeM8NZsPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Ziemowit Gowin, Harry Binswanger, Shoshana Milgram, and Don Watkins discuss new course offerings at the Ayn Rand University (ARU).Among the topics covered:The goals of the Ayn Rand University and how students can benefit from it;Shoshana Milgram’s course Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment: Investigating the Mind of a Murderer;How ARU courses facilitate in-depth study of Objectivism through feedback and interaction;Harry Binswanger’s new courses on Objectivist Logic and Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology;The best ARU courses for those new to Objectivism;How ARU helps to train new intellectuals;How ARU coaches help students to personalize the program and apply it to their lives;New courses on Philosophy, Work, and Business and Persuasion Mastery;Wrap up: ARU logistics, testimonials, and application information.Mentioned in the discussion are the website for applying to ARU and new reading groups focused on Ayn Rand’s non-fiction, and Ayn Rand’s essay “For The New Intellectual.”This episode was recorded on April 5, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch previous episodes here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PayhoZ6SSkPodcast audio:
In this episode, we read aloud “Why Nationalism Is Hostile to America,” an article written by Yaron Brook and Elan Journo. In that essay, they examine the true nature and consequences of the rise of nationalism in America, especially the so-called national conservatism. Brook and Journo argue that the principles and ideas of the advocates of national conservatism are ultimately anti-American, as they reject the founding principles of America: the individual rights. The article was originally published in New Ideal in two parts: on February 1 and February 8, 2023.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the heckling and public shaming of Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan by Stanford Law School (SLS) students and the school’s associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at a Federalist Society (FedSoc) event. Ghate and Journo delve into the viral video of the event, Stanford’s letter apologizing to the judge, and the philosophic implications of both.Among the topics covered:How the “heckling incident” at SLS provides a window on DEI ideology on campuses;How the Stanford associate dean’s remarks at the event represent the way DEI ideology functions as a religious orthodoxy;How DEI ideology treats subjective feelings of harm as though they were objective rights violations;Why DEI ideology is incompatible with the requirements of university education;How Stanford’s apology letter defends free speech and apologizes to the judge;How the apology letter shows that DEI orthodoxy is incompatible with viewpoint diversity;SLS’s plan to hold sessions presenting the current laws on free speech while welcoming dissenting perspectives on those laws;How to evaluate the judge’s conduct within the context of this controversy.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are the video of the incident and the subsequent letter from the dean of the SLS.The podcast was recorded on March 31, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/OJzFS3RmM80Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Mike Mazza respond to several common and plausible philosophic objections to Objectivism that were sent in by viewers.Among the topics covered:Why it is valuable to explore objections to any philosophy, especially one’s own;Why Objectivism does not fall foul of a supposed is/ought gap in its argument for self-interest;What Ayn Rand says we can learn about the foundations of morality by comparing human beings to other organisms;How to deal with scientific claims that seem to conflict with philosophic ideas;Why modern brain science cannot disprove the existence of free will;The merits and shortcomings of raising questions about the compatibility of free will with modern brain science;Why Objectivism takes free will to be a self-evident primary that cannot be disproven by science;Why accepting the importance of science and rationality entails implicitly assuming free will;Why the choice to live, which sits at the foundation of the Objectivist ethics, is not a groundless choice and does not make the Objectivist ethics arbitrary or subjective;How objections to the choice to live arise;Why the choice to live is grounded in reality and thus not arbitrary;Why the method of raising counterexamples, commonly used in analytic philosophy, often neglects the need to keep firmly in mind the facts one is trying to conceptualize;The sort of counterexamples to Rand’s ethical argument raised by Michael Huemer;Why counterexamples of this kind often fail to grapple with the real meaning of the generalizations they’re meant to refute.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are the New Ideal Live episode “Objectivism Q&A—July 2022,” “Life-Based Teleology and the Foundations of Ethics” by Harry Binswanger, “Why Champions of Science and Reason Need Free Will” by Ben Bayer, “Seize the Reins of Your Mind: The Objectivist Theory of Free Will” by Onkar Ghate, Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff, and “Reasoning About Ends” by Darryl Wright.To learn more about our Ayn Rand Non-Fiction Reading Groups, click here. To learn more about Ayn Rand University, click here.This episode was recorded on March 23, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl_qFquVyvU&t=2402sPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the immigration debate from a philosophical perspective. They address questions such as whether foreigners have a right to immigrate to America, whether immigration or its curtailment violates the rights of American citizens, and what role government has in relation to immigration.Among the topics covered:Whether immigrants have a right to move to America;The argument that immigration violates American citizens’ rights;What is motivating the objection that immigrants allegedly take jobs from Americans or lower their standard of living;What is the proper role of government in relation to immigration policy;Whether failure to enforce immigration laws undermines the rule of law;Illegal immigration as a response to unjust laws;Why immigrants seeking a better life shouldn’t be smeared as “illegals”;Why the objection that immigration is destroying American culture is invalid;Ideological screening as a major threat to intellectual freedom;Ayn Rand’s views on immigration as flowing from her view of self-interest;What immigration would look like in a free society.Recommended in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s writings on individual rights, her statements on immigration (found in Robert Mayhew’s Ayn Rand Answers), ARI’s statement on “The Immigration Debate,” and Harry Binswanger’s “The Case for Open Borders.”The podcast was recorded on March 17, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/FRaiBJWYt-YPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss two landmark cases before the Supreme Court of the United States on the legality of using race in college admissions. They explain how collectivist thinking and state involvement in higher education have created policies that are fundamentally at odds with America’s history of individualism.Among the topics covered:How the court cases reveal a pernicious reliance on race in college admissions;Ayn Rand’s opposition to quotas and affirmative action;How previous rulings left the value of “diversity” unchallenged;Why the role of diversity in education doesn’t justify race-based admissions;The baseless claim of diversity as a “compelling state interest”;Justice Sotomayor’s shocking claim that there is de jure racial segregation;The crucial difference between private and government-mandated racial standards;The arbitrariness of legal racial categories;Why rhetoric about racial “representation” still amounts to racial quotas;Why current admissions policies are racist, not a remedy to racism.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “Moral Inflation” in The Ayn Rand Letter (March–April 1974), her essay “Racism,” her Q&A on affirmative action at the 1978 Ford Hall Forum, reprinted in Ayn Rand Answers (p. 105), and her essay “Representation without Authorization,” reprinted in The Voice of Reason.The podcast was recorded on March 10, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5Auzpbgb0APodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the pervasive influence of altruism on the culture and draw lessons from it about the systemic racism debate.Among the topics covered:Systemic altruism, like systemic racism, as the claim that the ideology permeates the culture, even if is not always accepted explicitly;What altruism is and why it is evil;Examples of altruism’s influence on the culture, including environmentalism, egalitarianism, and the anti-abortion movement;Why most people find it hard to see this influence;The role of social and cultural institutions, such as churches, universities, and the media, in perpetuating altruism;The psychological mechanisms by which altruism spreads and sustains itself;How better people sometimes internalize altruism and how this is often used against them;How this analysis of systemic altruism can shed light on the controversy over whether systemic racism still exists.Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s articles “The Missing Link” and “Philosophical Detection,” both available in Philosophy: Who Needs It, and her article “Altruism as Appeasement,” available in The Voice of Reason.This episode was recorded on March 3, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch previous episodes here.https://youtu.be/uu5pLl496UAPodcast audio:
American popular culture is filled with pieces that gently mock, satirize and ridicule religion, especially Judeo-Christian beliefs. To cite but three instances, Stephen Colbert’s periodic Late Show conversations with God, the character of Ned Flanders on The Simpsons, and the musical The Book of Mormon. At the same time, religion remains a highly respected force in American society, often regarded as an integral thread of American exceptionalism. This respect was on full display in the nation’s response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. Here were trained fighters who flew airliners into New York City’s Twin Towers and the Pentagon in Virginia, and who declared they were doing so in the name of their faith. Yet few American leaders could even entertain the idea that these may have been religiously inspired attacks. The basic reason religion remains such an esteemed aspect of American society is that it is considered important, even indispensable, to morality. The strongest form this idea takes is that morality depends on religion — that without God, the distinction between good and evil loses meaning, and anything goes. In this episode, we read aloud Onkar Ghate's article, “Finding Morality and Happiness Without God.” In that essay, Ghate argues that because reason is how we understand and deal with reality, a proper approach to morality will teach us how to follow reason on principle, without any concession to unexamined feelings or to faith. Ghate’s article was originally published in New Ideal on May 4, 2018.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Ziemowit Gowin mark the one-year anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine by discussing European attitudes towards Russia before and after the launch of the all-out campaign.Among the topics covered:How European nations found themselves heavily reliant on Russian gas exports;How European leaders' lack of principled thinking led to a refusal to recognize pre-invasion Russia as an authoritarian state, despite past acts of military aggression;The surprisingly strong and moral reaction of European countries to the invasion;The lessons Europeans have learned from the invasion and the lessons so far unlearned;Why calls for a ceasefire based on a compromise between Russian and Ukrainian “interests” would amount to moral capitulation, a total surrender to Russia’s goals, and encouragement of future aggression.Mentioned in this podcast are “Why John Mearsheimer Gets Ukraine Wrong” by Elan Journo, “A Historian of the Future: Five More Questions for Stephen Kotkin” by The Hoover Institution, and “The Roots of War,” “Altruism as Appeasement,” and “Doesn’t Life Require Compromise?” by Ayn Rand.This episode was recorded on February 24, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHmApTxyvCgPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Sam Weaver discuss Ron DeSantis’ push to ideologically transform Florida colleges, and evaluate its potential to bring about greater freedom in the realm of education. While some of DeSantis’ actions should be evaluated as positive, there are ominous signs that they could also entrench further state control of education.Among the topics covered:The toxic monoculture in American higher education;The need for a separation of education and state;Using the “Fairness Doctrine” to reverse state control in education;Aspects of DeSantis’ proposal that could help introduce ideological diversity;How DeSantis’ proposals could entrench a different kind of ideological monoculture;What arguing for freedom in education requires.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion is Ayn Rand’s essay “Fairness Doctrine for Education” in Philosophy: Who Needs It.The podcast was recorded on February 17, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Sam Weaver discuss Natalie Wexler’s argument that many American elementary schools have abandoned the responsibility of teaching factual content, and that this rejection of the importance of knowledge is exacerbating the nation’s reading crisis.Among the topics covered:The outrageous failure of American schools to teach students how to read and to kindle in them a love of reading;Natalie Wexler’s argument that this failure is related to the failure of schools to teach basic factual knowledge;Wexler’s view that phonics is necessary but not sufficient for teaching reading, because knowledge is also necessary for understanding meaning;Schools’ bizarre attempt to detach reading skills from the study of content;How this approach destroys students’ motivation to learn;Why government control of education is to blame for the entrenchment of these failed methods;How the establishment has ignored evidence of the bankruptcy of its methods.Mentioned in the discussion are Natalie Wexler’s book The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System – and How to Fix It, Ayn Rand’s essay “The Comprachicos”, Leonard Peikoff’s essay “The American School: Why Johnny Can’t Think”, and a New York Times article about literacy theorist Lucy Calkins.This episode was recorded on February 10, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch previous episodes here.https://youtu.be/UtDGjiGdwcsPodcast audio:
To celebrate the 118th anniversary of Ayn Rand's birth, New Ideal Live interviews Harry Binswanger on Rand's distinctively value-centered approach to philosophy--and to living life. As Rand's long-time student and, in her final years, close friend, Dr. Binswanger saw first-hand how Rand integrated austere reason and passionate valuing.
Why does the “antiracist” movement mobilize to deplatform or fire anyone who slights or asks the wrong questions about the dominant views of “social justice”? What explains the irrational fervor of the “woke”? John McWhorter, noteworthy Columbia linguistics professor and New York Times columnist, grapples with this question in his recent book, Woke Racism. The book’s subtitle reveals his provocative answer: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America. To understand the “woke” movement, he shows, we must take seriously its religious character. In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article, “The Old Morality of the New Religions.” In that essay, Bayer argues that McWhorter shows how woke “antiracism” is a “new religion,” but he underappreciates how its zealotry is empowered by centuries-old religious morality. Bayer's article was originally published in New Ideal on January 4, 2023.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Mike Mazza are joined by Dr. Amesh Adalja to discuss the phenomenon of skepticism towards COVID-19 vaccines. They argue that this skepticism is based on arbitrary claims made in disregard of actual evidence and explain how to assess and respond to such claims.Among the topics covered:Adalja’s analysis of alleged dangers and actual side effects of mRNA vaccines;Why claims made without real evidence are arbitrary, and how to respond to arbitrary claims;Why anti-vaccine attitudes have increased even as vaccines have demonstrably quelled the pandemic;How to assess claims to “evidence” one finds online or in the culture;Why arbitrary claims are usually presented with the pretense of evidence;What might be motivating those spreading false information;Adalja’s response to several common worries about COVID-19 vaccines;How one should think about unknown risks, and why worrying about the unknown amounts to arbitrary speculation;Adalja’s projection of the future with regard to the COVID-19 virus.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion is Onkar Ghate’s “A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease.”This episode was recorded on January 24, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/J-T59N3ppe0Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Aaron Smith discuss the recent incident at Hamline University, where art history professor Erika López Prater was dismissed for showing her students a fourteenth-century painting of the prophet Mohammed. They analyze the administrators’ charge of “Islamophobia,” the issue of “academic freedom” in terms of which the controversy has been viewed, and how the aversion to teaching allegedly offensive topics is destroying higher education.Among the topics covered:What happened at Hamline;Hamline's dishonest response to public criticism of their actions;The incident as an unfortunate sign of how universities are less willing to teach topics deemed as offensive;How diversity offices, far from helping students navigate controversial topics, cater to irrational worldviews;How the smear of “Islamophobia” destroys the distinction between rational and irrational criticism of Islam;Why religion, being openly irrational, receives a privileged treatment;Why suppressing controversial subjects is a disservice to any active-minded student;How the framing of “academic freedom” ignores that the government’s control of education makes it impossible to solve conflicts between academics and the administration;Government interference in education as a cause of increasing self-censorship.The podcast was recorded on January 20, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/lmWYcYJuK9APodcast audio:
Our experts take your questions on arguments for God, whether morality depends on religion, and other issues related to religion.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Ziemowit Gowin discuss the political philosophy of Alexander Dugin, a Russian philosopher whose collectivist theory has been influential in empowering the opposition to Western liberalism in Russian culture.Among the topics covered:Dugin’s philosophical influence in Russia;Dugin’s collectivist “Fourth Political Theory” vs. liberalism;The philosophical basis of the Fourth Political Theory;The deadly consequences of Dugin’s political theory;Ayn Rand on Russia’s culture of mysticism;Dugin’s appeal to the political right.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are Ayn Rand’s August 1967 interview with Johnny Carson and her essay “The Lessons of Vietnam” in The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought, as well as the following of Alexander Dugin’s books: The Fourth Political Theory, Eurasian Mission, The United States and the New World Order, and Political Platonism.The prerecorded podcast was released on January 5, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu0SbJxgKEEPodcast audio:
On May 7, 1943, as World War II raged across the globe, Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead was published in America. Due to sparse reviews and minimal publicity, sales were initially low. Then an unusual thing happened, paralleling Rand’s description of the gradual success of the novel’s hero, Howard Roark: “It was as if an underground stream flowed through the country and broke out in sudden springs that shot to the surface at random, in unpredictable places.” As word-of-mouth readership spread, Rand’s novel began appearing on best-seller lists more than a year after publication. By May 1945 it was #1 on the Los Angeles Times local best-seller list, and by August it reached #6 on the New York Times national best-seller list, remaining on that list (with few interruptions) until March 1946. In this episode, we read aloud Tom Bowden's article, “The Illustrated Fountainhead: Serializing a Classic Novel.” In that essay, he describes how Ayn Rand welcomed a newspaper syndicate's offer to popularize her best-selling novel in illustrated form. Bowden’s article was originally published in New Ideal on October 12, 2022. Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Don Watkins and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss New Year’s resolutions, what makes them difficult to maintain, and how integrated, contextual thinking can help automatize good habits.Among the topics covered:The unhealthy motivation of the “fresh start effect” vs. healthy motivations for resolutions;Why the fact of automatization makes change both desirable and challenging;Why a clear, first-handed purpose is necessary for sticking with goals;The fatal error of oscillating between “all-or-nothing” perfectionism and “I’ll do it when I feel like it” subjectivism;How to learn from resolution failures;Framing your resolutions as aspirations for the life you want to live and the person you want to be;How setting goals about outcomes, processes, and themes are interrelated;How choosing detailed resolution goals in the context of the possibility of failure helps to strategize for success.Mentioned in the discussion are Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear; How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams, and The Romantic Manifesto by Ayn Rand.This episode was recorded on December 29, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjE9oAqG5HQPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss two recent news stories: Elon Musk's controversial management of Twitter and Brittney Griner's return from captivity in Russia. They first analyze what Musk's management and its public reception foretells for the future of freedom of speech in America; they then examine what the Biden administration’s deal to secure Griner’s freedom by releasing Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer, reveals about our foreign policy.Among the topics covered:Why Musk is not a true free speech absolutist;How Musk and his critics falsely view content moderation issues as being about free speech;How Musk's erratic policy changes show that he underestimates the difficulty of implementing content policies;Why it’s wrong to think of the Twitter Files controversy as being about transparency;What Musk’s conduct regarding China reveals about his commitment to free speech;The unsubstantiated claim that Musk embodies Ayn Rand’s egoism;Why the U.S. government should not negotiate with the corrupt, non-objective Russian government to secure the release of Americans who risk traveling there;How the government’s lack of a rational foreign policy towards Russia misleads Western citizens and companies;The fact that many people’s reactions focused on Griner's race or politics rather than asking why she even worked in Russia;How both these stories highlight the need for principled thought about the government's role and its limits.The podcast was recorded on December 20,2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/oUXjq6SWXBIPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the philosophical bankruptcy of effective altruism and the movement’s role in FTX’s financial collapse.Among the topics covered:The connection between FTX’s financial collapse and the effective altruism movement, including CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s goal of “earning to give”;What effective altruism advocates and why its offshoot, “longtermism,” champions some unusual causes;Why some of the common criticisms of effective altruism, such as the idea that it is a cynical ploy or that it is Utopian, miss the mark;The real problem with effective altruism, as shown by some of its major advocates, as its demand for self-effacement and sacrifice;How even secular altruists approach morality like a religion;How effective altruism is a form of debased morality, which empties morality of meaningful guidance relevant to our everyday lives;How a rational morality can be grounded in observable facts, not intuitions.Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s article “Moral Inflation,” published in The Ayn Rand Letter, and our episode of New Ideal Live, “Why MacAskill is Wrong about What We Owe the Future.”This episode was recorded on December 16, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch previous episodes here.https://youtu.be/LeWuJMO5jSgPodcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Agustina Vergara Cid and Nikos Sotirakopoulos explain how authoritarian states such as Qatar use international sporting events like the World Cup to launder their reputations. They argue that this practice of “sportswashing” and organizations, like FIFA, who enable it, should be condemned for aiding authoritarian states in their bid for moral legitimacy.Among the topics covered:How authoritarian Qatar won the World Cup bid;Qatar’s unprecedented World Cup spending;Qatar’s abysmal treatment of migrant workers, women, the LBGT community and its overall lack of rights and freedom;“Sportswashing” as reputation laundering with a long history;Why the call to keep politics out of sports shields authoritarian nations from criticism;“Sportswashing” as trading on a false moral equivalence;The need to end appeasement of authoritarian states and for fans to condemn “sportswashing”;FIFA’s moral culpability for aiding and abetting authoritarian regimes.Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are the entries on moral judgment in the Ayn Rand Lexicon and Agustina Vergara Cid’s article “Qatar's hosting of the FIFA World Cup is a bigger problem than you think” in the Orange County Register.The podcast was recorded on December 8, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.https://youtu.be/Tquo_o8zSlIPodcast audio:
By most objective measures, the Covid pandemic is over. Because of impressively rapid technological innovations, most people are now able to easily manage risks to their health posed by the virus. But not everyone agrees that this means the pandemic is over. Some argue that as long as even a handful of high-risk individuals are threatened by Covid, we should not think it proper to resume normal life. What ideas are responsible for this approach to the ethics of infectious disease? What attitude does it betray toward healthy people and toward the innovations that allow us to preserve and perfect it? What has been the impact of this approach? By contrast, what is a rational approach to the ethics of infectious disease? Join Ben Bayer as he interviews Dr. Amesh Adalja to discuss these and other issues addressed by a recent article by Adalja in Areo Magazine.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews professor and clinical psychologist Gena Gorlin about the value of gratitude, possible misconceptions about it, and how it’s being understood and implemented in psychology and psychotherapy.
Among the topics covered:
- Gratitude and its role in psychological exercises within the gratitude movement;
- Whether these kinds of exercises are useful and valuable;
- How the psychological benefits of gratitude exercises depend on a purposeful orientation towards values;
- Why it’s important to distinguish the good that comes from others from natural goods, such as a sunny day;
- Why the difference between gratitude, humility and pride in one’s own achievements is important;
- Whether there’s a point at which it’s proper to stop expressing gratitude and start feeling angry about what’s bad or unjust in life;
- The importance of acknowledging and learning from the achievements of others—including business entrepreneurs, which we benefit from;
- How some entrepreneurs internalize the culture’s unjust attitude towards them and fail to appreciate what’s good in them;
- Why we need to understand that gratitude is ultimately selfish.
The international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been extraordinary. Rarely have so many nations united so quickly to impose such heavy economic and diplomatic sanctions on Russia. Even Switzerland, a byword for studied neutrality, saw fit to levy sanctions on Putin’s regime. Millions of Ukrainians who fled their homes have been welcomed as refugees in Europe.
Is philosophy a useless subject with little practical value, or is it, as Ayn Rand argued, an indispensable practical necessity? Unlike many people today, Rand held that you cannot avoid accepting (and living by) answers to philosophic questions; your only choice is whether those answers are true or false, rational or irrational, reached by a disciplined process of thought or uncritically accepted from others.
The midterm elections reveal something far deeper about our culture than most people imagine. The country faces significant challenges — from inflation to the Russia/Ukraine war — but conspicuously missing from the statements of candidates of all parties is any semblance of political vision or ideology. Is this intellectual vacuum any worse than in past elections?
What makes China tick? What animates the ruling Communist Party? What does Xi Jinping’s third term as “paramount” leader portend? Elan Journo interviews Scott McDonald, a scholar of Chinese political thought.
What makes China tick? What animates the ruling Communist Party? What does Xi Jinping’s third term as “paramount” leader portend? Elan Journo interviews Scott McDonald, a scholar of Chinese political thought.
Just Stop Oil, the UK-based direct action environmentalist group, has gone from “symbolically” vandalizing works of art to attacking buildings and shops to intimidating its political opponents. And yet, it is facing a wave of sympathy. What does Just Stop Oil want to achieve, and how does the approval or toleration it gets from so many contribute to its prospects for success?
“Neoliberalism”–an ideology supposedly dedicated to the “globalization” of free markets and the institutions that support them–is the target of scathing criticism. We’re told this ideology rose to prominence in the last half-century, and that it is at the root of our political, social, and economic problems. But what exactly is it, if anything?
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Mike Mazza and Sam Weaver address questions about free will submitted by the podcast’s audience.
Among the topics covered:
Ayn Rand’s view of free will as the choice “to think or not”;The importance of this view for the rest of Objectivist philosophy.How does metaphysical libertarianism differ from the Objectivist view of free will?How it contrasts with compatibilist attempts to reconcile free will and determinism;How Objectivism is a significant improvement on mainstream metaphysical libertarianism;Why free will is not magical but causal.What are some misunderstandings of the meaning of “free will”?Why free will doesn’t mean the unlimited power to choose anything or create oneself out of nothing;False views of free will adopted by compatibilists and determinists;Whether animals have free will;Do some people have more free will than others?Why free will is not the same as attention;The difference between having free will at all and the ability to exercise it at different times.How is free will different from rationality?Why free will is presupposed by the ability to be self-consciously rational.How much control do we have over our emotional states?What is the Objectivist response to Calvinist predestinationism?Why free will is antithetical to religious worldviews.
Mentioned in the discussion are the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on “Free Will,” Leonard Peikoff’s book Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, Onkar Ghate’s talk “Seize the Reins of Your Mind,” and Onkar Ghate’s chapter “A Being of Self-Made Soul” in A Companion to Ayn Rand, and Harry Binswanger’s book How We Know.
This episode was recorded on October 21, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch previous episodes here.
If you’d like to ask a question to be answered on a future episode, please send an email to newideal@aynrand.org with “Podcast question” in the subject header.
https://youtu.be/RDR0YtdJWes
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Mike Mazza and Sam Weaver address questions about free will submitted by the podcast’s audience.
Among the topics covered:
- Ayn Rand’s view of free will as the choice “to think or not”;
- The importance of this view for the rest of Objectivist philosophy.
Enrollment in college English departments is declining, with literature concentrations experiencing a particularly precipitous drop in student interest. This may sound like no great loss. Increasingly, American teenagers view timeless works of literature as hopelessly boring and their study of them as yielding no cash value. Even if this trend does not tell the full story behind the decline in college literature studies, it is surely part of the picture. Why would students pay to study a subject that strikes them as dull and unprofitable? In this episode, Sam Weaver reads aloud his article, “What Students Need to Find Literature Fascinating.” In that essay, he argues that a focus on story can make great literature as exciting to teenagers as popular films. Weaver’s article was originally published in New Ideal on August 17, 2022.
Podcast audio:
Enrollment in college English departments is declining, with literature concentrations experiencing a particularly precipitous drop in student interest. This may sound like no great loss. Increasingly, American teenagers view timeless works of literature as hopelessly boring and their study of them as yielding no cash value. Even if this trend does not tell the full story behind the decline in college literature studies, it is surely part of the picture.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Liberalism and Its Discontents, a recent book by the well-known political scientist Francis Fukuyama. They analyze the book’s main claims and argumentation, and evaluate Fukuyama’s defense of liberalism.
Among the topics covered:
- Fukuyama and his famous “end of history” thesis;
- Recent attacks on liberalism as the context of Liberalism and Its Discontents;
- Different meanings of the term “liberalism” in the U.S., Europe, and Fukuyama’s book;
- How Fukuyama’s failure to argue from a principled philosophical framework renders his defense of liberalism unconvincing;
- Ayn Rand’s argument that an ideal society is capitalist;
- What’s wrong with Fukuyama’s claims that the core of liberalism is something he calls “individual autonomy,” and that this has been taken too far;
- Why Fukuyama’s defense of liberalism is uninspiring and harmful;
- How Fukuyama’s rejection of principles leads to thinking in terms of central planning;
- How Fukuyama’s approach takes the mixed economy for granted;
- Rand’s view that those who hold compromising stances lose when challenged by more idealistic opposition.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Liberalism and Its Discontents, a recent book by the well-known political scientist Francis Fukuyama. They analyze the book’s main claims and argumentation, and evaluate Fukuyama’s defense of liberalism.
Among the topics covered:
Fukuyama and his famous “end of history” thesis;Recent attacks on liberalism as the context of Liberalism and Its Discontents;Different meanings of the term “liberalism” in the U.S., Europe, and Fukuyama’s book;How Fukuyama’s failure to argue from a principled philosophical framework renders his defense of liberalism unconvincing;Ayn Rand’s argument that an ideal society is capitalist;What’s wrong with Fukuyama’s claims that the core of liberalism is something he calls “individual autonomy,” and that this has been taken too far;Why Fukuyama’s defense of liberalism is uninspiring and harmful;How Fukuyama’s rejection of principles leads to thinking in terms of central planning;How Fukuyama’s approach takes the mixed economy for granted;Rand’s view that those who hold compromising stances lose when challenged by more idealistic opposition.
Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essays “Conservatism: An Obituary” and “The Anatomy of Compromise” from her book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.
The podcast was recorded on October 13, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/RXLNNarmO3U
Podcast audio:
In Russia, Vladimir Putin's bid to expand the military draft to fight his failing, unjust war in Ukraine has been met with street protests and a mass exodus of young and productive citizens from the country. In Iran, the mullahs' lethal enforcement of sharia law has pushed the population over the edge, with mass protests against the mandatory hijab and cries of "women, life, freedom!" What can this news teach us about what it takes to oppose dictatorships? Join Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos to discuss this question in light of Ayn Rand's comments about resistance to the dictatorships of her own time.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Don Watkins, and Mike Mazza discuss Oxford philosophy professor William MacAskill’s new book, What We Owe the Future. The book advocates “Longtermism,” which calls for treating the well-being of people in the indefinite future as equal in value to presently existing people. Bayer, Watkins, and Mazza offer an egoistic perspective on the value of the future and critique MacAskill’s call to sacrifice for future generations.
Among the topics covered:
To what extent it is rational to value the future;What makes progress possible;Analyzing some concrete longtermist policy proposals;Major philosophical problems with the longtermist perspective;Longtermism’s roots in the effective altruism movement;How longtermism reveals the bankruptcy of the humanities.
The podcast was recorded on September 30, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmmurQN_BgM
Podcast audio:
No death toll can truly capture the devastation that Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot and their ilk inflicted upon the world. Think of the engineered Great Famine in Ukraine (Holodomor), the Holocaust, the Cultural Revolution, the Killing Fields of Cambodia. Though today we recognize these leaders as monsters, we mustn’t forget that in their time Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and others had Western apologists and admirers. But surely the most consequential examples of such monsters today are Xi Jinping and especially Vladimir Putin. This is a reading of an article published in New Ideal on June 29, 2022, by Yaron Brook and Elan Journo.
Podcast audio:
The last two years have seen much debate about how public schools should handle controversial social issues such as race, gender and sexual orientation, culminating in attempts by state legislatures to ban certain topics. What causes these political battles? What would it take to resolve them? Join Onkar Ghate and Sam Weaver to discuss the meaning of recent political controversies over public education.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos, Elan Journo and Tristan de Liège discuss the phenomenon known as “hustle culture,” an attitude toward work that promotes relentless pursuit of career goals, and which critics say causes people to abandon their personal lives and experience burnout.
Among the topics covered:
The meaning of the new term “hustle culture”;Ayn Rand’s view of work versus the conventional view;Positive and negative aspects of “hustle culture” according to its defenders;The relation between challenging work and personal values;How to approach work when one’s job is unfulfilling;The need to think of one’s needs and values from a causal perspective and across one’s whole life;How to think about work in relation to one’s other values;Evaluating the advocates and critics of “hustle culture.”
Mentioned in this podcast are Rand’s novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.
The podcast was recorded on September 15, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/R29szapduuM
Podcast audio:
The withering of American exceptionalism, the rise of “populism,” the discrediting of political institutions: these are among the unappreciated consequences of America’s failed response to 9/11 and to the broader Islamist threat. Join Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo as they analyze the philosophic ideas fueling political-cultural trends in the post-9/11 era.
In a recent book, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience, Nancy Sherman promotes the ancient Greek philosophy of Stoicism as a valuable tool for improving inner resilience, coping with adversity, and managing emotions. But she also argues that a healthy modern Stoicism needs some important changes. What value does Sherman think Stoicism offers us? Why does she think Stoicism needs to be updated for modern life? What should we make of the value of this modern perspective on Stoic philosophy? Join Aaron Smith, Daniel Schwartz, and Tristan de Liège as they discuss some of the book’s major themes and the philosophic issues it addresses.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the Statement of Principles recently released by leaders of the “National Conservatism” movement outlining the ideas they think are necessary for “recovering and maintaining our freedom, security, and prosperity.” Journo and Sotirakopoulos discuss the “principles” the statement advocates, how they relate to America’s founding principles and the philosophic ideas behind this movement.
Among the topics covered:
“National Conservatism” as a movement to redefine conservatism to exclude individualism;Why “national conservatives” regard the family and the nation as the units of society and oppose claims to know universal truths;Why “national conservatives” think governments must promote religious ideas;The authoritarian implications of the “national conservative” view that government should promote the family and prevent immorality;The “national conservatives’” un-American view that rights are conditional and originate from group consensus;Why we must oppose both the “woke” religious phenomenon on the left and the religion of the “national conservatives.”
Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essay “Conservatism: An Obituary” from the book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Leonard Peikoff’s essay “Religion Versus America” from the book The Voice of Reason, Journo’s articles “Meet the Conservative Authoritarians” and “The Vice of Nationalism,” and the New Ideal Live episode “The Threat of National Conservatism.”
The podcast was recorded on August 24, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/3yr1nHjDpQ8
Podcast audio:
On August 12, author Salman Rushdie, who’s had an Iranian fatwa against him for over thirty years, was brutally stabbed during an event in New York. Last month, Masih Alinejad, a journalist and activist persecuted by the Iranian regime, was saved from an assassin lurking outside her house, also in New York—a year after a kidnapping attempt against her was foiled. Threats against John Bolton and other U.S. officials have also recently been prevented. What explains Iran’s targeting of individuals for assassination, even on U.S soil? How should the U.S. in particular, and the West in general, act towards Iran? What is the philosophical nature of the Iranian regime? Join Onkar Ghate, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Agustina Vergara Cid to discuss the implications of recent and historical attacks and the philosophical principles needed to effectively oppose the regime and Islamic totalitarianism.
Many have criticized the "cancel culture" of the political left: the campus activists or Twitter mobs who mobilize to fire or de-platform controversial professors, speakers, or other cultural figures. These critics are often right that there is something fundamentally wrong here. But some like John McWhorter and Bari Weiss suggest that the basic problem is branding our intellectual opponents as evil. Are they right? Disagreement doesn't always warrant condemnation, but does it ever? Join Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer to discuss why sometimes disagreement is due to one party's embrace of a dishonest idea. Some people who are wrong are also evil and deserve to be condemned and ostracized.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Mike Mazza interviews Keith Lockitch about the Ayn Rand University and his upcoming course, Foundations of Physical Science, one of the many new courses being offered by ARU.
Among the topics covered:
The Ayn Rand University’s vision of providing a foundation for life;How the new ARU courses align with that vision;Whether ARU is aimed at a specific age group;Whether ARU courses will be offered more than once;An overview of Lockitch’s Foundations of Physical Science course;How the course fits with ARU’s broader vision;Why a strong math background is not required for Lockitch’s course;The textbooks and workload students can expect;The value of learning ancient astronomy and techniques of observational astronomy;The importance of astronomy in prehistoric times;How mobile apps are going to be used in the course;A brief description of the course outline and its philosophic framework;What people with a degree in physics or astronomy can gain from the course;Other courses that may be available in ARU in the future.
Mentioned in the discussion is Leonard Peikoff’s course History of Philosophy.
To register for Lockitch’s Foundations of Physical Science course or any other course at ARU, go to university.aynrand.org to see the course catalog.
This episode was recorded on August 4, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/B8ReglVFX4w
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Dan Schwartz and Agustina Vergara Cid address questions on Objectivism submitted by the podcast’s audience about the meaning of the term “objectivity,” the difference between evasion and selective focus, and the strongest objections to Objectivism.
Among the topics covered:
If objectivity designates a certain relationship between consciousness and existence, how can reality itself be objective?The two meanings of “objectivity”: one epistemological, one metaphysical;Whether Objectivism’s use of the term “objective” to refer to a relationship between mind and reality is idiosyncratic;Can you reach a false conclusion while being objective?Is it evasion to narrow your focus to the good or positive things within a certain context?When and how it’s appropriate to focus on the benefits rather than the downsides of a particular situation;Focus as paying attention to something versus the specifically Objectivist meaning of focus as a state of “purposeful alertness;”How to prioritize one’s attention in light of Objectivism’s view that one should be motivated primarily by values rather than fear.What are the strongest objections to Objectivism?The difference between plausible objections and those that are common or valid;The objection that Ayn Rand’s argument for her ethics justifies maintaining physical survival, but does not justify fulfilling and enjoying one’s life;What this objection misses about the distinctive nature of life as a human being, such as the importance of mental well-being;Whether survival and flourishing are separate goals in cases like choosing to live a longer but less enjoyable life by adopting a healthier diet;The objection raised by many scientifically minded people that Objectivism is wrong to think human beings have free will;The failure of free-will skeptics to take seriously the introspective evidence for free will or to fully recognize the implications of determinism;The objection that claims Rand is a materialist.
Mentioned in this podcast are Leonard Peikoff’s book Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on “Objectivity,” Bayer’s blog post “The History of Objectivity in Light of Rand’s Epistemology and Ethics,” Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, Lecture 2 of Peikoff’s course Understanding Objectivism, and Harry Binswanger’s course Free Will.
The podcast was recorded on July 27, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/kihr3tvoq8Q
Podcast audio:
In this episode, Agustina Vergara Cid’s article “Ayn Rand’s Radical View of the United Nations” is featured. In that essay, Vergara Cid explains Ayn Rand’s unique opinion of the UN and her arguments against this organization. Rand’s arguments stand in sharp contrast to the commonly held view that the United Nations is a moral organization. Rand also rebuts the viewpoint that the UN is misguided but can be fixed, arguing instead that America's best option is to withdraw from the organization. Vergara Cid’s article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute’s journal, on March 25, 2022.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss critical race theory — a theory that claims to address racial injustice in the United States but does so through a collectivist, anti-Enlightenment framework. The episode includes background on critical race theory’s rise to prominence and advice about how we can engage objectively with its ideas.
Among the topics covered:
Why it’s important to understand critical race theory;Definitions of critical race theory by its proponents and critics;The rise of critical race theory after the 1964 Civil Rights Act as a collectivist way of confronting less obvious forms of racism;The claim that racism is omnipresent and embedded in American society;The collectivist idea that only members of certain groups can understand racism;The view that progress toward racial justice only occurs when it aligns with the interests of white people;The egalitarianism behind the claim that any case of racial inequality is evidence of racism;How more individualistic thinkers enabled critical race theory by failing to adequately discuss racism;Proposals by Republican politicians to ban critical race theory in public schools.
Mentioned in this podcast are the New Ideal Live episode “Ayn Rand’s Unique Understanding of Racism,” the upcoming Ayn Rand University class The Road to Critical Race Theory and Tal Tsfany’s talk “Building the Ayn Rand University.”
The podcast was recorded on July 20, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2kSZVbC2rQ
Podcast audio:
When Joe Biden was running for office he called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” and vowed to make it “pay the price” for the grisly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But this week, as part of his first trip to the Middle East, President Biden will visit Saudi Arabia and meet with crown prince Mohamed bin Salman. What explains this turn of events? How does the skyrocketing price of oil factor in? And how should we view Saudi Arabia? Join Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopolous as they analyze America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and the philosophic ideas underlying U.S. policy in the region.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, broadcast live from OCON 2022, Onkar Ghate, Gregory Salmieri, Tara Smith and Yaron Brook discuss the tumultuous events of the last few years and how we should evaluate the state of American political culture in light of them.
Among the topics covered:
The irrationality and tribalism of most Americans’ responses to Covid-19;The increasing popularity of conspiratorial thinking;How 9/11 and subsequent wars contributed to Americans’ loss of trust in institutions;The disappearance of discussion about economic policy from American political culture;The transformation of the Tea Party into the modern Republican base;The fact that America still attracts entrepreneurial people from around the world;Why the “woke” pressure to treat many points of view as off-limits is harmful, and why it might be declining;Whether some basic qualifications should be required for holding political office;Education as an avenue for Objectivists to promote positive cultural change;The absence of positive values in American culture today;How to respond to the social pressure of “woke” culture.
Mentioned in this podcast is Ayn Rand’s essay “Selfishness Without a Self” from her book Philosophy: Who Needs It.
The podcast was recorded on July 6, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/feOZ_egPw_8
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Ben Bayer and Yaron Brook discuss the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturns Roe v. Wade and allows for immediate state-level bans on abortion. They cover the philosophic ideas that led to the decision, why defenses of abortion rights failed and the options now available for defenders of abortion rights.
Among the topics covered:
How the majority opinion empties the right to liberty of its content;Justice Clarence Thomas’s opposition to substantive due process;Why the Ninth Amendment has not been used in Supreme Court rulings on abortion;The incrementalism behind Chief Justice John Roberts’s concurrence;Why Roe v. Wade was a good decision despite its imperfect reasoning;The dissent’s defense of individual liberty against majority will;The dissent’s forceful protest against the unprincipled, anti-individualist majority opinion;Why the dissent is right that the majority is inconsistent with its own reasoning in claiming that abortion is different from other rights;Questions about whether the court typically tailors its reasoning to fit a predecided outcome;The problem with the viability standard and the idea of balancing rights with a “state interest” in the fetus;How the dissent undermines its own case by citing Lochner v. New York as a case that was rightly overturned;How the morality of self-sacrifice contributed to the Dobbs ruling and the dissent’s failure to cite the right to the pursuit of happiness;Why the widespread acceptance of collectivist premises have contributed to the abridgement of abortion rights;Why the concept of “states’ rights” is an expression of collectivism;How the fight over abortion rights will continue at the state and federal level.
Mentioned in this podcast are the New Ideal Live episodes “Roe v Wade on the Brink” and “The Supreme Court Abortion Leak vs. the Rule of Law,” Bayer’s book Why the Right to Abortion Is Sacrosanct, and Rand’s lecture “Censorship: Local and Express,” also published in her book Philosophy: Who Needs It.
The podcast was recorded on June 29, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/jLMf6f1kJfU
Podcast audio:
This morning the Supreme Court released its long-awaited decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, and as feared, Roe v. Wade has been struck down. With this decision, abortion will be outlawed or restricted in numerous states. It's a devastating blow to individual liberty in America. Ayn Rand was a vocal advocate of abortion rights, and following her lead, the Ayn Rand Institute has long defended her position. Join Ben Bayer, Agustina Vergara Cid, and Don Watkins for a short discussion reacting to today's decision and outlining what ARI has done and plans to do in the future to continue to promote Rand's message.
In contrast to the "judge not, lest ye be judged" commonplace, Ayn Rand thought we should never fail to pronounce moral judgment. But there is confusion among her readers about what this means, about why moral judgment is necessary, and how this view relates to the rest of her philosophy. Rand's fiction and nonfiction philosophical work both shed light on the meaning and importance of moral judgment. Join Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer to explore the philosophical roots, implications, and applications of this provocative view.
Tribalism is resurging, most obviously in politics. But it is also rampant on college campuses. Tribalism has moved from the fringes of society to the mainstream. We live in what’s becoming a tribal age. But even today’s most clear-eyed critics of tribal loyalties leave us with a muddled conception of tribalism, normalizing the phenomenon, pushing it further into the cultural mainstream. In this essay Elan Journo argues that we have much to gain from Ayn Rand’s philosophic analysis of tribalism. Rand not only penetrates to the essence of the phenomenon of tribalism, she lays out clearly a positive alternative, the ideal of individualism, which is the antidote to tribalism. This essay was originally published in New Ideal on May 29, 2019.
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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss the public hearings of the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. They analyze the philosophic significance of the attack, the investigation into it, and the cultural reactions.
Among the topics covered:
The significance of the January 6 terrorist attack;How to evaluate the objectivity of the hearings, given their highly produced character and the partisan makeup of the committee;Evidence that January 6 was a serious attack and should not be downplayed;The significance of the fact that many in the White House knew there was no evidence of election fraud;Whether tribalism will prevent people’s minds from being changed about the attack;Evaluating Donald Trump’s inaction and Mike Pence’s leadership during the attack;The role of arbitrary claims in the lead-up to and aftermath of January 6;Conservative attempts to downplay the attack and characterize the hearings as a “show trial;”What Trump’s continued influence over the Republican Party says about our cultureWhy Trump and his supporters believe they can get away with lying;Why the January 6 attack was not an attempted coup-d’état;The role of military coups in the creation of banana republic dictatorships.
Mentioned in this podcast are Trump’s statement delivered on January 6, the recording of Trump’s phone call with Georgia election officials, Rep. Nancy Mace’s video in front of Trump Tower, the New Ideal Live episode “The Storming of the Capitol,” and Ghate’s articles “Why Ayn Rand Would Have Despised a President Trump” and “One Small Step for Dictatorship.”
The podcast was recorded on June 15, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/BAn692ODItc
Podcast audio:
We're told by a growing chorus of people on the left that gender is a fact determined entirely by an individual's private feelings and choices, and that government must protect and other institutions must recognize whichever gender one chooses. Defying many in her own feminist intellectual circles, British philosopher Kathleen Stock has bravely and vocally challenged this "gender identity theory," arguing that sex is a biologically immutable fact and that gender cannot be understood independently of that fact. In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Ben Bayer, and Dan Schwartz discuss what's impressive about Stock's philosophical analysis of sex and gender, but also examine some of the shortcomings in her analysis.
Podcast audio:
Alex Epstein, a former fellow of the Ayn Rand Institute, has just published a powerful new book on energy and climate change. Fossil Future makes the radically unconventional argument that to achieve a better world we need to be expanding our use of fossil fuel energy, not decreasing it. There are many books that challenge the alarmist position on climate change, but this new book takes a unique and highly original approach. The result is an unusually forceful and persuasive argument. In this week’s New Ideal Live, Keith Lockitch and Nikos Sotirakopoulos will discuss what’s distinctive and important about Fossil Future.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Mike Mazza discuss academic philosophers’ dismissals of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, and some of the reasons why academic philosophers often fail to live up to the profession’s scholarly standards when addressing Rand’s ideas.
Among the topics covered:
The provincial view of philosophy that leads Sidney Hook to dismiss Rand as unsophisticated in his review of her book For the New Intellectual;How Robert Nozick goes wrong in his article “On the Randian Argument” by approaching Rand’s inductive arguments as if they were deductive;James Rachels’s claim, in his widely-used textbook The Elements of Moral Philosophy, that Rand’s argument for egoism is based on a false alternative;Why the ability to understand other philosophers’ fundamentals and enter into their worldview is essential to being a genuine philosopher;Reasons why academic philosophers are extremely dismissive of Rand;Whether it’s valid to classify egoistic theories into categories such as “rational,” “parasitic,” “predatory,” etc.;Ghate’s and Mazza’s experiences with both philosophic and non-philosophic people in academic philosophy.
Mentioned in this podcast are Gregory Salmieri’s essay “An Introduction to the Study of Ayn Rand” from A Companion to Ayn Rand, edited by Salmieri and Allan Gotthelf; Harry Binswanger’s 1977 letter to Nozick; and two essays from the book Foundations of a Free Society, edited by Salmieri and Robert Mayhew: “Ayn Rand’s Theory of Rights” by Fred D. Miller and Adam Mossoff and “Rand (contra Nozick) on Individual Rights and the Emergence and Justification of Government” by Ghate.
The podcast was recorded on May 25, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/fOBVOzRPLtA
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, philosopher Harry Binswanger argues that moral perfection is both possible and desirable. "We hear from all sides that perfection is an 'impossible dream,' an ideal which always exceeds our grasp, and by doing so lures us on to ever greater achievements," Binswanger observes. "Religionists and atheists, liberals and conservatives, whim-worshippers and duty-worshippers — they all agree that 'Nothing is perfect in this world.' It is all perfect nonsense. And it is dangerous nonsense. The idea that perfection is unattainable amounts to an assault on all values, on values as such. 'Perfection,' as the mystics use that term, makes self-esteem impossible." (Originally published in New Ideal, February 23, 2022).
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Sam Weaver interviews Matt Bateman, vice president of pedagogy at Higher Ground Education, about the educator Maria Montessori, creator of the Montessori method. Bateman, an expert in Montessori education, discusses its core principles and how it relates to Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism.
Among the topics covered:
Montessori’s rise to prominence as an educational thinker;Montessori education versus traditional and progressive education;How Montessori impacted education in America;Montessori’s view of the distinct stages of a child’s development;Why prepared environments help children develop their own minds;How Montessori materials help students understand and self-correct;The importance of freedom in developing independence, self-discipline, and character;The goal of Montessori education;Montessori and Rand on independence and learning from the senses;Montessori’s view of a sequence of content consistent with how children learn;Why Montessori’s pedagogic framework is valuable for elementary school children;How Montessori enables students to work at their own pace and become independent valuers;How Bateman discovered Montessori education, cofounded Higher Ground Education, and began the think tank Montessorium.
Mentioned in this podcast are Rand’s essays “Art and Moral Treason” from The Romantic Manifesto and “The Comprachicos” from Return of the Primitive, as well as Bateman’s articles “Culture of Work, Culture of Knowledge” and “Human Achievement and Human Development.”
The podcast was recorded on April 11, 2022 and was broadcast on May 18, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/yxM32D6G218
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the claim by University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer, that the West, not Putin, is fundamentally to blame for the war in Ukraine. They also examine the philosophic assumptions and consequences of the “realist” theory of international relations, from which Mearsheimer’s conclusion flows.
Among the topics covered:
The main argument in Mearsheimer’s viral video “Why is Ukraine the West’s Fault;”“Realism” as a theory of international relations;How “realism” ignores morality and the causal role of philosophic ideas, whereas Objectivism treats these as central;Why Mearsheimer is wrong to blame the West rather than Putin for the war in Ukraine;The “realists’” claim that NATO expansion is a threat to Russia;The shortsightedness of thinking that the West should allow Putin take Ukraine to avoid protracted war;The eagerness of some in the West to promote ideas that exculpate Putin;Why “realism” leads to a blinkered, amoral understanding of foreign relations;The failure of America’s “realist” policy toward China, starting with Richard Nixon’s diplomatic overtures;Why it’s in America’s interest to support Ukraine morally, even if not militarily;The similarities between “realism” and pragmatism.
Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Shanghai Gesture,” which is included in the Ayn Rand Letter, and the New Ideal Live episode “Ukraine and the Power of Moral Judgment.”
The podcast was recorded on May 11, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/gSLRLRvgVGs
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the leak of an opinion by Justice Samuel Alito that appears to be the draft of a majority Supreme Court decision in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade, and they examine both the draft decision itself and the significance of its release.
Among the topics covered:
An overview of the case and the leak of the draft opinion;The harmful consequences of the leak on the Court’s ability to rationally deliberate;Why it’s important to comment on the leaked draft despite its harmful effects;The essence of Alito’s argument, and how it compares to typical arguments that the Constitution does not protect abortion rights;Why Alito’s argument is wrong to imply that the Constitution’s enumeration of rights offers no guidance to determining unenumerated rights;Why Alito is wrong to treat tradition as a source of guidance in legal interpretation;How Alito’s dismissal of Supreme Court precedents about personal liberty reveals an unstated religious viewpoint;How Oliver Wendell Holmes’s Lochner dissent, which argued that the Constitution does not protect a wide-ranging right to liberty, influenced both Roe and Alito’s draft;Why Alito’s argument that most liberties should be subject to the decisions of voters implies opposition to the rule of law;Today’s un-American conception of the rule of law as pertaining only to process, not to a substantive protection of individual rights;Why government has the burden of proof to show that its actions are delegated powers, and citizens should not have to show that it violates their rights;Why the idea that the Constitution constrains only the federal government, not the states, is un-American;Why some rights are enumerated in the Constitution;The consequences of leaving the issue of abortion up to Congress and state legislatures.
Mentioned in this podcast are the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry “Abortion,” the New Ideal Live episode “Roe v. Wade on the Brink,” Bayer’s article “Abortion Should Be Legal Until Birth,” and Tom Bowden’s article “Justice Holmes and the Empty Constitution.”
The podcast was recorded on May 4, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/fjo4jkR_VUw
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith, Mike Mazza and Sam Weaver address questions on Objectivism submitted by the podcast’s audience.
Among the topics covered:
Can Peter Keating change at the end of The Fountainhead?The character Keating has created for himself by this point in the novel;Whether it can be too late to pursue certain career goals;The difference between adding a new career and a new hobby;The error of thinking that a person has a single “true calling.”Can you explain the “Ship of Theseus” thought experiment? How does it relate to the identity of a person over time?Why this thought experiment is worth discussing;How the identity of material entities like ships differs from that of entities involving processes, like living creatures;How the same person can undergo a change in character.Are some forms of wealth creation immoral?The immorality of trading destructive non-values and pandering to people’s irrationality;Why trading non-values is not a form of wealth creation;How to think about the sale of products that can have unhealthy effects.Should government licensing and regulations exist?Why government may have the right to protect against risks to which people do not consent, but not risks which they voluntarily accept;Laws that violate people’s rights versus laws that protect people’s rights from objective threats;The value of private certifications and standards.
Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead, Leonard Peikoff’s podcast answer about Keating, the book Why Businessmen Need Philosophy, edited by Debi Ghate and Richard Ralston, and the book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand.
The podcast was recorded on April 27, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/naOy5XlgLcE
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Keith Lockitch discuss the philosophic meaning of environmentalism, ranging from its quasi-religious character to the moral implications of its political-economic program.
Among the topics covered:
Ayn Rand’s emphasis on how human beings have improved their environment as a result of the Industrial Revolution;Why, contrary to conventional views, we should celebrate the fossil fuel industry for producing the energy that powers modern life;How fossil fuels enable us to deal with climate-related dangers;The environmental movement as part of a long history of opposition to the Enlightenment, capitalism and industry;The anti-individualist, religious perspective behind this opposition, including environmentalism;The anti-life idea that we should minimize our “footprint” on nature;The religious mentality promoted by environmentalism;How the mass hysteria of environmentalism is an expression of our culture’s abandonment of reason;How Alex Epstein’s book Fossil Future develops a more rational understanding of energy and the environment;The response that would be warranted by real catastrophic climate change;The irreplaceable value of life in an industrial civilization, which environmentalism ignores.
Mentioned in this podcast are Rand’s article “The Anti-Industrial Revolution,” Lockitch’s work on energy and climate, and Epstein’s book Fossil Future.
The podcast was recorded on April 22, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/181Mr42i_aI
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo interviews Nick Deiuliis, president and CEO of CNX Resources, about the shale revolution. From his insider perspective, Deiuliis describes the transformation in the U.S. energy industry that dramatically increased domestic production of oil and natural gas.
Among the topics covered:
How Deiuliis became involved in the energy industry;The technological developments (horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing) that created the shale revolution;Why natural gas has a better risk-reward profile than solar and wind energy, as well as coal;How Europe’s anti-fossil fuel policies create a dependence on and embolden countries like Russia and China;Ongoing regulatory and social pressure campaigns that stifle the growth of the natural gas industry;The meaning of Deiuliis’s statement, “To be anti-carbon is to be anti-human.”
Deluliis is on Twitter.
The podcast was recorded on April 6, 2022 and was broadcast on April 21, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/CnPOjlPC-mY
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the historical roots of environmentalism, how it became perhaps the most widely-accepted social movement in history within just a few decades, and the ominous significance of its triumph in the battle of ideas.
Among the topics covered:
Why it is interesting to study the history of environmentalism;The roots of the conservation movement in nineteenth-century romanticism;Why the typical perspective on nature changed from fear to admiration after the Industrial Revolution;The rise of modern environmentalism in the 1960s;How twentieth-century philosophy’s default helped environmentalism gain popular support and political influence;How the misanthropic philosophy of “deep ecology” radicalized the environmental movement;How ecoterrorist groups like Earth First put deep ecology into violent action and received support from mainstream environmentalist groups;The impact of environmentalist doctrines of sustainable development and the precautionary principle;Ayn Rand’s analysis of how the left’s hatred of human ability led it to drop science and technology and adopt a religious view of nature;Whether people will ultimately choose environmentalist ideas or their own well-being;A clue from Atlas Shrugged on how to interpret the positive esthetic response to wilderness after the Industrial Revolution;The environmentalist versus the pro-human response to global warming;How environmentalist tribalism results from the quasi-religious nature of the movement.
Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essays “The Left: Old and New” and “The Anti-Industrial Revolution.”
The podcast was recorded on April 20, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/BLnjJQLfo1E
Podcast audio:
Ayn Rand once observed that Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. “has had the worst philosophical influence on American law." In this New Ideal article from October 6, 2021 (read by Alex Wigger), Tom Bowden examines the influence of Holmes's iconic dissent in the case of Lochner v. New York. "Holmes believed that the Supreme Court presides over an empty Constitution—empty of purpose, of moral content, of enduring meaning—bereft of any embedded principles defining the relationship between man and the state," Bowden observes. "This distinctively Holmesian view, novel in 1905, is today’s orthodoxy."
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Keith Lockitch and Alex Epstein discuss recent hit pieces by the Washington Post and DeSmog.com that attempt to smear Epstein, an energy expert, and what these smear attempts reveal about the sorry state of today’s debate over climate and energy.
Among the topics covered:
The value of Epstein’s new book, Fossil Future;The failure of our “knowledge system” to publicize the full context of information about energy and climate;The difference between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports and their interpretation by our knowledge system;The Post’s refusal to acknowledge the actual contents of Epstein’s argument;A critical examination of the article’s evidence-free claims about previous criticisms of Epstein;The unseriousness and dishonesty of the attempt to smear Epstein by making insinuations about his college writings;The religious mentality behind the Post article;How Epstein’s public commentary helped preempt the worst claims of the planned piece;Epstein’s response as a model of genuine thought, vs. the Post’s approach;How Epstein’s demands helped prevent the damaging effects of the hit piece;Whether the response had greater impact than the hit piece;Whether it would make sense to address this incident in a postscript to the new book;How the Objectivist moral perspective helped Epstein’s response and his work on energy;What hostility to advocacy for fossil fuels reveals about problems in the knowledge system.
Mentioned in the discussion is Epstein’s new book, Fossil Future.
The podcast was recorded on April 14, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/yVpZ9V1lz7k
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Agustina Vergara Cid and Ben Bayer discuss the reaction to President Biden’s off-script declaration that Vladimir Putin cannot remain in power and the important role of moral judgment in foreign policy.
Among the topics covered:
The moral failings of the Biden administration’s foreign policy;The meaning of Biden’s comment on Putin in the context of his speech;The Biden administration’s separation of morality from policy in its “clarification” of the comment;Why Biden’s critics are wrong to assume that harsh moral judgment makes one vulnerable to evil;Dictatorships’ dependence on the moral support of their citizens;Ayn Rand’s view of the importance of acting on moral judgment in foreign policy;How Russia’s membership in the UN is a symptom of American moral neutrality;How the U.S. could act on the moral condemnation of Russia without going to war;The claim that the American judgment of Russia is an instance of “cancel culture;”Why moral condemnation is a form of persuasion that can prevent violence;How to regard Russia’s possession of a powerful military when pronouncing moral judgment on it;Whether moral judgment is important in all branches of government.
Mentioned in the discussion are the essay “How Does One Lead a Rational Life in an Irrational Society?” by Ayn Rand, the book What Justice Demands by Elan Journo, the articles “Ayn Rand’s Radical View of the United Nations” and “The Real Reason Why Russia Won’t Be Kicked Out of the UN” by Agustina Vergara Cid, and the New Ideal Live episodes “The Meaning of Russia’s War on Ukraine” and “Nationalism and Russia’s War on Ukraine.”
The podcast was recorded on April 6, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/QayVZHwVetw
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews Rob Tarr, an expert on economics, about how Ayn Rand’s philosophical approach to economics can help us understand the nature and causes of inflation.
Among the topics covered:
Whether inflation is an increase in the price level or in the money supply;Ayn Rand’s explanation of the epistemological causes of inflation in “Egalitarianism and Inflation”;How Rand’s economic views contrast with the Keynesian view;How Rand’s economic views compare to those of various free market economists;Different ways of measuring inflation;The causes of the current increase in prices;How the Federal Reserve manipulates money supply and interest rates;The impacts of Federal Reserve policy on productive activity;Why proposed remedies like price controls, increased corporate taxes and antitrust prosecutions only make matters worse;Whether mainstream economists have learned or will learn anything from their failed predictions.
Mentioned in the discussion are Rand’s lecture “Egalitarianism and Inflation,” her book Philosophy: Who Needs It (in which the lecture is reprinted), the bound volume of her periodical the Ayn Rand Letter (in which it first appeared) and Tarr’s essay “Economic Theory and Conceptions of Value: Rand and the Austrians versus the Mainstream” from the book Foundations of a Free Society, edited by Gregory Salmieri and Robert Mayhew.
The podcast was recorded on March 19, 2022 and was broadcast on March 30, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/IGlEC7iGvc8
Podcast audio:
By many of her fans and critics, Ayn Rand was often seen as belonging within the “conservative” movement. But Rand was not simply critical of “conservatism,” she repudiated it emphatically. Whereas she viewed the “liberals” of her time as morally corrupt for stealthily pushing the United States toward statism, she thought that there was something “more reprehensible still”: the attempt by “conservatives” to “defend freedom by stealth.” In this essay, originally published in New Ideal on June 30, 2021, Elan Journo looks at what Rand objected to, and why.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews Harry Binswanger about his article “The Possible Dream” (recently republished in New Ideal), which channels Ayn Rand's philosophy to refute the conventional idea that perfection is impossible.
Among the topics covered:
The conventional idea, represented by the song “The Impossible Dream,” that ideals are unachievable in reality;The cultural consequences of the idea that moral perfection is impossible;The mystical origin of the idea that moral perfection is impossible;The personal consequences of accepting the anti-perfection doctrine, versus setting realistic goals and celebrating achievements;The importance of recognizing that standards are man-made and can be chosen rationally;What it means to achieve moral perfection;How the possibility of perfection is an implication of Ayn Rand’s philosophy;How to determine whether a concept or standard is valid or invalid;Why the altruistic moral standard is not based on reality;The relation of the possibility of perfection to the possibility of certainty;Applying the idea that perfection is possible to philosophy of mathematics;Binswanger’s experience writing the article under Rand’s editorial supervision.
Mentioned in the discussion are Binswanger’s article “The Possible Dream,” the periodical he edited, the Objectivist Forum, and his book How We Know.
The podcast was recorded on March 2, 2022 and was broadcast on March 23, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/-t_IUk4T45A
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer analyze the concept of “nationalism,” apply it to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and draw lessons from this event for understanding the rise of nationalism in the United States.
Among the topics covered:
The current situation in Ukraine and the state of the global response;The role of nationalism in Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine;Conservative arguments that Ukraine’s fight is a good kind of nationalismAyn Rand’s distinction between tribalistic nationalism and nationalism based on rational values;How conservatives like Hazony smuggle in tribalistic nationalism by conflating it with rational patriotism;Why tribalistic nationalism is wrong and individualism has universal, objective value;Why Hazony’s tribalistic nationalism would justify the Russian invasion, despite Hazony’s claims to the contrary;Why individualism versus collectivism is the fundamental political alternative, not nationalism versus imperialism;The importance of clarifying the concepts one uses to understand the world;The destructive potential of anti-individualistic American nationalism;How to evaluate American politicians who defended Vladimir Putin;The mixture of good and bad forms of nationalism in modern-day Israel;How to evaluate Ukraine’s policy of conscription.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s lecture “Global Balkanization,” Elan Journo’s article “The Vice of Nationalism” and the New Ideal Live episode “The Threat of National Conservatism,” which was based on his article “Meet the Conservative Authoritarians.”
The podcast was recorded on March 16, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/n7E1PEvVFdE
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Harry Binswanger, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss why schisms occur within intellectual movements, and the principles that guide the Ayn Rand Institute in navigating schisms within the Objectivist movement.
Among the topics covered:
Background on ARI’s new essay on schisms in the Objectivist movement;Ayn Rand’s view of the necessity of moral judgment;The role of proportionality in moral judgment;Why ARI is publicly stating the principles it uses to navigate conflicts;Why disagreement is a normal feature of all intellectual movements;Why disagreement is to be expected even in the Objectivist movement;Schisms in other positive intellectual movements;Why ignoring disagreement is not justified in a “war of ideas”;Why schisms clarify issues fundamental to intellectual movements;The philosophic disagreement at the root of the dispute with David Kelley;Why ARI vets the moral and intellectual integrity of those who speak on its behalf;The importance of withdrawing one’s moral sanction from evil;Why objectivity requires distinguishing between public and private information;Why arbitrary claims cannot be evaluated and must be dismissed;How to evaluate public allegations made about private events;Whether outsiders must take a side on a private dispute made public;Why the “court of public opinion” has no mechanism for evaluating the objectivity of testimony.
Mentioned in the discussion are the essays “Of Schisms, Public and Private” by Ghate and Binswanger, and “Fact and Value” by Leonard Peikoff.
The podcast was recorded on March 9, 2022. Note: this podcast has been edited from its original livestream. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/y0ftTQV7jI0
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the philosophic meaning of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the global reactions to it and the war’s wider implications for America and freedom.
Among the topics covered:
America’s long-standing lack of a real foreign policy;The cause of this approach: the refusal to think of foreign policy in moral terms;Whether businesses and governments should trade with countries like Russia;How America’s and Europe’s unintelligible actions have harmed Ukraine;Putin’s miscalculations about the results of the invasion;The amorality of deference to or praise for Putin;Policy changes needed to signal the willingness to reform foreign policy along moral lines;Why abolishing the United Nations is needed to withdraw moral sanction from Russian and Chinese tyranny;The importance of giving moral and material support to Ukraine;Additional diplomatic and economic punishments of Russia that the U.S. can inflict;How a morally principled foreign policy is needed to maintain long-term opposition to Russia’s threat.
The podcast was recorded on March 2, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/hymaGEFVDNI
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Keith Lockitch and Elan Journo discuss how the film Don’t Look Up fuels “climate anxiety.”
Among the topics covered:
“Climate anxiety” and its consequences for young people especially;The distortion of science by climate change activists;The satirical premise of Don’t Look Up;The dishonest parallels between the story and the climate change controversy in reality;How climate change distortions spawn “climate anxiety”;The importance of looking at the full context when assessing the consequences of climate change;Don’t Look Up’s attack on businessmen;The philosophic themes of environmentalism.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Anti-Industrial Revolution,” Keith Lockitch’s article “Industrial Capitalism Protects Us from Climate-Related Risks,” Alex Epstein’s forthcoming book Fossil Future and his website EnergyTalkingPoints.com.
This episode was recorded on February 23, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch previous episodes here.
https://youtu.be/rbytProzeSs
Podcast audio:
Chapter contributor Jason Rheins discusses A Companion to Ayn Rand, part of the Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series.
Chapter contributor Adam Mossoff discusses A Companion to Ayn Rand, part of the Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series.
Chapter contributor Harry Binswanger discusses A Companion to Ayn Rand, part of the Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series.
Chapter contributor Tara Smith discusses A Companion to Ayn Rand, part of the Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series.
Coeditor Gregory Salmieri discusses A Companion to Ayn Rand, part of the Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series.
One virtue of Foundations of a Free Society is that it offers an in-depth look at Rand’s political thought. And the book helps us understand how her distinctive moral case for a free society relates to (and contrasts with) the views of other philosophers who are seen as advocates for liberty.
Elan Journo talked with one of the book’s coeditors, Gregory Salmieri, and, among many topics, they discussed the issue of how to situate Rand’s ideas on the intellectual landscape. Some of the topics touched on:
What was Rand’s case for capitalism, and how does it compare with the conservative argument that a “rising tide lifts all boats”?How does Rand’s approach relate to the views of the libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick?What was Rand’s view of anarchism?Rand held as a matter of principle that the initiation of physical force was morally wrong, while libertarians speak of a non-aggression principle; what sets these views apart?Rand held that “Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries.” Why did she hold this view?
Ayn Rand’s nonfiction book Capitalism has a subtitle that is truly startling. Rand held that capitalism is “The Unknown Ideal.”
Capitalism is a social system so widely misunderstood and distorted and maligned that few understand its nature and history — let alone view it as morally good. Rand observed: “No politico-economic system in history has ever proved its value so eloquently or has benefited mankind so greatly as capitalism — and none has ever been attacked so savagely, viciously, and blindly.”
Rand’s philosophic case for laissez-faire capitalism is the focus of a superb new collection of scholarly essays, Foundations of a Free Society, which explores her arguments in detail and relates them to the views of other ostensibly pro-freedom thinkers. Elan Journo sat down to talk with one of the book’s contributors, Rob Tarr, about Rand’s view of capitalism, its deep foundations in philosophy, and the interplay of philosophy and economic theory.
Since capitalism is not only a social but also an economic system, there’s a profound question about how we should understand the nature of the economic value of goods and services produced in that system. In the interview, they explored why Rand held that “Capitalism is the only system based implicitly on an objective theory of values.” Tarr summarized Rand’s groundbreaking objective theory of value, and he contrasted it to prevailing conceptions of value that underlie major schools of thought in economics.
What is the principle of freedom of speech? How does it relate to the separation of church and state? What is the justification for such a separation? What was Ayn Rand’s view on these issues and on the connections between them? To answer these and related questions, Elan Journo sat down to talk with philosopher Onkar Ghate, senior fellow and chief philosophy officer at Ayn Rand Institute. More on the interview is available here. A few of the topics explored in the conversation:
Why freedom of speech is an aspect of the principle of intellectual freedom.How the philosopher John Locke argued for disentangling religion from political power.Why Thomas Jefferson, influenced by Locke, called for a “wall of separation” between church and state.What Ayn Rand’s view of intellectual freedom has in common with Locke and Jefferson — and how she differs from both.Why Rand thought that intellectual freedom and economic freedom share the same root, or as she sometimes put it, “a free mind and a free market are corollaries.”
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss Russia’s possible imminent invasion of Ukraine, America’s stake in this crisis and U.S. foreign policy toward Russia.
Among the topics covered:
An overview of the current state of the crisis;How to conceptualize America’s interests in foreign policy;Russian president Vladimir Putin’s demands;The nature of Putin’s regime and his attempts to expand Russian power;Applying the Objectivist moral framework to the Russia-Ukraine crisis;What actions the U.S. should take in response to Russia’s actions;How and why Putin lends support to other hostile dictatorships around the world;The history of America’s amoral approach to Putin’s Russia;The amoralism of the dominant views on U.S. policy in the Russia-Ukraine crisis;How European countries should respond to the crisis;Whether NATO is a valuable organization today.
Mentioned in the discussion are Leonard Peikoff’s lecture “Some Notes About Tomorrow,” Peter Schwartz’s book The Foreign Policy of Self-Interest: A Moral Ideal for America, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo’s book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism (2nd edition), and Journo’s book What Justice Demands.
The podcast was recorded on February 16, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/H1a3e7P1Ziw
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Mike Mazza and Agustina Vergara Cid address questions about Objectivism submitted by the podcast’s audience.
Among the topics covered:
How did Rand handle the problem of long- versus short-term happiness in her own life? Did she enjoy leisure activities?The recreational activities that gave Rand joy;Why Rand lived up to her ideal of using philosophy to pursue happiness as the purpose of life;The value of relaxation versus escapism in leisure activities;How work as a central purpose integrates with other values;Is objectivity possible?The possibility of objectivity understood as the use of a logical method;Why denying objectivity amounts to denying free will;Why one can be objective and still reach a wrong conclusion;The importance of using methods that guard against error;In what form does a potential exist, and how does it relate to an actuality?Why every potentiality is a type of actuality;How understanding this distinction can help us solve real-life issues, like the abortion debate;What does the “folly of altruism” achieve?Understanding Ayn Rand’s use of “don’t bother to examine a folly — ask yourself only what it accomplishes”;How altruism is used to rationalize forms of evil;Understanding Ayn Rand’s fictional characters in context;Whether Howard Roark is an example of total objectivity.
Mentioned in the discussion are the Ayn Rand Lexicon entries on “Happiness” and “Objectivity,” the books 100 Voices: An Oral History of Ayn Rand and Facets of Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff’s book Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, and Rand’s own Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology.
This episode was recorded on February 9, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch previous episodes here.
If you’d like to ask a question to be answered on a future episode, please send an email to newideal@aynrand.org with “Podcast question” in the subject header.
https://youtu.be/mk9XvcOHSUQ
Podcast audio:
“Woke” anti-racism is ascendant in our culture. But contrary to the claims of its advocates, it encourages, rather than combats, racism. And it actively harms, rather than helps, the people it claims to care about. So argues John McWhorter in Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America. In this New Ideal essay published November 3, 2021, Elan Journo discusses McWhorter’s trenchant book. “Woke” anti-racism, McWhorter argues convincingly, is animated not by a commitment to facts and evidence, but a zealot’s mentality. It is in fact a new religion. Narrated by Alex Wigger.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Aaron Smith discuss major life lessons that we can learn from Ayn Rand. The discussion was held on the occasion of Rand’s birthday.
Among the topics covered:
Rand’s conviction that business is a moral activity;Why not all businessmen live up to the essence of their profession;The moral radicalism of Rand’s view of business;Rand’s portrayal of career as a source of joy;Rand’s unique view of the role of the material world in a spiritual life;The effort and thought needed to find joy in a career;The distinctive inspirational value of The Fountainhead’s portrayal of career;Rand’s rejection of unearned guilt;Her condemnation of the idea of original sin;The connection between unearned guilt and altruism;Rand’s view that the pursuit of happiness is a moral endeavor;The dedication required to truly pursue happiness;Rand’s view of what we owe each other;How to overcome unearned guilt induced by conventional morality.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s books The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged and Philosophy: Who Needs It.
The podcast was recorded on February 2, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/qrOTV3G5sDE
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo interviews Peter Schwartz, former chairman of the board and currently a distinguished fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute, on his new book, The Tyranny of Need, and the rational alternative to the prevailing morality of self-sacrifice.
Among the topics covered:
What the morality of altruism is;Why altruism is not the same as benevolence and goodwill;What altruism looks like in practice;The difference between sacrifice and trade;The pernicious psychological effects of altruism;Why real selfishness requires moral principles;Why mindlessness and crime are not in one’s self-interest;Whether need can be a factor in rational decision-making, if not the standard;The difference between abdicating responsibility for one’s own life and working to sustain it;Why one should care about whether other people are selfish or altruistic;The future of the battle between altruism and Objectivism’s view of rational self-interest.
Mentioned in the discussion is Peter Schwartz’s book The Tyranny of Need.
This podcast was recorded on January 26, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/n5cJ1X-j_JI
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the philosophical ideas that worsen the “moral distress” currently plaguing doctors and nurses.
Among the topics covered:
How many health care workers are leaving their jobs or considering doing so;The conditions health care workers face as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic;The psychological harm experienced by those who work in these conditionsThe political causes of the challenges facing health care workers;How altruism infects people’s view of health care workers;Whether the unvaccinated are wholly to blame for the situation;The role of health care workers’ own acceptance of altruism in their “moral distress”;The moral attitude health care workers should have;The gulf between altruism’s positive reputation and its destructive effects;How we should view people who seek health care after making unhealthy choices.
Mentioned in the discussion are an excerpt from Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged called “The Forgotten Man of Socialized Medicine” and Leonard Peikoff’s essay “Health Care Is Not a Right.”
The podcast was recorded on January 19, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/3_H6UYXzAyU
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Ayn Rand’s distinctive understanding of racism.
Among the topics covered:
Why Rand thought racism is not fundamentally an issue of institutionalized power;Why Rand thought that racism is the idea that one’s character is produced by internal physiology;The difference between racism and having affection for one’s country;Why racism is a version of determinist collectivism;Whether individual freedom incentivizes racism;How racism rationalizes the desire for the unearned;Ayn Rand’s view of the Civil Rights Act of 1964;The invalidity of the concept of “states’ rights”;Whether racial solidarity is a valid response to racist oppression;Whether today’s race consciousness is racist;Why living in a racist society does not grant anyone any privilege;Why people don’t understand that race consciousness is a form of racism.
Mentioned in the discussion is Ayn Rand’s essay “Racism” and the current Ayn Rand University course “The Road to Critical Race Theory” (taught by Ghate and Sotirakopoulos), which is still open to auditors.
This podcast was recorded on January 13, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/z-siihWqMl0
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Agustina Vergara Cid interviews Amesh Adalja, a well-known expert on pandemic preparedness, about the Omicron variant, the idea of “zero Covid,” and other issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Among the topics covered:
What Omicron’s high transmissibility means for hospital capacity;How government Covid policies have changed from the early months of the pandemic;The problem with focusing on case numbers rather than hospitalizations and deaths;The merit of a harm-reduction approach to Covid-19 versus an “abstinence only” approach;Why the virus that causes Covid-19, unlike the measles virus, cannot be eliminated;The effectiveness of the currently available vaccines against Omicron;The benefits of vaccine boosters for different populations;Whether measuring every patient hospitalized “with Covid” is a good indication of hospital capacity;Omicron’s effect on children and the value of pediatric vaccination;The next generation of Covid-19 vaccines;The protection offered by natural immunity before and after the arrival of Omicron;The merits of Paxlovid and other antiviral therapeutics;What explains the unavailability of Covid-19 tests, and their effectiveness at detecting Omicron;The validity of the CDC’s new recommended isolation period.
Mentioned in the discussion is Adalja’s article “‘Abstinence only’ approach to COVID failed in 2021 — missed opportunity for teaching harm reduction,” published in The Hill.
The podcast was recorded on January 5, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/X5zJe_UQLzA
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith and Sam Weaver share with the audience how the Ayn Rand Institute is advancing its mission to spread awareness and understanding of the philosophy of Objectivism.
Among the topics covered:
The impact of ARI’s “Books for Teachers” program on students;How ARI’s essay contests help motivate students to engage deeply with Rand’s ideas;The impact of classroom visits by ARI intellectuals;How the Ayn Rand University fosters new Objectivist intellectuals.
This podcast was pre-recorded on December 15, 2021 and broadcast on December 31, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/O-YdSenk35w
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss the successes and errors of the video “9 Life Lessons from Ayn Rand,” which is an attempt to draw life guidance from Ayn Rand’s philosophy by the YouTube channel Philosophies for Life.
Among the topics covered:
Why Philosophies for Life’s treatment of Rand is worth discussing;The video’s well-intentioned but conventional attempt to present Rand’s view of reason;The video’s misunderstanding of what Rand means by selfishness and sacrifice;The contrast between Rand’s unconventional, principled conception of the virtue of honesty and the video’s conventional account;Philosophies for Life’s failure to capture Rand’s views of independence and citizenship;The distinction between the idea of playing the victim and Rand’s concept of the sanction of the victim;The meaning of the quote “There are no evil thoughts except one: the refusal to think,” from Atlas Shrugged;The view that people are naturally selfish versus Rand’s conception of free will.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged and her essays “The ‘Conflicts’ of Men’s Interests” and “Doesn’t Life Require Compromise?” from The Virtue of Selfishness and “Who is the Final Authority in Ethics?” from The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought.
The podcast was recorded on December 22, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/nhKETQs7I60
Podcast audio:
The most contemptible parasites are the power-lusters who relentlessly expand the system, argues Ben Bayer in this podcast of his article in New Ideal, the journal of the Ayn Rand Institute, on July 28, 2021.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo, Robert Mayhew and Keith Lockitch discuss the philosophic significance of the anti-intellectual treatment of Ayn Rand in a recent article published in Quillette magazine.
Among the topics covered:
Quillette’s history of publishing heterodox, intellectually serious articles;The basic incompetence and unoriginality of Quillette’s piece on Ayn Rand;Why Rand appeals to the idealism of youth, and why critics sneer at young people’s interest in her;Why people often claim to have “outgrown” Rand;The meaning of Allan Bloom’s and Steven Pinker’s dismissals of Rand;The value of commenting on articles like this, despite their lack of merit;The widespread acceptance of altruism as a major cause of attacks on Rand.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essays “Art and Moral Treason” and “Art and Sense of Life” from her book The Romantic Manifesto, “The ‘Inexplicable Personal Alchemy’” from her book Return of the Primitive, and her introduction to the 25th anniversary edition of The Fountainhead. Also mentioned are the books Essays on Ayn Rand’s "We the Living," Essays on Ayn Rand’s "Anthem," Essays on Ayn Rand’s "The Fountainhead" (particularly Ben Bayer’s essay “The Fountainhead and the Spirit of Youth”) and Essays on Ayn Rand’s "Atlas Shrugged," all edited by Mayhew.
The podcast was recorded on December 16, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/aB2I6sYGMqU
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the recent oral arguments in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case before the Supreme Court. They analyze what the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade would reveal about the Court’s grasp of individual rights and the role of government.
Among the topics covered:
A brief history of abortion jurisprudence since Roe v. Wade;Ayn Rand’s view of Roe and her support for abortion rights;Why abortion rights are not grounded in a right to privacy;Why activities don’t need to be concretely enumerated to be protected by fundamental rights;Why we need abstract principles to state fundamental legal principles;Why conservative sympathy for the reversal of Lochner v. New York implies a presumption in favor of government power;Whether the potential to feel pain is the basis of rights;How Roe v. Wade tries to balance competing interests, not to protect rights;Why regarding life as sacred from conception is a baseless religious viewpoint;Why it’s arbitrary to regard viability as the limit for justifiable abortion;Whether religion or judicial philosophy motivates Justice Thomas;Whether “individual responsibility” means a woman who chooses to have sex should carry a pregnancy to term;The Supreme Court Justices’ unphilosophical approach.
Mentioned in the discussion are Leonard Peikoff’s essay “Abortion Rights Are Pro-Life,” Ben Bayer’s essays “Ayn Rand’s Radical Case for Abortion Rights” and “Science without Philosophy Can’t Resolve Abortion Debate,” and Tom Bowden’s “Justice Holmes and the Empty Constitution.”
This podcast was recorded on December 9, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/BGwS6CJ0UlE
Podcast audio:
In this episode, Aaron Smith reads aloud his article, "Stoicism vs Objectivism: Is Free Will Magic?" In that essay, he argues that a common (but mistaken) conception of causation leads many scientifically minded people to dismiss free will as either nonexistent, deterministic, or akin to magic. Smith's article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute's journal, on September 15, 2021.
“Woke” anti-racism is ascendant in our culture. But contrary to the claims of its advocates, it encourages, rather than combats, racism. And it actively harms, rather than helps, the people it claims to care about. What animates it is not a commitment to facts and evidence, but a zealot’s mentality: it is a new religion. John McWhorter makes these provocative claims in his trenchant new book Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America. In this episode of the New Ideal podcast, Onkar Ghate and I talk with McWhorter about his analysis of the “woke” phenomenon.
Topics we talk about include:
How the debate over race issues has changed since the early 2000s;Key similarities between religion and the “woke” phenomenon;What explains the religious fervor over racial issues since the Civil Rights era;Why not all black Americans have the sense of having overcome oppression;Whether defeatism about race is a consensus among black Americans;Why the leaders of the “woke” religion are uninterested in solving real problems;How today’s “anti-racists” oversimplify the influence of historical racism;McWhorter’s proposed solution to the problems of racism;How the appeal of the “woke” religion relies more on “show business” than science;The wisdom of discarding the problematic concept of biological “race.”
I’ve learned a lot from reading McWhorter over the years, and I enjoyed the conversation. If you’re curious about his book, I wrote about it in New Ideal recently, and it is well worth reading. Let me also recommend a separate podcast that Onkar and I did on the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day: “Racism, ‘Color Blindness,’ and Tribalism,” a discussion informed by Ayn Rand’s philosophic analysis of racism. In her essay “Racism,” which you can read online, she called it “the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism.”
The McWhorter interview was recorded on December 1, 2021. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here
https://youtu.be/NBmk_90W5gA
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Mike Mazza, Aaron Smith and Sam Weaver address questions about Objectivism submitted by the podcast’s audience.
Among the topics covered:
How much should Objectivists value physical health, diet, and exercise?The role of philosophical guidance vs. personal choice in valuing health;Whether Ayn Rand's portrayal of the physique of her fictional characters has any philosophical significance;Whether physical attractiveness is a valid goal to pursue;Whether the potential of life-extension technology is relevant to the value of health;Whether enjoyable activities that risk shortening one’s life span are rational.Can values be objective if they depend on human evaluations?Objectivism’s distinctive understanding of the concept “objective”;The relevance of Ayn Rand’s “immortal robot” thought experiment.When is aid to others rational?Rational vs. emotionalistic reasons to help others;The rationality of helping strangers out of good will;How to introspect about one’s motivation helping others.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essays “What Is Capitalism?” and “The Ethics of Emergencies” from her book The Virtue of Selfishness.
This podcast was recorded on December 1, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
If you’d like to ask a question to be answered on a future episode, please send an email to newideal@aynrand.org with “Podcast question” in the subject header.
https://youtu.be/eKEfpDs_EbY
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer discuss Steven Pinker’s latest book, Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, and Why It Matters, and whether it makes a solid argument for rationality.
Among the topics covered:
The Objectivist framework as a context for analyzing Pinker’s book;Strengths of the book;Pinker’s self-refuting “humility” about the scope of rationality;Pinker’s narrow “instrumentalist” definition of rationality;Pinker’s view that rationality cannot evaluate ultimate ends;Pinker’s case for a form of quasi-rational morality;Cognitive biases at work in Pinker’s own case for morality;Pinker’s and Rand’s contrasting conceptions of rationality;Shortcomings in Pinker’s explanation for today’s irrational political tribalism;Rand’s alternative approach to a rational ethics (and affinities to some of Pinker’s views).
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Objectivist Ethics,” Onkar Ghate’s “Finding Morality Without God” and Ben Bayer’s “Why Scientific Progress in Ethics Is Frozen.”
This podcast was recorded on November 17, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/lhe1ahaqmwk
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss what it takes to effect real cultural change for people with radical ideas that challenge the status quo.
Among the topics covered:
Ayn Rand’s radical principles of capitalism, egoism, and reason;How Rand advocated for how to begin to eliminate all antitrust laws;Rand’s proposed steps in the direction of total repeal of anti-abortion laws;Rand’s proposed reforms to blunt the worst effects of the entrenched public education system;Rand’s proposal for the least destructive escape from the unsolvable dilemma of the Vietnam;Rand’s views on how to change minds to make cultural change possible;How the Ayn Rand Institute commented on foreign policy after the 9/11 terrorist attacks;ARI’s commentary during the Covid-19 pandemic;How ARI chose which aspects of government pandemic policy to analyze.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essays “Antitrust: The Rule of Unreason” and “Tax Credits for Education,” from her book The Voice of Reason; her article “A Suggestion” from The Objectivist; her lecture “The Wreckage of the Consensus”; her essay “What Can One Do?” from her book Philosophy: Who Needs It; and her book The Art of Nonfiction. Also mentioned are Ghate’s white paper, A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease, and a podcast episode titled ”How Can We Change People's Minds About Ayn Rand's Controversial Ideas?”
This podcast was recorded on November 10, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/M8eHcYu0aLE
Podcast audio:
In this episode of the New Ideal podcast, Ben Bayer interviews Scott McDonald, an international relations PhD candidate at Tufts University and an expert on Chinese political theory and foreign policy.
Among the topics covered:
Scott McDonald’s background and current work on the subject of Taiwan;The current state of relations between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC);The pragmatism that led to America’s decision to withdraw diplomatic recognition of Taiwan;The consequences of America’s betrayal of Taiwan for its broader foreign policy;How Taiwan adopted American values in spite of this betrayal;The prospects of war in the Taiwan Strait;The likely consequences of a war between the PRC and Taiwan;The influence of Chinese philosophy on PRC geopolitical decisions;The “social metaphysics” (second-handedness) of Chinese philosophy;The pragmatism and altruism of current American foreign policyAyn Rand’s comments on the values betrayed by American policy on Taiwan.
Mentioned in the discussion is Ayn Rand’s essay “The Shanghai Gesture,” a three-part article in the Ayn Rand Letter published in March and April of 1972. In that essay, Rand analyzes Richard Nixon’s historic trip to China as a philosophic defeat. Of particular relevance is the following remark about the importance of U.S.-Taiwan relations:
No, this is not an appeal for another senseless, altruistic war, this time to defend Taiwan. Taiwan can take care of itself, if we do not turn deserter. It is not a policeman's gun, but his firmness that keeps peace in a neighborhood and protects it from gangsters. Our token military presence has kept Taiwan peacefully safe for twenty-two years. Our withdrawal could precipitate a war involving the entire Pacific. (Does anyone remember the consequences of the Allies' withdrawal from the Sudetenland and the Ruhr?) And whatever our view of Nationalist China, we do not have the right to bargain its lives away as pawns in secret negotiations for some undisclosed policy of our own.
This podcast was recorded on October 15, 2021, and posted to YouTube on November 10, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/baqwdOWhjrU
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss Jonah Goldberg’s public rejection of Ayn Rand, and what that shows about the conservative movement.
Among the topics covered:
Why Goldberg’s comments matter;How Goldberg’s adamant rejection of Ayn Rand betrays his ambivalence about the value of freedom;Why Goldberg says Rand doesn’t belong in the conservative movement;Whittaker Chambers’s dishonest, anti-American article about Atlas Shrugged;Why Ayn Rand’s opposition to religion threatens conservatives;The irrationality of Goldberg’s conservative view that everyone must respect religion;The anti-intellectuality of Goldberg’s reaction to Ayn Rand;How conservative critics of Trump fail to see him as essentially religious;Ayn Rand’s response to a question about similarities with William Buckley.
Mentioned in the discussion are the book Essays on Atlas Shrugged and Ayn Rand’s talk A Nation’s Unity.
This podcast was recorded on November 3, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/VmIHFi8Jzrs
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the philosophical assumptions behind the calls to regulate Facebook in light of recent allegations of a former Facebook employee who claims the company’s various platforms encourage addiction and spread misinformation.
Among the topics covered:
Background on the recent attacks on Facebook;The essence of Frances Haugen’s regulatory “oversight” proposal and its deterministic assumptions;The cultural prejudice revealed by the gleeful embrace of the whistleblower’s claims;The nonobjectivity of Haugen’s claim that Instagram causes mental health problems in children;Why it’s unwarranted to say that users are “addicted” to Instagram;The brazen distortion of the statistics about suicidal thoughts among Instagram users;How Haugen’s proposal ignores obvious factors behind the uptick in teenage anxiety and depression;The overt paternalism of the call to regulate Facebook and how it ignores people’s ability to make choices;The sweeping determinism implied by Haugen’s view of how Facebook spreads misinformation;The motivation behind Haugen’s call to regulate Facebook;Why the hearing with Haugen was held.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Comprachicos,” available in her book The Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution; Alan Greenspan’s essay “The Assault on Integrity,” available in the book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal; and Ben Bayer’s essay “How to Empower Students to Break Out of Safe Spaces.”
This podcast was recorded on October 27, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmxENVYFK7Y
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer discuss the Republican Party’s brazen attacks on free markets.
Among the topics covered:
Why conservatives once appeared to be defenders of economic freedom;How conservatives betrayed economic freedom in the twentieth century;Why it’s important to criticize Republicans as well as Democrats;Unjust government vaccine mandates vs. vaccines as conditions of voluntary employment;Why Republican state bans on business vaccine requirements and passports violate freedom of association;How the Florida social media “censorship” ban violates economic and intellectual freedom;How the Texas social media “censorship” ban violates economic and intellectual freedom;How we can tell there is a broader Republican push against economic freedom;Why government pressure on private companies is not a justification for regulating the companies;Why ARI speaks up in defense of the freedom of social media companies.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “Conservatism: An Obituary,” Elan Journo’s essay “What Was Ayn Rand’s View of ‘Conservatism’?,” Ben Bayer’s essay “Ominous Threats to the Marketplace of Ideas” and his article “Facebook: Censor or Victim?.” Also mentioned is an episode of New Ideal Live titled “Vaccine False Alternatives: Bribes vs. Mandates.”
This podcast was recorded on October 13, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/QE0fH7k5vrI
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Tristan De Liège and Sam Weaver answer questions about Objectivism submitted by the podcast’s audience.
Among the topics covered:
Is atheism a necessary part of the philosophy of Objectivism?Why atheism is not a positive belief system;Objectivism’s commitment to reason as an absolute vs. theism;The arbitrariness of the belief in God;Why theism contradicts major principles of Objectivism in every branch of philosophy.How can we guard against “parroting” others when we rely on expertise?The difference between blind faith and rational reliance on testimony;How expert testimony yields at least probable belief sufficient for action;Dishonest motivations for rejecting expert testimony.Why does Objectivism emphasize the spiritual aspect of sex, as opposed to its biological function?Why rational moral values are based on biological facts;The role of selectivity in the spiritual value of work and sex;The role of pleasure in human values;What a “spiritual value” means in Objectivism.
Mentioned in the discussion are the Ayn Rand Lexicon entries on “God,” “Religion” and “Sex”; Leonard Peikoff’s book Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand and his course “Introduction to Logic,” and Greg Salmieri’s course “Objective Thinking.”
This podcast was recorded on October 13, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
If you’d like to ask a question to be answered on a future episode, please send an email with “Podcast question” in the subject header to newideal@aynrand.org.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwDjJ3V6VJU Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith, Ben Bayer and Keith Lockitch discuss ARI’s ambitious plans for growing the Ayn Rand University, an alternative educational institution encompassing the existing undergraduate programs of the Objectivist Academic Center plus new graduate course offerings.
Among the topics covered:
Trends toward tribalism and intellectual conformity in the culture and particularly in academia;The need to disrupt education by creating alternative institutions, especially in the humanities;The vital role of philosophy and professional intellectuals in changing the course of a culture;A history of ARI’s efforts to provide intellectual training in Objectivism to improve the culture;The Ayn Rand University as a new educational institution incorporating student outreach, undergraduate, graduate and alumni programs;How ARI’s new focus on the Ayn Rand University guides choices about its other programs, including the cultural issues it comments on;ARI’s plans to grow the faculty, offerings, and student body of the ARU in the future;How the Objectivist Graduate Center will build on the offerings of the Objectivist Academic Center for both students and auditors;The difference in motivation between students in academia and students in ARI educational programs;Types of intellectual career that the Ayn Rand University prepares students to pursue.
You can view the ARU course catalog and sign up to audit courses here. Also mentioned in the discussion are Tal Tsfany’s talk “Spreading Objectivism: A Vision for ARI’s Future,” the James McConnell interview with Ayn Rand, and the talks from AynRandCon–Global 2021.
The podcast was recorded on October 6, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/BBocGCl3y4g
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Mike Mazza and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss philosophy professor Peter Boghossian’s resignation from Portland State University, prompted by a backlash from students and faculty to his controversial positions.
Among the topics covered:
Boghossian’s experience at Portland State University as a sign of the increasing tribalism at universities;Whether “grievance studies” is the cause of the increasing hooliganism on college campuses;The attitude toward truth and facts on college campuses today;How leftist ideology took over campuses;The upcoming Objectivist Academic Center course about the ideas from critical theory that facilitated the rise of the left;How alternative educational institutions can help combat irrational ideologies in academia;The Ayn Rand University as a powerful alternative educational institution;Cynical Theories by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay;The impact of postmodernism in academia today;How skepticism undermines the ideas of otherwise good thinkers.
You can sign up to audit courses at the Objectivist Academic Center here.
This podcast was recorded on September 29, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/C-qBL3SrTTg
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss Texas’s recent anti-abortion legislation, SB8.
Among the topics covered:
Key facts about the new Texas law;How the law will likely impact women;The actual consequences of the law to date;Legal challenges to the law;How the law encourages “vigilante justice”;How this law sets a dangerous precedent for evading judicial review;How the law undermines the rule of objective law;Why rights do not begin with the heartbeat (or at conception) according to Ayn Rand;The assault on abortion rights in many other American states;Ayn Rand on the importance of abortion rights and the evil of those oppose them;Why we shouldn’t cede to anti-abortionists the title of “pro-life”;Why the Texas law doesn’t respect human life or highlight the importance of sex education;Why abortion should be permitted until birth.
Mentioned in the discussion are the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry “Abortion,” Ayn Rand’s talk “Of Living Death,” and Ben Bayer’s articles “Abortion Allows Women to Protect What’s Sacred about Life,” “Ayn Rand’s Radical Case for Abortion Rights,” and “Science without Philosophy Can’t Resolve Abortion Debate.”
This podcast was recorded on September 22, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KZ38XDgbzo
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith and Sam Weaver draw on their classroom experiences to discuss the impact of Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem on students.
Among the topics covered:
An overview of Anthem and how it’s used in classrooms;Why Anthem’s story interests teenagers;Anthem’s focus on the importance of intellectual independence;How individualism is portrayed in the novel;How the philosophical issues presented in Anthem are relevant to students’ lives;Some of the features that make the novel unique;The challenges in teaching Anthem, plus teachers’ guides and other resources;Why teachers like to teach Anthem.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem and her book The Romantic Manifesto, as well as the book Essays on Ayn Rand's “Anthem,” edited by Robert Mayhew.
This podcast was recorded on September 15, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/h77_iR73Hp0
Podcast audio:
In this special joint episode of New Ideal Live and The Yaron Brook Show, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo join Yaron Brook to discuss the key events and turning points since 9/11, and provide a retrospective on ARI’s philosophic analysis of U.S. policy.
Among the topics covered:
Recalling the day of the attacks and the immediate aftermath;The foreign policy failures that enabled the terrorist attacks;The pragmatism that prevented the U.S. from identifying the ideological nature of the enemy’s threat;The leftist/libertarian claim that the attacks were America’s own fault;ARI’s take on the weak American response to the 9/11 attacks;State sponsorship (by Iran, etc.) of the Islamic totalitarian movement;What a morally principled response to the attacks would have looked like;The difference between war and law enforcement;The anti-intellectual, tribalist nature of 9/11 conspiracism;Whether it’s true that we’ve surrendered freedom for security;Whether the U.S. should recognize or send aid to the Taliban;Resources on the history of Iran;Whether America should fight Islamic totalitarianism everywhere;How history would have been different if America had pursued the right strategy;Whether America has become an easy target for Islamist terrorism;How the Taliban contributed to the 9/11 terrorist attacks;How altruist morality corrupts our thinking about hostage situations;Whether another American historical figure would have responded better to 9/11;The right’s infatuation with the Taliban;Saudi Arabia’s support of terrorism, and how America should have dealt with it;How the U.S. could have thwarted the attack or defeated the attackers’ state sponsors.
Mentioned in the discussion are Leonard Peikoff’s article “End States Who Sponsor Terrorism,” his talk “America vs. Americans” and the book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism, edited by Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate.
This podcast was recorded on September 11, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/nTK0p9Yv1bw
Podcast audio:
In this special episode of New Ideal Live, we bring you a compilation of some of ARI’s distinctive commentary and analysis on foreign policy over the last twenty years.
The articles mentioned are “End States Who Sponsor Terrorism” by Leonard Peikoff and “America Is Not Winning the War” by Onkar Ghate.
Lectures featured in this podcast include:
“America vs. Americans” (2003) by Leonard Peikoff;“The Morality of War” (2004) by Yaron Brook;“Free Speech and the Danish Cartoons: A Panel Discussion” (2006) featuring Yaron Brook and Edwin Locke;“Democracy vs. Victory — Why the ‘Forward Strategy of Freedom’ Had to Fail” (2006) by Yaron Brook;“Charlie Hebdo, the West and the Need to Ridicule Religion” (2015) by Onkar Ghate.
Also mentioned is the second, expanded edition of the book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism, edited by Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo.
This episode served as a prelude to an event on September 11, 2021, in which Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo joined Yaron Brook on The Yaron Brook Show for an in-depth discussion of key events and turning points since 9/11, and a retrospective on ARI’s philosophic analysis of U.S. policy. You can watch the discussion here.
This podcast was recorded on September 8, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/ZUxsuOWujZI
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, recorded live at the 2021 Objectivist Summer Conference in Austin, Texas, philosophers Onkar Ghate, Ben Bayer, Mike Mazza and Aaron Smith answer questions about Objectivism from the audience.
Among the topics covered:
Whether philosophy requires specialized knowledge (e.g. about historical events);Why Ayn Rand thought that determinism is “incoherent” and not just “false”;Whether the existence of free will can be proven with a scientific method;Whether “greed” is a valid concept;Why John Galt and not Hugh Akston led the strike in Atlas Shrugged;Whether there’s been progress in Objectivism on the subject of philosophical induction;Whether “selfishness” can be defined broadly to include evaders concerned with their interests;Whether an action achieved by illegal or immoral methods should be considered “selfish”;How and whether the Stoics validated their virtues;Whether there are principles for guiding a life proper to human beings beyond those of mere survival;How to validate the concepts of “entity” and “identity”;What elements of psychology are part of the Objectivist philosophy;Whether the U.S. exit from Afghanistan could have “saved face” even without defeating the Taliban;How a parent can deal with the influence of popular irrational ideas (e.g. Jordan Peterson’s) on his children;Whether a principle’s application changes in different contexts.
Mentioned in the discussion are Leonard Peikoff’s book Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, and the book A Companion to Ayn Rand, edited by Alan Gotthelf and Gregory Salmieri.
This podcast was recorded on September 1, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
If you’d like to ask a question to be answered on a future episode, please send an email with “Podcast question” in the subject header to newideal@aynrand.org.
https://youtu.be/BBtU6MLpkIs
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews Dr. Amesh Adalja, a well-known expert on pandemic preparedness, about the resurgence of Covid infections around the country due to the Delta variant and how vaccines are holding up against the virus.
Among the topics covered:
What the Delta variant is and how it behaves;Whether vaccination against Covid-19 helps decouple infection rates from hospitalization and death;How long the Delta surge of infections might last in the U.S.;The issue of “breakthrough infections” in fully vaccinated people;Why vaccines do not by their nature prevent any and all infection;Whether the Biden administration was right to recommend booster shots for all adults;How the Delta variant is affecting children, and when they might be vaccinated;What measures should be considered to protect children at schools;Whether hospitals should require vaccines for health care workers,How Dr. Adalja calculates risk when deciding on activities that may expose him to infection;The themes of Dr. Adalja’s upcoming talk at OCON 2021;The Covaxin Covid vaccine;Whether ivermectin and fluvoxamine are viable treatments for Covid-19;The difference between natural immunity after infection and vaccine-induced immunity, and how they complement each other;The potential to develop “long Covid” after “breakthrough infections.”
Mentioned in the discussion is Onkar Ghate’s paper “A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease.”
Dr. Adalja will be speaking at this year’s Objectivist Conference (August 27 – September 1). You can purchase a virtual pass to attend the conference online here.
This podcast was recorded on August 25, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/3DVGYb9S8XQ
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate discuss the reasons why Objectivist commentary usually appears to emphasis the negative.
Among the topics covered:
Whether it’s true that Objectivist commentary is unqualifiedly “negative”;Why Ayn Rand thought reporting on achievements would not be symptomatic of the intellectual atmosphere of her time;Why philosophical negatives show the essential trend of our culture;Why a philosophy for living on earth doesn’t separate guidance for living from political and cultural commentary;Whether emphasizing positives inspires more people to follow better ideas;Whether things are bad enough to justify a strike as in Atlas Shrugged;Whether anyone is tracking the influence of Objectivism in the culture;How clarity on negative issues helps one understand them and prevent their recurrence;Whether it is healthy to say “things could always be worse.”
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “How Does One Lead a Rational Life in an Irrational Society?” and her talk “Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World.” Also mentioned is New Ideal Live’s episode “How Can We Change People's Minds About Ayn Rand's Controversial Ideas?”
This podcast was recorded on August 18, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://youtu.be/mSbftQaw-g4 Podcast audio:
In this special episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the Taliban’s capture of Kabul, and what explains the fall of Afghanistan.
Among the topics covered:
A summary of the crisis currently unfolding in Afghanistan;The flawed “nation building” goals of the Afghanistan campaign, starting after 9/11;The unwillingness to identify the ideological nature of the enemy after 9/11;How the Taliban were able to take over Afghanistan so quickly;Presidents Obama, Trump and Biden’s failures in the Middle East;Why the peace accord with the Taliban exemplifies the morally bankrupt, anti-intellectual, and geopolitically impractical approach of American foreign policy;Why the Soviets failed in Afghanistan;Lessons from American policy in postwar Japan;ARI’s unique, philosophical approach to the Afghanistan conflict and foreign policy in general.
Mentioned in the discussion is the new expanded edition of the Ayn Rand Institute’s book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism, available online now at New Ideal.
This podcast was recorded on August 16, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/T3VucIRZihw
Audio podcast:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss Ayn Rand’s distinctive, philosophical perspective on the United Nations.
Among the topics covered:
Ayn Rand’s commentary on the UN as an example of her engagement with the important issues of her time;Ayn Rand’s philosophical evaluation of the UN vs. other conventional views;The “grotesque pretense” of an organization with Soviet Russia as a charter member;The consequences of the UN’s moral equivalence between free countries and dictatorships;How the UN Human Rights Council provides moral cover for evil regimes such as Venezuela and Cuba;The contradiction of having dictatorships monitor violations of rights;Whether essentially free countries benefit from membership in the UN;Whether the UN can be reformed;The difference between “humans rights” and “individual rights.”
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Anatomy of Compromise” from her book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Elan Journo’s essay “The UN’s Unscrupulous Attacks on Israel,” Agustina Vergara Cid’s essay “How the UN Whitewashes China’s Crushing of Free Speech” and the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on “foreign policy.”
This podcast was recorded on August 10, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the signs of growing animus against business "monopolies," motivated by changing attitudes about antitrust law.
Among the topics covered:
The current status of antitrust efforts;The unprecedented levels of control being proposed;The baseless claims about the harms of “anticompetitive” consolidation;The invalid economics of “perfect competition” used to support antitrust;The arbitrariness of the “public interest” standard;The abuse of the concept of “competition”;The difference between economic power and political power;The invalid concept of economic “liberty” invoked to justify antitrustThe real motive behind antitrust efforts;How honest confusion about “monopoly” lends support to antitrust law;The psychological insight of Ayn Rand’s essay “The Age of Envy”;Economic vs. geopolitical competition between countries;The proper role of government in protecting consumers against fraud.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essays “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business” (available in her book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal) and “Antitrust: The Rule of Unreason” (available in her book The Voice of Reason).
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Keith Lockitch and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the reasons why Jeff Bezos’s recent flight to space should be admired and not mocked or vilified.
Among the topics covered:
The impressive spectacle of the Blue Origin launch vs. the backlash against it in the media;How the animosity toward Bezos stems from taking Amazon’s achievements for granted;How claims about the insignificance of the Blue Origin launch ignore its long-range technological and economic purpose;How claims about the immorality of billionaires’ paying to go to space ignore the economics of the early adopter effect;How altruism permeates people’s thinking about the achievements of successful businessmen;How scapegoating and envy drive animosity toward successful businessmen;How to evaluate people and companies in light of their distinctive achievements;How Bezos built something new by using existing resources others had not used.
Mentioned in this discussion are Ayn Rand’s essays “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business” (available in her book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal), “The Age of Envy”(available in the book Return of the Primitive), “Apollo 11” and “Epitaph For a Culture” (both available in the book The Voice of Reason). Also mentioned is Ayn Rand’s 1966 interview on the so-called robber barons.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith, Mike Mazza and Agustina Vergara Cid answer questions about Objectivism submitted by the podcast’s audience.
Among the topics covered:
1: Does Objectivism discourage engaging in fantasy art?1a: Are works of “art” that don’t objectify values actually “art”?2: How important is free will to the Objectivist philosophy?2a: Is it impossible to scientifically prove the nonexistence of free will?2b: If we can’t control certain aspects of our personalities, does this mean there is no free will?3: How are libertarianism and Objectivism different?3a: How did Rand evaluate the charge of “extremism”?4: How does one keep from giving up the fight for Objectivist ideas when faced with the trends in society?
Mentioned in the discussion are the books The Art of Fiction, edited by Tore Boeckmann, and Ayn Rand Answers, edited by Robert Mayhew.
This podcast was recorded on July 21, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
If you’d like to ask a question to be answered on a future episode, please send an email with “Podcast question” in the subject header to newideal@aynrand.org.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss whether governments should give out lottery prizes or other incentives for getting vaccinated, or mandate vaccination when people refuse it.
Among the topics covered:
Why the role of the U.S. government should shift given the end of the pandemic;How the problem that unvaccinated people pose to others is mainly due to socialized health care;Why incentivizing vaccination through “vaccine lotteries” is unjust paternalism;Differentiating the policies packaged together as vaccine “mandates”;Whether it is proper for governments to mandate vaccination;How government control of industry obscures the application of these principles;How collectivism generates conflict between people and discourages individual responsibility;Whether government mask mandates are justifiable;Whether the government involvement in vaccine distribution is a reason to fear the vaccine;The proper role of government in a pandemic.
Mentioned in the discussion are Onkar Ghate’s paper “A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease: Planning for the Next Pandemic,” Ben Bayer’s article “The Unscientific, Un-American Ethics of Vaccine Distribution,” and Ayn Rand’s comments on vaccine mandates and quarantine.
This podcast was recorded on July 14, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article, "The Unscientific, Un-American Ethics of Vaccine Distribution." In that essay, he argues that it's absurd to treat philosophers’ “intuitions” as standards for government distribution of the Covid vaccine. Bayer's article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute's journal, on April 14, 2021.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Keith Lockitch discuss the false viewpoint that Ayn Rand belonged to the “conservative” movement.
Among the topics covered:
Why people associate Ayn Rand with the “conservative” movement;Rand’s own experience with the conservative movement;What people saw conservatism as standing for in Rand’s time;Rand’s view that the defense of freedom has to be based in the morality of self-interest, not altruism;Rand’s central charge that conservatism was intellectually bankrupt and unwilling to reject altruism;Rand’s response to the conservative arguments for freedom;How Rand predicted the rise of militant conservative mystics in the 1980s;Rand’s criticism of the conservative attack on abortion rights;Rand’s criticisms of conservatism summarized;Whether conservatives and libertarians are better candidates than liberals and progressives to be persuaded by Objectivism;Tribalism in both conservativism and the left;Rand’s opposition to the military draft.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “Conservatism: an Obituary,” her talk “The Age of Mediocrity,” and Elan Journo’s essay “What Was Ayn Rand’s View of ‘Conservatism’?”.
This podcast was recorded on July 7, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Keith Lockitch discuss the full meaning of the "independence" in Independence Day and what we should be celebrating about America.
Among the topics covered:
A message from ARI’s first CEO regarding Independence Day;The reason the Americans declared independence from Britain: the principle of individual rights;Why it’s ominous that the injustice the American colonists revolted against was mild compared to what today’s government’s perpetrate;How the value of individual rights rests on the need for intellectual independence;How today’s anti-freedom ideologies are rooted in hostility to intellectual independence;The American Revolution’s insufficient independent thinking about morality;The moral independence declared by Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged;Thomas Jefferson’s own words on the meaning of Independence Day, and Rand’s view on the Declaration;Whether there will ever be a day to celebrate the achievement of laissez-faire capitalism in America.
Mentioned in the discussion are Onkar Ghate’s talk “Atlas Shrugged: America’s Second Declaration of Independence” (text version) and Ayn Rand’s talk “A Nation’s Unity.”
This podcast was recorded on July 1, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss a recent podcast in which Jordan Peterson interviews the Catholic bishop Robert Barron and claims that values are possible only through an act of faith and that the highest ideal is sacrifice.
Among the topics covered:
Why groundless faith in a God is fundamentally different from rational trust in other people;Whether Judeo-Christian religion is fundamental to Western culture;Why faith isn’t a necessary starting point of practical and epistemic justification;The issue of whether we are all seeking to do good, or some people are just evil;The absurdities demanded by faith in the Christian idea of the incarnation;The evil of how faith demands a morality of sacrifice;The harm of believing out of faith;Whether the fear of social isolation is rational;Whether there’s a conflict between Objectivism and Jordan Peterson’s ideas.
Mentioned in the discussion are the entries “Atheism,” “God,” “Faith,” “Reason” and “Religion” in the Ayn Rand Lexicon, Ayn Rand’s essay “Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World” and a panel with ARI intellectuals and Jordan Peterson on “philosophy and the human soul.”
This podcast was recorded on June 23, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Aaron Smith and Agustina Vergara Cid answer questions about Objectivism submitted by Objectivist Academic Center students and the audience.
Among the topics covered:
Question 1: What is the value of being certain?Question 2: Why should arbitrary hypotheses be rejected?Question 3: How are knowledge and principles contextual, and how is this not pragmatism?Question 4: What is the difference between Objectivism, absolutism and moral relativism?Question 5: Does a man have a right to his own death?Question 6: Why did Ayn Rand turn against Ronald Reagan?Question 7: What does Ayn Rand mean by a “mystic”?
You can apply for the Objectivist Academic Center here, and sign up for the OAC Preview summer seminar here.
This podcast was recorded on June 16, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
If you’d like to ask a question to be answered on a future episode, please send an email with “Podcast question” in the subject header to newideal@aynrand.org.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and special guest Robert Mayhew discuss Ayn Rand’s views on God and religion.
Among the topics covered:
What Ayn Rand meant when she said that religion “is a primitive form of philosophy”;What differentiates philosophy from religion;How the rise of philosophy influenced and antagonized religion;Why Objectivism is intransigently atheistic but not militant;Why Rand thought of religion as an unworthy adversary to her philosophy;Whether people believe in God because of arguments, or use arguments simply to rationalize a prior belief in God;Why the concept of God and of the supernatural are an attack on reason and reality;Whether liberty-oriented people (including the Founding Fathers) are fundamentally religious, and communists and socialists fundamentally atheistic;The movie Life of Brian and its message regarding religious belief.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World” and the entries “Atheism,” “God,” “Faith,” “Reason” and “Religion” in the Ayn Rand Lexicon.
This podcast was recorded on June 9, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the resurgence of demands for “national service,” which call for young people to give up a year or two of their lives to serve others, perhaps even to be mandated by law.
Among the topics covered:
Recent calls for increasing funding for “national service” programs;Why both mandatory and voluntary “national service” would be un-American;Why young people have no obligation to “give back” to society;Why “national service” would not help unite a divided country;Why “national service” wouldn’t help young people develop work or cooperative skills;Why the real motive for “national service” programs — the value of teaching self-sacrifice — is morally corrupt;Why “national service” is not needed to fill difficult, high-value jobs;The deeply un-American collectivism of William James’s essay “The Moral Equivalent of War”;What calls for “national service” reveal about the real meaning of the morality of self-sacrifice;Whether young people would reject “national service”;The historical and philosophical roots of the moral ideals behind calls for “national service” — and their alternatives.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s book The Virtue of Selfishness, her essay “The Wreckage of the Consensus,” and Ben Bayer’s article “Democrats’ ‘National Service’ Plans Immoral, Un-American.”
This podcast was recorded on June 2, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss Ayn Rand’s analysis of the fundamental roots of war.
Among the topics covered:
Why identifying the roots of war is a task for philosophy;Rand’s view that statist ideology is the fundamental root of war;How war stems from a statist regime’s war on its own citizens;Historical examples of why statist regimes need war to maintain power;Why Rand’s view challenges the view that capitalism and free trade lead to war;How Rand’s view contrasts with the view that “democracy” leads to peace;Why fundamental ideology and not the change in technology is the cause of war;The parallels between war and the “war on drugs”;Differing tribal dynamics of wars in different countries.
Mentioned in the discussion is Ayn Rand’s essay “The Roots of War.”
This podcast was recorded on May 26, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Agustina Vergara Cid interviews Amesh Adalja, a well-known expert on pandemic preparedness, about the fight against the pandemic in the U.S. and around the world.
Among the topics covered:
Evidence of the safety of the Covid-19 vaccines available in the U.S.;Whether reaching “herd immunity” is relevant to ending the current pandemic;What explains the recent CDC guidelines about masks;“Breakthrough infections” among the already vaccinated;Covid outbreaks overseas and U.S. measures to help contain them;Recent and upcoming developments with vaccines;The story of the development of mRNA vaccines;Whether travel bans help prevent the spread of viruses like Covid;Lessons from South Korea’s and Taiwan’s approaches to the pandemic;How to evaluate medical experts.
Mentioned in the discussion are Amesh Adalja’s recent article “With vaccinations on the rise, Covid-19 testing takes on a new role” and Onkar Ghate’s white paper, “A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease.”
This podcast was recorded on May 19, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this special episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Aaron Smith analyze the philosophic issues behind the intensifying conflict between Hamas and Israel.
Among the topics covered:
The facts about the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas;Whether previous incidents in Israel justify the Hamas attack;How to morally judge which side of this conflict is essentially correct;Why this conflict is between Israel and Hamas, not between Jews and Muslims;How the principle of individual rights is the standard to judge the difference between these regimes;Why Israel should not back down simply because it’s militarily stronger than Hamas;The likely outcome of the present conflict.
Mentioned in the discussion are Elan Journo’s book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and his recent article “Stop Ignoring Justice in the Israel-Hamas War.”
This podcast was recorded on May 14, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews special guest Adam Mossoff, intellectual property expert and professor of law at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, about President Biden’s recent support for waiving overseas patent protection for the Covid-19 vaccines developed by companies like Pfizer and Moderna.
Among the topics covered:
The Biden administration’s proposals to waive Covid vaccine patent protection by international institutions;Why intellectual property has only encouraged the development and distribution of medical technology and how this is the function of intellectual property;The likely consequences of waiving intellectual property rights for Covid vaccines;How intellectual property rights made possible the creation of the Covid vaccines and treatments;Why intellectual property rights are not fundamentally justified by their contribution to the “public good” but by the principle of individual rights;Whether the government acquires rights to intellectual property by investing in the development of innovations;Whether Section 1498 of the U.S. Code allows for government to exercise eminent domain over vaccine patents;Whether intellectual property rights allow pharmaceutical companies to profit from the spread of disease;Changes to the legal system and trade policy that would allow better production and distribution of the vaccines overseas;How a biological product can be considered intellectual property;The role of intellectual property in the development of a malaria vaccine and other mRNA vaccines.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “Patents and Copyrights,” Adam Mossoff’s article “Waiving Vaccine Patents Would Imperil Public Health,” and Ben Bayer’s article “The Unscientific, Un-American Ethics of Vaccine Distribution.”
This podcast was recorded on May 12, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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Sandra Shaw considered herself a socialist when she enrolled at Toronto’s York University in 1981. But then she attended classes taught by John Ridpath, associate professor of economics and intellectual history, who helped her discover Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. “I was struggling to understand the issues,” she recalled. “I was on a learning curve, a journey. I was cautious about embracing Objectivism. I really needed to see the moral case for Objectivism up against that of socialism, for which I still had sympathy. Organizing the debate was part of that intellectual journey.” In this episode of New Ideal live, Shaw joins ARI's Elan Journo to discuss the efforts that went into organizing and staging the classic 1984 debate, "Capitalism or Socialism: Which Is the Moral System?"
“Socialism or Capitalism: Which Is the Moral System?” That was the topic of Debate 1984 in Toronto, Canada — and it’s a topic still hotly debated today, as socialists like Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez denounce capitalism and attract large followings of young people to their vision of “democratic socialism.” Listen as Canadian socialists Jill Vickers and Gerald Caplan square off against the Objectivist team of Leonard Peikoff and John Ridpath, who defended capitalism and roundly refuted the socialists.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Mike Mazza and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss answers to questions about Objectivism submitted by Objectivist Academic Center students and the audience.
Among the topics covered:
Question 1: Should an independent man accept charity?Sub-question: Should one accept charity from someone who is sacrificing?Question 2: Could direct taxation be justified during wartime?Sub-question: Are “free riders” in a voluntarily funded government a problem?Question 3: What is Ayn Rand’s definition of knowledge?Sub-question: What are Objectivism’s resources for addressing the “Gettier problem”?Question 4: Are some Ayn Rand fans dogmatic? Isn’t it better to disagree with Objectivism than to agree with it dogmatically?ARI’s Objectivist Academic Center.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead, her book Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, and her essays “Government Financing in a Free Society” in The Virtue of Selfishness and “The Wreckage of the Consensus” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.
You can apply for the Objectivist Academic Center here, and sign up for the OAC Preview summer seminars here.
This podcast was recorded on May 5, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss whether Americans are dropping religion or are simply substituting one set of dogmas for another.
Among the topics covered:
What recent polls say about the decline in traditional religiosity;The increasing religious fervor of political dogmas (such as “identity politics” and environmentalism);Evaluating the claim that new political dogmas are literally sublimated religion;How Ayn Rand’s analyses of tribalism and altruism help explain the sociology of today’s political dogmas;How religious and political dogmas serve similar psychological purposes;Metaphysical similarities between traditional religions and the new political dogmas;Ayn Rand’s essay “Requiem for Man,” from her book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, on the motives of the religious mentality.
Also mentioned in the discussion are Rand’s essays “Philosophical Detection” and “The Missing Link” in her book Philosophy: Who Needs It, and Elan Journo’s essay “The Virulent Pull of Tribalism.”
This podcast was recorded on April 28, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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In this episode, ARI senior fellow Onkar Ghate challenges businesses to take a moral stand in defense of their rights. Almost sixty years after Ayn Rand described big business as “America’s persecuted minority,” Ghate observes, businessmen are still routinely subjected to moral denunciation and legal oppression. If that is to change, he adds, businessmen themselves must emulate other victimized groups who have mounted successful campaigns for civil rights.
Ghate begins this short talk by observing that businessmen are the creators, innovators and producers who generate the progress and prosperity we thrive on. For their achievements, he says, businessmen deserve moral praise, not the endless denunciation that’s heaped on figures like the Koch brothers and the wealthy “one percent.” Just as Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged paid tribute to productive businessmen, he explains, so the Institute that bears her name strives to change the deeply entrenched moral views that condemn business to perpetual censure.
Despite substantial obstacles to success, Ghate says, opponents of this injustice should not despair. “Seemingly hopeless causes can succeed, and have succeeded, when you look through American history,” he asserts. “But a necessary condition for success is that the victim has to stand up for himself. The victim has to say, ‘I’m subject to injustice. And this is what justice would look like, and it’s nothing like what the world looks like today.’”
Ghate points to historical examples such as the American Revolution and the anti-slavery, women’s suffrage, civil rights and gay pride movements. In every case, he observes, the victims framed their battle in terms of justice. They named particular injustices — think of the Declaration of Independence’s long list of grievances. And above all, they gave voice to their moral outrage. In effect, Ghate observes, they were all saying: “We have too much self-esteem to put up with what we have put up with.”
For businessmen to ignite such a reform movement, Ghate argues, they would need to focus on their mistreatment by the regulatory state, making public the wrongs that regulators routinely inflict on them in private. They would need to identify the evil of preventive law and ask, “What ever happened to ‘innocent until proven guilty’?” They would need to frame their protests in terms of freedom, justice, and civil rights. And in doing so, they would need to accept real economic and personal risks of the kind every victimized group in history has faced: harassment, ostracism, even monetary fines and jail time. Only this kind of long-term moral crusade has the power to free businessmen from opprobrium and oppression.
“Freedom and the Need for Business to Stand Up for Itself” was delivered at the Ayn Rand Institute’s Building a Future of Reason and Capitalism conference at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City on September 29, 2015.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Keith Lockitch discuss the emergent idea of “environmental humanism” advanced by thinkers such as Steven Pinker and Michael Shellenberger.
Among the topics covered:
How “environmental humanism” differs from “environmental alarmism”;The environmentalist movement’s history of failed predictions;How environmentalist energy policies are out of touch with reality;The irrational premises of the “environmental alarmists”;How the “environmental humanists” miss the moral perspective that explains the endurance of environmentalism;How misconceptualizing “selfishness” fuels the religious thinking among environmentalists;The role of ingenuity and long-term thinking in productive business activity, especially energy;The safety of nuclear energy;The parallel between socialism and environmentalism;Why there’s a lack of innovation in nuclear energy.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Anti-industrial Revolution,” her essay “The Left: Old and New,” and Keith Lockitch’s essay “The Green New Deal: A War Against Energy.”
This podcast was recorded on April 22, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate discuss Sam Harris’s argument against the existence of free will.
Among the topics covered:
Harris’s Humean argument equating causality with causation by prior events;Why free will doesn’t mean self-creation out of nothing;Harris’s argument for why we have no introspective experience of free will;How Harris’s thought experiment involves superficial attention to our experience of freedom;Why Harris can’t explain why his argument isn’t self-refuting;Rand’s view of why man is a being of self-made soul;Whether individuals with certain psychiatric conditions have volition;The issue of soft determinism (compatibilism).
Mentioned in the discussion are the “free will” entry in the Ayn Rand Lexicon, Onkar Ghate’s talk “Seize the Reins of Your Mind” and Ben Bayer’s article “Why Champions of Science and Reason Need Free Will.”
This podcast was recorded on April 15, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss Amazon’s pushback against Elizabeth Warren’s threats to break up the company.
Among the topics covered:
The persecution, under-appreciation and demonization of tech companies;Amazon’s unusually courageous challenges to Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren’s threats of regulation;What’s wrong with the reactions to Amazon’s tweets;The danger of companies’ acceptance of the moral framework of their enemies;What it would look like for companies to stand up for themselves;What it really means to call for the “breakup” of a company;When it’s appropriate for companies to apologize, and when it’s not.
Mentioned in the discussion were Ayn Rand’s essay “The Anatomy of Compromise” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal and Onkar Ghate’s talk “Freedom and the Need for Business to Stand Up for Itself.”
Note: Due to technical issues, sound and video become choppy approximately 45 minutes in, and the stream ends more abruptly than normal.
This podcast was recorded on April 7, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Agustina Vergara Cid analyze the calls to ban doctors and other health care workers from developing countries to come work in the United States.
Topics covered include:
Why doctors decide to leave their home countries in the face of great obstacles;Why some object to America’s “stealing” doctors from overseas;The philosophical ideas behind the opposition to the immigration of doctors;How altruism dehumanizes individual doctors in the name of the “needs” of society;What’s wrong with the collectivist idea that doctors owe a “debt” to their home countries;How to understand the shortage of doctors in underdeveloped countries;The audacity of the indifference to the interests of doctors in the context of a pandemic;Why doctors shouldn’t sacrifice themselves for their patients;Why altruism is not motivated to alleviate suffering.
Mentioned in the discussion were Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged; “How Not to Fight Against Socialized Medicine” by Ayn Rand and “Medicine: The Death of a Profession” by Leonard Peikoff, from The Voice of Reason; “Is Atlas Shrugging?” by Ayn Rand from Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal; Ayn Rand’s radio talk “The Brain Drain” on ARI Campus, and Elan Journo’s article “Unsung Heroes of the Pandemic: Healthcare Professionals.”
This podcast was recorded on March 31, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Mike Mazza discuss the distinction between mob action and legitimate moral judgment, in the context of today’s “cancel culture.”
Among the topics covered:
What is “cancel culture,” and how wide-ranging is it?The mob mentality behind certain “cancellations”;How to tell whether “cancellations” are motivated by justice;Whether conceptualizing “cancel culture” as an unjustifiable tactic is appropriate;The religious mentality behind “cancel culture”;Whether boycotts differ from “cancel culture”;Whether “cancel culture” has affected the Objectivist community;How concern for the marginalized is used to rationalize injustice.
Mentioned in the discussion was Ayn Rand’s essay “How Does One Lead a Rational Life in an Irrational Society?”
This podcast was recorded on March 24, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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Some myths never seem to die, especially the ones that draw life support from ceaseless social media invective. You cannot follow Ayn Rand on Facebook or Twitter without repeatedly encountering the accusation that she was a hypocrite for accepting Social Security benefits, since she opposed the welfare state in all its forms. Rarely, however, do her attackers bother even to read what she wrote on the subject. To clarify the issues, I wrote this article a few years ago, hoping to encourage careful attention to her reasoning as a prerequisite to passing judgment. Since the myth still lives, I’m publishing a lightly edited version of that article here on New Ideal. Onkar Ghate published this article originally on May 6, 2019, in New Ideal, the journal of the Ayn Rand Institute.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate discuss the lifting of the lockdowns and whether they were justified in the first place.
Among the topics covered:
The current state of the pandemic and recent policy decisions;The criticisms of decisions to lift the lockdowns;The critics’ mistaken view of the role of government in a pandemic;The absence of evidence for claims about the efficacy of lockdowns in stopping the spread of disease;Why hospital capacity preservation justifies lockdowns only by evading the ability of the free market to produce capacity;Why state governments that have lifted lockdowns are not without guilt;How paternalistic government encourages personal irresponsibility;The way forward: legally defining government’s proper role;The level of evidence that justifies a “track, test, isolate” government policy.
Mentioned in the discussion were Onkar Ghate’s essay “A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease” and Ben Bayer’s articles “Unjust Mask Mandates Distract from Real Pandemic Priorities” and “A Pro-Freedom, Pro-Science Alternative to Lockdowns.”
This podcast was recorded on March 17, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith and Onkar Ghate discuss the charge against Classics of perpetuating white supremacy, and the effort to reform or eliminate this academic discipline.
Topics discussed include:
The charges of racism and sexism that have been leveled against Classics;The inadequacy of the evidence offered for these charges;The impact of these charges on academics;Why the push for representation based on race is racist;What is and what isn’t valid about appreciating Western civilization;Whether unconscious “systemic” bias affects who is attracted to various academic fields;What racism really means.
Mentioned in the discussion were Ayn Rand’s essays “Racism” and “Global Balkanization.”
This podcast was recorded on March 10, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Keith Lockitch and Ben Bayer discuss biologist David Sloan Wilson’s so-called sequel to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
Among the topics covered:
What Wilson’s book, Atlas Hugged, is about — and why it’s worth analyzing;Whether the book can be considered a “sequel” to Rand’s novel;How Wilson’s novel rewrites crucial events of the original, especially the story of John Galt;Whether artistic license or parody are compatible with intellectual critique;Wilson’s caricature of Rand’s views of happiness, productiveness, and individualism;The “philosophical obtuseness” of Wilson’s argument for collectivism;Why Wilson’s collectivism is defensible only by the denial of free will;Miscellaneous questions and answers.
Mentioned in the discussion were Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, Leonard Peikoff’s Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, Allan Gotthelf and Gregory Salmieri’s A Companion to Ayn Rand, and Gotthelf and James Lennox’s Metaethics, Egoism and Virtue. Also mentioned were Ben Bayer’s essay “Real Philosophers Don’t Just Reflect the Trendy Consensus” and Elan Journo’s essay “When Tribal Journalists Try to ‘Cancel’ Ayn Rand.”
This podcast was recorded on March 3, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Keith Lockitch discuss the underlying philosophical issues that permeate today’s debate over energy and the environment.
Among the topics covered:
Why it’s a mistake to use the current crisis in Texas to boost policy agendas, especially “green” energy policies;Ayn Rand’s view of the environmentalist movement as an outgrowth of the New Left;Why environmentalist ideology is not focused primarily on human welfare;Environmentalism’s history of unscientific, apocalyptic predictions and its resemblance to religion;Why coercive environmentalist policies are no solution to real environmental problems;Why it’s a mistake to take technology for granted when environmentalist policies would take it away;The prescience of Ayn Rand’s analysis of the environmentalist movement and its ideas.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Anti-Industrial Revolution” in her book Return of the Primitive; the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on the “New Left”; and Keith Lockitch’s essays “The Green New Deal: A War Against Energy” and “Climate Vulnerability and the Indispensable Value of Industrial Capitalism”
This podcast was recorded on February 24, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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In this episode, we feature Elan Journo's article "Meet the Conservative Authoritarians," published January 6, 2021 in New Ideal. The article begins this way:
Donald Trump’s rise put on display an identity crisis within the conservative movement. That crisis predated the friction between #NeverTrump and die-hard loyalists. For decades “conservatism” has been a conglomeration of different, conflicting factions. Religionists stood alongside secularists, traditionalists alongside classical liberals, protectionists alongside free-marketeers — and still many other elements. With Trump leaving office, the question is which factions will exert the greatest influence on the movement’s future and, by extension, our politics.
Even if — and perhaps especially if — you are unsympathetic to “conservatism,” it’s crucial to understand one emergent faction seeking control: the crusaders for “national conservatism.”
One way to understand this crusade is to see it as an attempt to purge the broader “conservative” movement of elements it deems harmful. Advocates of “national conservatism” claim to march under a banner that will unite a fractured country, secure our freedoms. But what do they stand for? If they gain influence and power, what will their political success mean?
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo interviews Dr. Amesh Adalja, a well-known expert on pandemic preparedness, about the Covid-19 vaccine rollout and other pandemic updates.
Among other topics, they cover:
The level of vaccination needed to reduce the spread of the virus;The bottlenecks in vaccine distribution;The role of technology and innovation in the successes of the vaccine rollout;Whether using vaccination priority groups is good strategy;The new variants of the virus and what they mean for vaccination and testing;The science about children and Covid: vaccines and schools;The Russian vaccine Sputnik V;Whether people previously infected with Covid need the vaccine;The declining case, death and testing positivity rates;The vaccines’ effectiveness in maintaining immunity and preventing transmission;Whether proof of vaccination will be required for various activities;The level of vaccination needed to achieve herd immunity.
This podcast was recorded on February 19, 2021. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived web episodes here.
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Imagine being torn away from your husband and son, brutally arrested, and tossed into solitary confinement. Imagine being prevented from calling your family or even speaking to your lawyer. Imagine having to go on a hunger strike to get attention.
This was the actual experience of one Iranian woman, Shaparak Shajarizadeh. Her “crime”? Protesting the Iranian theocracy’s law mandating that women wear a headscarf in public.
With the help of noted human-rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, Shaparak was released on bail. Facing mounting persecution for her activism and the likelihood of a significant prison term, Shaparak decided to flee the country. She eventually found asylum in Canada.
For the New Ideal podcast, I recently interviewed Shaparak about her struggle in Iran and the plight of her fellow activists, which she describes in a recent book (currently only available in French, La liberté n’est pas un crime, or Freedom Is Not a Crime). We start with the reality of life under Iran’s theocratic regime, from the vantage of one of its victims. Ordinary Iranians “live under the shadow of fear,” she noted. Women in particular are second-class citizens who “face violence every day” and “never feel safe” in public, amid the patrols of the “morality police,” who enforce the compulsory hijab.
Having turned away from Islam, Shaparak went on to join protest movements, notably “#WhiteWednesdays,” and challenged the religious oppression of women. In one statement, she defied the authorities: “Don’t drag me to your heaven! I know what to do with my life!” As peaceful protests grew, the regime sought to crush such opposition.
Probably the most poignant, and dismaying, topic we discussed is the apathy of Western countries to the fate of Iranians seeking a modicum of freedom. One example she brought up was the 2015 agreement that the Obama administration signed with Iran over its nuclear program. Some people had hoped that U.S. diplomats would pressure the regime about its abysmal record on rights. But Obama’s landmark deal was silent about the Iranian regime’s systematic violation of individual rights. It left activists like Shaparak out in the cold.
You don’t know how much Iranian people look to the outside world for support, she told me. But the world, she said, is silent.
Or worse: Without intentional irony, the United Nations recently added Iran to a commission on women’s rights. “They come, they lie, and they go,” she said of Iranian diplomats at the UN — and the world lets them get away with it.
Determined to help change that, she has spoken out about the UN and worked to bring awareness to the struggles of Iranian activists — especially her lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh. For defending Shaparak and many other political activists, Sotoudeh has been sentenced to 38 years in jail, and 148 lashes.
For me the conversation — which you can watch or listen to below — holds a lesson for America about the absence of, and urgent need for, a principled foreign policy. Such a policy should uphold the ideal of freedom as a standard to live up to, regard its absence in other regimes as a moral failing, and lend moral support to individuals genuinely seeking freedom, in Iran and elsewhere.
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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Mike Mazza discuss why progress in the realm of human values has stalled in comparison to scientific and technological progress.
Among the topics covered:
The moral progress that has already happened in the last few centuries;What Ayn Rand thought of the disparity between technological and moral progress;What signs of moral regress we see today;What makes progress possible;How intellectuals have failed to offer the guidance needed for moral progress;The need to broaden the concept of “morality” to study which moral codes enable progress;What the content and method of a “progressive” morality would look like;How Ayn Rand’s own code of ethics embodies these characteristics;The theological difference between Northern Christians and Southern Christians before the Civil War.
Mentioned in the discussion were Ayn Rand’s essays “What Is Capitalism?,” “The Objectivist Ethics” and “The Moral Basis of Individualism.” Also mentioned were Onkar Ghate’s “Finding Morality and Happiness Without God” and Ben Bayer’s “Why Progress in Ethics Is Frozen.”
This podcast was recorded on February 10, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo are joined by Robert Mayhew, professor of philosophy at Seton Hall University and ARI board member, to discuss the enduring relevance of Ayn Rand’s novel We The Living, especially regarding its theme of what it means to truly live.
Among the topics covered:
Why we should read We the Living today, even though it was published eighty-five years ago;What the title of the novel means by “living”;Kira as a heroine, her value-orientation and focus on her own life;The meaning of the “benevolent universe premise” and its portrayal in the novel;Ayn Rand’s secular conception of the “sacred” in We the Living;Kira’s and Rand’s rejection of religion in the name of the sacred;The sense in which We the Living is autobiographical;Whether the character of Andrei is realistic;Why the character of Leo loses sight of his values;Whether Rand was influenced by Spinoza;Whether the “benevolent universe premise” could be construed as religious.
Mentioned in the discussion were Robert Mayhew’s book Essays on Ayn Rand’s “We the Living” and Onkar Ghate’s course on the novel on ARI Campus.
This podcast was recorded on February 2, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer sits down with Steve Simpson, senior attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, to discuss whether “deplatforming” by tech companies constitutes censorship.
Topics covered include:
What free speech is, and what constitutes a violation of this right, especially in the context of social media;Why the solution to “censorship by proxy” is not more government pressure on private companies;Whether companies today are making decisions in reaction to government pressure;Why private companies’ right to free speech includes the right to make irrational decisions about what content to sponsor or remove;Why social media companies cannot and should not be content neutral;Why Section 230’s distinction between publisher and platform liability is valid and useful;The real motive behind the pushes to repeal Section 230;The legal basis for the “deplatforming” of social media companies by vendor IT companies;What to make of the fact that tech companies have been subsidized by the government;Why the right to free speech fundamentally protects the creation of rational values, which the social media companies have done.
Mentioned in the discussion were the Wall Street Journal’s article “Save the Constitution From Big Tech,” the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on censorship, Ayn Rand’s article “Have Gun, Will Nudge,” Steve Simpson’s book Defending Free Speech and his article “Unjust Attacks on Facebook,” as well as Ben Bayer’s “Ominous Threats to the Marketplace of Ideas” and “Facebook: Censor or Victim?”
This podcast was recorded on January 26, 2021. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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Every so often, the debate over “hate speech” moves to the foreground, and we hear urgent calls for the United States to enact laws banning it. Many claim that such laws would have beneficial outcomes, curtailing speech that belittles, demeans, offends, or discriminates. Canada, the United Kingdom, France and many other Western countries have enacted “hate speech” laws. Some people argue that the U.S. should follow their example.
But what exactly is “hate speech”? What can we learn from the experience of countries with “hate speech” laws?
That’s where I began my conversation with Nadine Strossen, professor emerita at New York Law School and author of Hate: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship. Strossen is a noted expert on free speech, the immediate past president of the American Civil Liberties Union, and a board member of Heterodox Academy and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
In her book Strossen offers an incisive analysis amply illustrated with evidence (though there are aspects of her book that I disagree with). What leaps off the page — and what came out vividly in our conversation — is the fact that “hate speech” is an inherently subjective term, one that even the best legal scholars have failed to define objectively.
What do “hate speech” laws look like in practice? In Canada, for example, a man was prosecuted for distributing four pamphlets quoting Bible verses in opposition to homosexuality. The pamphlets went through three levels of judicial review. One court found that all four were punishable “hate speech.” Another, that none of them was. The third, that two pamphlets were criminally punishable but two were not.
The wider lesson is that “hate speech” laws are a threat to freedom of speech because they unleash governments to arbitrarily silence dissenting or unpopular speech. I came away from the conversation grateful that the United States is an outlier — that we have the First Amendment to protect freedom of speech and stand as an obstacle to the enactment of “hate speech” laws.
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In this episode of New Ideal Live, on the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss the ideal of “color blindness” and its relation to the struggle against racism.
Among the topics covered:
The meaning of the ideal of “color blindness”;Whether this ideal promotes blindness to injustice;How emphasizing awareness of color differences aggravates tribalism;Why inherited skin color and culture should not be packaged together or regarded as objects of shame or pride;Whether the concept of “race” is valid;Why cultural achievements are caused by chosen values, not “race”;Why racism is empowered by determinism;How to combat racism in one’s own thinking;How today’s intellectual culture encourages racist thinking;Whether there is such a thing as “systemic racism”;Whether there is such a thing as “cultural appropriation”;How our culture can deal honestly with questions about racism.
The discussion analyzed two articles critical of the idea of “color blindness,” “Colorblind Ideology Is a Form of Racism” by Monnica T. Williams in Psychology Today and “Color-Blindness Is Counterproductive” by Adia Harvey Wingfield in The Atlantic. Also referenced were contrasting perspectives in “The Left's Attack on Color-Blindness Goes Too Far” by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic and Ayn Rand’s essay “Racism” from her book The Virtue of Selfishness.
This podcast was recorded on January 18, 2021. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
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Amid controversy following the killing of George Floyd, many companies, organizations and universities issued statements about confronting racial injustice. The one from Brown University, emailed to its students, staff and alumni, conformed to what’s become a widely accepted view about racism in America:
. . . this is not a mere moment for our country. This is historical, lasting and persistent. Structures of power, deep-rooted histories of oppression, as well as prejudice, outright bigotry and hate, directly and personally affect the lives of millions of people in this nation every minute and every hour.
But one professor at Brown University raised his voice in protest against this “structural racism” narrative. In an incisive letter, Glenn Loury objected that letter’s authors treated many controversial and complex claims as if they were obviously true. “Is it supposed to be self-evident that every death of an ‘unarmed black man’ at the hands of a white person tells the same story? [The letter’s authors] speak of ‘deep-rooted systems of oppression; legacies of hate.’ No elaboration required here?” This, he went on, “is no reasoned ethical reflection. Rather, it is indoctrination, virtue-signaling, and the transparent currying of favor with our charges.”
“What I found most alarming,” he wrote, “is that no voice was given to what one might have thought would be a university’s principal intellectual contribution to the national debate at this critical moment: namely, to affirm the primacy of reason over violence in calibrating our reactions to the supposed ‘oppression.’”
Loury’s rebuttal to the Brown statement reflects his longstanding critique of prevailing “woke” views on racism and how to combat it. An economist and social critic, Loury is the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences at Brown. He has published more than two hundred essays and reviews in journals and magazines, along with several scholarly books on race and racial inequality.
Recently, Onkar Ghate and I talked with Loury about racism in America. Loury’s knowledge of the issues is extensive, and we covered a lot of ground. Among the topics we discussed:
Loury’s assessment of the scale of anti-black racism today compared with the climate during the mid-20th centuryThe debates about over-incarceration of blacks and racial bias in school disciplineThe roles of the War on Drugs, minimum wage laws, and the welfare state in impeding economic progressThe underappreciated role of cultural ideas and values in understanding black communitiesThe impact of state-run schools, particularly in impoverished areasThe climate at universities and his experiences teaching a course on race and inequality
A point that resonated strongly with me: Talking about the situation on campus, Loury argued that professors have a responsibility, rather than jumping on a bandwagon, to adopt an “objective, critical, analytical posture” toward the issues and racially charged events we’re living through. He observed: “We’re letting our kids down if we don’t have a robust argument” about issues of race today.
Listen to or watch the conversation below.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the moral significance and the consequences of the January 6 storming of the Capitol by supporters of President Trump.
Among the topics covered:
How the storming of the Capitol resembled the 9/11 terrorist attacksTrump’s level of moral responsibility for the attackThe arbitrariness of Trump’s conspiracy assertionsOur culture’s descent into irrationalist tribalismThe increasing authoritarianism on both the right and the leftThe importance of recognizing the varying degrees of support for violence and authoritarianism on both sides of the cultureThe importance of recognizing the various forms of dictatorial aspirationThe tribalistic attempt to claim victimhood in order to scapegoat the other sideWhy the attackers were not “patriots” but nihilistsThe commonalities between the storming of the Capitol and the BLM protestsThe attack as an attempt to defy the rule of lawThe political institutions worth supporting in an irrational political cultureThe philosophical causes of tribalismHow to think rationally about election fraud claimsWhat should happen to Trump in the future given his moral responsibility for the attackWhat is the best path forward for America
Mentioned in the discussion is Onkar Ghate’s 2016 essay “One Small Step for Dictatorship: The Significance Of Donald Trump’s Election.”
This podcast was recorded on January 13, 2021. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article “Why Scientific Progress in Ethics is Frozen.” In that essay, he examines some recent attempts by public intellectuals like Steven Pinker, Michael Shermer, and Sam Harris to provide a scientific foundation for ethics. He observes that all of them make a conventional assumption that equates the subject matter of ethics with proper relationships with other people. He argues that this equation is overly narrow and fails to take account of the actual subject of the wider array of ethical theories throughout history. Bayer argues that we must challenge the conventional equation if we are to have a scientific revolution in ethics. The article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute’s journal, on January 13, 2021.
It’s tragic that the West has failed to take a principled stand in defense of free speech.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer is joined by Gena Gorlin, professor and clinical psychologist, to discuss the psychology of personal change and its connections with philosophy.
Among the topics covered:
Gorlin’s view of New Year’s resolutions, and why change is so hard;Considerations for making effective New Year’s resolutions;Whether and how we can change fundamental aspects of ourselves;How conscious and subconscious beliefs impact our mental health;How our motivations impact our ability to change;How we can tell when a change is worth making;The role of heritability in shaping our character.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “Causality Versus Duty” and her book Atlas Shrugged. Also mentioned are Gorlin’s Psychology Today article “What It Really Looks Like to Rebuild Your Soul” and her paper, with Reinier Schuur, “Nurturing Our Better Nature: A Proposal for Cognitive Integrity as a Foundation for Autonomous Living.”
This podcast was recorded on December 29, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
On the second installment of New Ideal Live’s three-part analysis of the Biden administration agenda, Ben Bayer Onkar Ghate discuss, from a philosophical perspective, the proposed health care policies of the upcoming administration.
Among the topics covered:
Why the health care industry’s importance is a reason to keep it free from regulation;Why Biden’s “public option” plan is not a form of freedom, and why it crowds out private enterprises;Why the idea of the “right to health care,” which motivates government intervention in health care, misinterprets the concept of “rights”;How policies implementing the “right to health care” demonize health care workers and treat them as slaves;The new restrictions that Biden policies will place on health care producers;Why socialized medicine is not the panacea some think it is.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s “The Forgotten Man of Socialized Medicine” in For the New Intellectual, and Leonard Peikoff’s essay “Health Care Is Not a Right.” This podcast was recorded on December 22, 2020.
On the final installment of New Ideal Live’s three-part analysis of the Biden administration agenda, Ben Bayer and Keith Lockitch discuss, from a philosophical perspective, the environmental and energy agenda of the upcoming administration.
Among the topics covered:
Whether climate change poses an existential threat;Why we need industrial capitalism to deal with real climate vulnerability;Why Biden’s alternative energy plan is impractical and threatens progress;What environmentalists’ opposition to nuclear and even solar energy reveals about their real motivation;The devastating impacts of a dramatic reduction in carbon emissions;Why government “investment” in energy doesn’t incentivize innovation but hampers it;The anti-life philosophical ideas that drive Biden’s energy and environmental agendas.
Mentioned in the discussion are Keith Lockitch’s articles “Pandemic Exposes the Reality of a Low-Carbon Economy,” “The Green New Deal: A War Against Energy,” and “Climate Vulnerability And The Indispensable Value Of Industrial Capitalism.” Also mentioned are Ayn Rand’s “The Anti-Industrial Revolution,” “The Left: Old and New,” and “Egalitarianism and Inflation.” This podcast was recorded on December 23, 2020.
On the first installment of New Ideal Live’s three-part analysis of the Biden administration agenda, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss and analyze, from a philosophical perspective, the overall policy plan of the new administration with an emphasis on the economy.
Among the topics covered:
Why Biden’s plans reflect an embrace of the mixed economy;Why a mixed economy leads to pressure group warfare;How Biden’s labor and trade policies echo Trump’s;Why Biden’s economic proposals will hurt the ambitious poor;The travesty of the proposed constitutional amendment to publicly fund election campaigns.
This podcast was recorded on December 21, 2020.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss the philosophy behind the “left,” and Ayn Rand’s critique of it.
Among the topics covered:
The philosophical roots of the “left” as a political phenomenon;Why Ayn Rand thought the ideas behind socialism, communism and fascism are evil;Why Rand thought that these nominally secular ideas were still forms of mysticism;Why Rand thought that conservative politicians of her time failed to oppose the left on principle;How Rand differentiated the “New Left” from the old;Environmentalism, racism and tribalism as outgrowths of “New Left” ideas.
Mentioned in the discussion were Ayn Rand’s talks “The Anti-Industrial Revolution” and “Apollo and Dionysus,” and her book Return of the Primitive This podcast was recorded on December 16, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article “Why Today’s Ethics Offers No Real Guidance.” In that essay, he examines the strange set of cases today’s academic ethicists choose to analyze. All too often, he observes, they see morality as concerned with settling interpersonal conflicts or even resolving dilemmas in rare emergency situations such as the “trolley problem.” Bayer argues that these ethicists are unable to provide meaningful advice for everyday life because they think that the special province of morality is to give us advice about who is to be sacrificed to whom when there are conflicts of interest. Bayer’s article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute’s journal, on November 18, 2020.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate And Ben Bayer talk about the Ayn Rand Institute’s approach to promoting Rand’s ideas in the face of cultural opposition, and what is needed to change people’s mind on important philosophical issues.
Among the topics covered:
Why changing minds is important;ARI’s long-term mission of changing the culture’s philosophical ideas, as inspired by Ayn Rand’s view of the importance of philosophy;Why it’s important to speak up about important issues of the day;Why knowing one’s audience is important to persuasion;ARI’s approach to some key current issues: the pandemic, the right to abortion, and racism;Why persuasion requires presenting a positive philosophical alternative.
Mentioned in the discussion is Ayn Rand’s essay “What Can One Do?” from her book Philosophy: Who Needs It.
This podcast was recorded on December 9, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
“We are living under siege, in Paris, in 2020,” said Fabrice Nicolino, a journalist who survived the massacre at the magazine Charlie Hebdo. Speaking at the trial of the alleged conspirators in that massacre, Nicolino decried the fact that the magazine now operates under heavy security: “What we are enduring, you aren’t interested in it.” In 2015, Islamists burst into the offices of Charlie Hebdo and, with seeming military precision, executed eleven people, including the editor and many of the publication’s leading cartoonists. The magazine had published a cartoon of Muhammad. The gunmen had come to “avenge the prophet.” To mark the opening of the trial in September, Charlie Hebdo republished the notorious cartoons of Muhammad. In an editorial, it stated: “We would have found it unacceptable to start this trial without presenting them to our readers and to the public. . . . These cartoons are part of history.” Several weeks later, a man wielding a meat cleaver went to the former offices of the magazine (unaware it had relocated) and stabbed two people he thought worked there. Denouncing Charlie Hebdo’s republication of the Muhammad cartoons, he admitted to police that he planned to set fire to the building. While the trial was ongoing, in north Paris on October 16, a young Islamist attacked a middle-school teacher, Samuel Paty, and beheaded him. Paty had shown some students one of the cartoons that appeared in Charlie Hebdo — “during a moral and civic education class discussion about freedom of speech.” A young Islamist attacked a middle-school teacher, Samuel Paty, and beheaded him. Paty had shown some students one of the cartoons that appeared in Charlie Hebdo — “during a moral and civic education class discussion about freedom of speech.”What’s the climate today for freedom of speech, specifically on the topic of Islam, in Europe? What can we make of the response of European governments? To understand the situation, I talked to Flemming Rose, a journalist and author of The Tyranny of Silence. In 2005, he was an editor at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten when it commissioned and later published cartoons on the subject of Islam to assess the seeming climate of self-censorship. That decision led to boycotts, deadly protests, and a global crisis. Al Qaeda put Mr. Rose on a hit list, and today when he leaves home, he must be accompanied by bodyguards. We talked about the “cartoons crisis,” which has become shrouded in misconceptions, the worldwide protests and boycotts that ensued, and the massacre at Charlie Hebdo (it had republished the Danish cartoons in support of freedom of speech). Following that attack, millions flocked to the streets of Paris to show their solidarity with the murdered journalists, declaring on banners, “Je Suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”). What became of that visceral outpouring of support in the years since? The Charlie Hebdo massacre and subsequent attacks have stoked fears about some Muslims in France rejecting the country’s principles of secular government and free speech. The French president, Emanuel Macron, has expressed concern about “Islamist separatism”: Is this a significant phenomenon, I asked Mr. Rose, and what’s his view of the French government’s approach to it? Flemming Rose is a thoughtful observer. I found the conversation illuminating, but also chilling. This episode was recorded on November 11, 2020. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo interviews Dr. Amesh Adalja, a well-known expert on pandemic preparedness, about the newly developed Covid-19 vaccines and other updates about the pandemic.
Among the topics covered:
News about current infection rates, and the outlook for the coming months;How the data on effectiveness of the new vaccines are interpreted by experts;What vaccine “efficacy” means;The differences we can expect between vaccine trial results and real-world results;Anticipated challenges to the vaccines’ rollout;What is new and different about mRNA vaccines;The level of vaccination we’ll need to go back to pre-pandemic normal life.
This podcast was recorded on December 3, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived web episodes here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer discuss the real meaning of Thanksgiving and the many things we should be thankful for, even during this grim and challenging year.
Among the topics covered:
The history of Thanksgiving as a religious holiday, and how a secular meaning can be abstracted from it;Why we should recognize and thank healthcare professionals, scientists and entrepreneurs who have made our lives radically better, especially during a pandemic;Why it’s unjust that so many people take these creators for granted;Why it’s important to recognize the real value producers and express gratitude for their achievements;The significance of Ayn Rand’s “benevolent universe” premise.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged and Elan Journo’s articles “Thanksgiving: The Producer’s Holiday” and “Unsung Heroes of the Pandemic” (three-part series).
A special thanks to our donors who make this podcast and other ARI products and programs possible.
This podcast was recorded on November 24, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Gregory Salmieri joins Ben Bayer to discuss the approach that leads many prominent philosophers to analyze far-fetched dilemmas, an approach that offers no serious moral guidance for everyday life. They also discuss how a different approach can actually guide our decisions.
Among the topics covered:
How prevalent the study of these dilemmas is among philosophy professors;Whether ethics has always been about resolving dilemmas;The philosophy that leads thinkers to see the subject of ethics as conflict resolution;Ayn Rand’s alternative approach to the ethics of “emergency” situations, and why her approach to ethics does offer positive guidance.
Mentioned in the conversation are Rand’s essays “The Ethics of Emergencies,” “The ‘Conflicts’ of Men’s Interests” and “The Objectivist Ethics” from her book The Virtue of Selfishness; Leonard Peikoff’s book Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, Gregory Salmieri and Allan Gotthelf’s A Companion to Ayn Rand, and Ben Bayer’s article “Why Today’s Ethics Offers No Real Guidance.”
This podcast was recorded on November 18, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss what it means to honor a nation’s soldiers and veterans. They argue that the decision to go to war is a serious moral issue and has to take seriously the lives of its soldiers in battle.
Among other topics, they cover:
How the purpose of a proper government (the protection of its citizens’ individual rights) sets the bounds for the proper use of the military;Ayn Rand’s perspective on what justifies war, and how it differs from libertarian and conservative views;Why regarding military service as a sacrifice for the “common good” is a mistake and an insult to soldiers and veterans;What Rand thought of American wars of her time, especially Vietnam, and how America’s foreign policy from World War I on has too often betrayed American soldiers;Why Ayn Rand opposed the draft on moral grounds.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essays “The Roots of War,” “Lessons from Vietnam” (available in the book The Voice of Reason), “The Wreckage of the Consensus,” the Ayn Rand Lexicon’s entry on “war,” Rand’s books Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal and The Virtue of Selfishness, Elan Journo’s books Winning the Unwinnable War and What Justice Demands, and Journo and Ghate’s book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism.
This podcast was recorded on November 11, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Keith Lockitch take a step back from controversies about the current election season to discuss the most fundamental aspects of America’s political system.
Among the topics covered:
The original meaning of “democracy,” and why America is not a democracy in this sense;What “the consent of the governed” means, and why it does not mean unlimited majority rule;The basic principle that justifies a legitimate government, according to Ayn Rand;The proper role of voting and representation in a free society.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essays “The Nature of Government,” “Representation Without Authorization,” and “The Season of Platitudes”; the book Foundations of a Free Society, edited by Gregory Salmieri and Robert Mayhew, and the book A New Textbook of Americanism, edited by Jonathan Hoenig (particularly the essay “On the Role of Voting in the American System of Government”).
This podcast was recorded on November 3, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer explore the principles that should guide judges dedicated to interpreting a Constitution that enshrines and protects individual rights. From this perspective, they comment on statements given by Judge Amy Coney Barrett in her recent confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court.
Among the topics covered:
The fundamental value of First Amendment rights;Why religious liberty isn’t specially privileged compared to other personal freedoms;Why the establishment clause and protection of religious liberty are not in tension;Why it’s important to acknowledge rights unenumerated by the Bill of Rights;Why the “originalist” approach to Constitutional interpretation is attractive to jurists with a religious mindset.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “Man’s Rights” and ARI board member Tara Smith’s book Judicial Review in an Objective Legal System.
This podcast was recorded on October 28, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this special episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss Paul Krugman’s recent column in the New York Times smearing Ayn Rand and claiming that she’s responsible for the death of thousands of people during the pandemic. The column, which purports to stand up for facts and science, exhibits serious intellectual dishonesty about Rand’s ideas.
Among the topics covered:
Krugman’s attempt to smear Rand by lumping her together with Donald Trump and others who ignore science;Krugman’s distortion of Rand’s ideas, and his subsequent admission that he caricatured Rand;Krugman’s history of distorting Rand’s views (in spite of knowing better);Why Krugman fears engaging with Rand’s actual ideas, the only ones that challenge his moral premises;Rand’s actual opinion on the role of the government in infectious disease, which is radically different from what Krugman implies;Krugman’s deeply mistaken conception of freedom as opposed to Rand’s principled perspective;An open invitation for Krugman to debate ARI intellectuals.
Mentioned in the discussion are Rand’s audio on her perspective on quarantines and Onkar Ghate’s paper “A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease.” Additionally, here’s ARI’s letter to the editor of the New York Times.
Podcast audio:
“It’s not every day that the New York Times accuses the person after whom your institute is named of mass murder,” says CEO Tal Tsfany in this short video based on the arguments made in the podcast. Tsfany not only condemns Krugman’s attack on Rand but challenges him to debate an ARI intellectual on the merits:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Keith Lockitch discuss what’s wrong with the push from the “national conservatism” movement to restore what it takes to be traditional American values.
Among the topics covered:
What conservatism is, and what Ayn Rand thought about it;What the “national conservatism” movement stands for today;The movement’s major concerns, especially regarding free trade and immigration;How their elevation of the value of ethnic heritage negates individualism and freedom;The anti-reason, anti-Enlightenment mentality of intellectuals in this movement.
Mentioned in the discussion are the entries “conservatives” and “collectivism” in the Ayn Rand Lexicon, Ayn Rand’s essay “Conservatism: An Obituary,” and Elan Journo’s essay “The Vice of Nationalism.”
This podcast was recorded on October 21, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Keith Lockitch discuss the newly released encyclical by Pope Francis, “Fratelli Tutti" ("Brothers All"). They argue that this document is an attack on freedom and capitalism — but is consistent with the Christian worldview.
Among the topics covered:
The main concern raised by the Pope: political and social division, and what he thinks is the cause of the problem (individualism);His proposed solution: charity and “solidarity,” both private and governmental;A question that the Pope doesn’t ask but should: what is the source of wealth?How Marxism stole the deeply Christian idea that property rights are dispensable and that we have a duty to share wealth with the poor;Ayn Rand’s comments on a previous encyclical, “Populorum Progressio”(1967), where she critiqued many of the same ideas in Pope Francis’s document today.
Mentioned in the discussion are the pope’s latest encyclical, Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, her essays “Requiem for Man” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal and “Of Living Death” in The Voice of Reason, the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on “religion,” and Onkar Ghate’s article “Finding Happiness and Morality Without God.”
This podcast was recorded on October 14, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, China faced credible accusations that it unduly delayed reporting the outbreak to the World Health Organization and manipulated that organization to deflect blame. China, moreover, has long insisted on excluding Taiwan — one of the few countries to respond successfully to the pandemic — from the WHO.
The scandal over China’s machinations, however, is an aspect of a larger, even more shameful story about the WHO’s parent organization, the United Nations.
I interviewed Hillel Neuer, a lawyer and writer, who is executive director of UN Watch, a non-governmental organization that reports on the United Nations. Our conversation began with the story that’s made the WHO notorious during the pandemic, but quickly broadened to look at the United Nations and its Human Rights Council.
The UN’s Human Rights Council, supposedly a global watchdog on rights, is used by authoritarians and dictators to deflect attention from their own crimes. At the same time, as Neuer put it, the UN has “pathologically” heaped scorn on Israel, a basically free society. One question I put to Neuer: Why has there been no investigation, let alone an outcry, at the Human Rights Council about the compelling evidence that China has coerced nearly one million Uighurs (a Muslim minority group) into prison-like camps? How have the dozens of Muslim-majority nations at the UN reacted? If you expected them to lambaste China, you’d be stunned. The UN’s Human Rights Council, Neuer observed, is “one of the most cynical places I’ve ever seen.”
Looking back at our conversation, which you can hear and watch below, one conclusion was overwhelming. It is not only China that the UN enables and provides moral cover for. The UN does the same for many of the world’s dictatorships and authoritarian regimes. Neuer is an outspoken, eloquent critic of the United Nations (here’s one viral video of him speaking at the UN), and his work helps expose the reality of the organization’s moral corruption. While Neuer’s own organization is dedicated to holding the UN accountable to its founding principles, in my view the UN’s moral failings are fundamental and beyond remedy.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer talks with Amesh Adalja, a well-known expert on pandemic preparedness, about the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic.
Among the topics covered:
Why there are outbreaks in many parts of the country right now;How individuals can change their behavior to combat the virus;The latest antibody treatments, including those recently administered to President Trump;Prospects for the availability of rapid at-home tests;Whether or not masks are effective at containing the spread of the virus;Updates on the development of a vaccine;What to make of the case of Sweden, where no lockdowns where imposed.
Mentioned in the conversation were Dr. Adalja’s article “COVID19: A Path Forward,” Onkar Ghate’s white paper “A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease,” and Ben Bayer’s article “The FDA Mandates Ignorance about Covid-19.”
This podcast was recorded on October 7, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived web episodes here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the new push for socialism in America, and the ideas that motivate today’s socialist politicians and intellectuals.
Among the topics covered:
What socialism really is, and why it causes destruction and oppression;Why “democratic socialism” is a euphemism that trades on confusion about “democracy”;How socialism is motivated by deeper moral premises — and their alternatives;Why most opponents of socialism in America are ineffective;Whether Scandinavian countries are exemplars of socialist success.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s talk “Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World,”the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on “Socialism,” Ben Bayer’s articles “Meet the New Socialism, Same as the Old” and “The Dishonesty of ‘Real Socialism Has Never Been Tried,’” and Elan Journo’s “The Berlin Wall and the Evil of Socialism.”
This podcast was recorded on September 30, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
For years Turkey was deservedly hailed as a modern, secular, pro-Western society — at least, until the last decade.
Turkey lies at the edge of Europe and the Middle East, not only geographically but also, in a sense, politically. It’s a Muslim-majority country that for most of the twentieth century was a “secular republic,” assuring freedom of religion and having no official state-backed religion. Though straddling the Middle East, Turkey is a member of NATO and has sought to join the European Union. But a lot has changed in the last twenty years.
Since the early 2000s, Turkey’s political system has steadily moved toward one shaped by Islamist ideas. Turkey has funded and enabled jihadist groups, such as Hamas. And it is jockeying with Saudi Arabia and Iran to style itself as leader of the global community of Muslims.
How did this happen? What lessons can we draw from the rise of Islamism in Turkey?
To understand this transformation, I talked with Dr. Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Rubin specializes in Turkey, Iran and the broader Middle East, and he was among the few voices early on raising the alarm about the ominous trends in Turkey.
The driving force behind the reshaping of Turkey is the country's leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — a man Rubin has characterized as a jihadist in a business suit. Rubin argues that what Saudi Arabia was to the rise of the Islamist movement in the twentieth century (a financial sponsor of that ideology, opening religious schools globally and backing jihadists), Turkey aims to be in the twenty-first century.
From my interview with Rubin — which you can catch below — a few takeaways stand out regarding Turkey’s transformation. First, Erdoğan embarked on a calculated plan to inject Islamist ideas into Turkish society. Second, Erdoğan's campaign was incrementalist, reshaping institutions and the legal system from within, but also opportunistic, exploiting pretexts to silence dissent. Finally, it's crucial to recognize that Erdoğan's authoritarianism is now moving toward dictatorship, and that this seizure of ever more power is a means to the end of creating an Islamist society.
Put another way, Islamist regimes in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and elsewhere aspire to, and sometimes attain, totalitarian power, but these recognizable variations of Islamist rule are not the only ones. It can also look like Turkey, and unless we recognize that, we overlook the influence of Islamist ideas.
Podcast audio:
In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article, “Meet the New Socialism, Same as the Old.” In that essay, he examines recent arguments by socialist intellectuals like Bhaskar Sunkara who are attracting more attention from young people. Sunkara argues that socialism is essentially the extension of democracy from the political to the economic realm. Bayer responds that this argument trades on an ambiguity about the meaning of "democracy," and that the essence of the socialist approach to democracy leads to brutality. Bayer's article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute’s journal, on September 2, 2019.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, ARI senior fellow Onkar Ghate and ARI board members Yaron Brook and Robert Mayhew discuss the upcoming U.S. presidential election, with an emphasis on how Ayn Rand herself thought about voting, elections, and political trends in the United States.
Among the topics discussed are:
What ARI’s 501(c)(3) status requires, and why it permits expressing opinions on policy and political issues;Why Objectivism’s views are so radically different from today’s popular political positions, including conservatism’s;Rand’s views on choosing the “lesser of two evils” and when abstention from voting might be necessary;Ayn Rand’s commentary on the presidential elections of her time and her views of their long-term consequences;Her controversial views on specific candidates like Kennedy and Reagan;An analysis of the current presidential candidates, and what they say about the philosophical state of the culture.
Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “Conservatism: An Obituary” and her talk “Censorship: Local and Express.” Rand’s commentary on elections is also available in the book Ayn Rand Answers.
This podcast was recorded on September 24, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived episodes here.
Podcast audio:
With calls to “cancel” prominent people becoming commonplace, even major historical figures like Aristotle are likely targets.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Aaron Smith discuss Agnes Callard’s New York Times opinion piece "Should We Cancel Aristotle?" and the culture wars over which figures should be taught, tolerated, venerated, or toppled.
Among the topics discussed are:
Why Callard’s weak defense of Aristotle is worse than no defense;What standards should determine whether a given historical figure should be taught or studied;What positive values you can gain by studying world-class thinkers of the past like Aristotle;Why many criticisms of historical figures’ views are anachronistic and unjust;Why the language of “cancelling” and "cancel culture" distort thinking.
Also mentioned in the discussion are Bryan W. Van Norden’s “Who Is Cancelling Aristotle?” and Daniel James Sharp’s “David Hume Tower: A Tale of Quiet and Shameful Erasure.”
This podcast was recorded on September 16, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived episodes here.
Podcast audio:
Last Friday marked the 19th anniversary of September 11, 2001 — the atrocious terrorist attacks that changed America forever.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer sit down to discuss the legacy of the U.S. response to 9/11 and the lessons we should have learned from it.
Among the topics discussed:
The historical significance of 9/11; Why America’s failure to understand the ideological nature of its Islamist enemies crippled its response to the attacks; ARI’s philosophical, principled response to the attacks, and its policy recommendations; Why the morality of altruism is to blame for the failed American foreign policy; The reasons why the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars are “unwinnable.”
Mentioned in the discussion are Dr. Leonard Peikoff’s essay "End States Who Sponsor Terrorism," Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo’s book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism (get a free copy here), and Elan Journo’s Winning the Unwinnable War.
This podcast was recorded on September 9, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
September 2 has a special significance in Ayn Rand’s classic novel, Atlas Shrugged, as the date is mentioned throughout the book. It’s also the day when Ayn Rand actually started writing the novel, in 1946. So last week on September 2, New Ideal Live joined fans of Rand around the world to celebrate this life-changing book.
In this special episode, Onkar Ghate and Keith Lockitch engaged in a spoiler-free discussion of why Atlas Shrugged remains one of the most impactful novels in American literature, why it’s so relevant today, and why everyone should read it.
Among the reasons, they mentioned:
The story: Atlas Shrugged is a gripping mystery with fascinating charactersThe inspiration: Rand's heroes overcome dramatic obstacles to achieve great thingsThe challenge: the book presents radically new ideas about work, love, selfishness, morality, and capitalism that motivate a rethinking of conventional assumptions
This podcast was the first to have simultaneous, live translation to Spanish available to our audience, allowing us to welcome over one hundred Spanish-speaking attendees to our live broadcast.
This podcast was recorded on September 2, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo sit down to discuss the general skepticism around the role of scientific expertise, especially in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Topics discussed include:
The fallacy of appealing to irrelevant authorityThe necessity of appealing to reliable experts when one does not have specialized knowledge of one’s ownMethods of independently evaluating the reliability of expertsThe good and bad reasons people have for distrusting experts and being skeptical about certain scientific fields
Some of the resources mentioned in this podcast are lesson 2 of Introduction to Logic by Leonard Peikoff, Objective Thinking by Gregory Salmieri and Ben Bayer, Elan Journo’s article “Googling It Does Not Make You an Expert” as well as Ben Bayer’s “The Guidance We Need to Follow the Coronavirus Science” and “The Dangerous Thinking Behind Pandemic Partisanship.”
This podcast was recorded on August 26, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Aaron Smith answer questions, submitted by podcast viewers, about Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism.
Some of the questions addressed include:
Why was Ayn Rand opposed to Robin Hood?What’s mistaken about the idea that the universe was created?Is it morally acceptable to lie to someone in order to throw them a surprise party?What is Objectivism’s position on the psychology and morality of homosexuality?How should you think about voting in an election where there are no good choices?
Some of the resources mentioned during this Q&A session include Ayn Rand’s essay “The Objectivist Ethics” and Leonard Peikoff’s course Understanding Objectivism.
This podcast was recorded on August 19, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived web episodes here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, philosophers Onkar Ghate and Aaron Smith analyze the recent congressional hearings in which the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google were interrogated for over five hours by the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on antitrust.
Among other issues, Ghate and Smith discuss:
The ways in which the hearings amounted to a show trialThe disastrous false equation of economic power with political powerThe intellectual roots of the push to reorient and reinvigorate antitrust lawsThe sense in which the hearings represent a move in the direction of fascism
Mentioned in the discussion is Ayn Rand’s lecture “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business” (also available in essay form in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal), the entry on “antitrust laws” on the ARI Campus Lexicon, and Lina M. Khan’s influential Yale Law Review article “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox.”
This podcast was recorded on August 12, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived episodes here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Paul Taske discuss the Supreme Court’s abortion jurisprudence in light of its recent decision in June Medical Services v. Russo. While June’s outcome was a victory for abortion rights advocates, it highlighted the Court’s failure to address abortion issues from a principled, rights-based perspective.
Topics discussed include:
Ayn Rand’s radical defense of abortion rightsThe Constitution’s purpose as a limitation on government and its role in safeguarding individual rights, including abortion rightsThe Supreme Court’s history of abortion jurisprudenceThe Court’s reliance on a pragmatic “balancing test,” rather than the principle of rights
For Ayn Rand’s perspective on abortion, check out her commentary and the lecture “Of Living Death.” ARI’s other commentary on abortion can be found on New Ideal and as part of its Philosophy For Living On Earth podcast series.
This podcast was recorded on August 5, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived web episodes here.
Podcast audio:
Statues of historical figures are being toppled or vandalized across the country. Many people claim that the statues being torn down or defaced are monuments to racism that can no longer be tolerated.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, philosophers Onkar Ghate, Ben Bayer and Gregory Salmieri discuss the nature of this phenomenon, whether it is a legitimate form of protest and what, if anything, should be done about public monuments of questionable figures.
Questions covered in the discussion include:
Should we venerate those who achieved great things, but whose ideas or actions we find offensive?If a monument no longer represents genuine values, or even celebrates evil movements, what should be done about it?Is it proper for people today to use force to effect change, like the tea-partiers did in the late eighteenth century?Even if statues are taken down by proper, legal means, isn’t that a form of rewriting history?Should public monuments exist at all?
This podcast was recorded on July 29, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived episodes here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the recent controversy surrounding a letter published in Harper’s magazine. The letter sparked increased debate around a phenomenon called “cancel culture.” Bayer and Journo unpack the phrase and assess its significance.
Topics discussed include:
Why “cancel culture” is poorly defined and functions to package together censorship and voluntary persuasionHow some public shaming campaigns are just and necessary, while other are neitherHow, too often, recent public shaming campaigns are launched in defiance of evidence and argumentationMany of the campaigns decried by critics of “cancel culture” are launched by people who fear disagreement and want to intimidate dissenters into silence
Additional resources mentioned during the discussion include Ayn Rand’s “The Argument From Intimidation,” Ben Bayer’s “What’s Wrong with ‘Virtue Signaling’?”, and Elan Journo’s “Should You Judge Other People?”
This podcast was recorded on July 22, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived web episodes here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode, Aaron Smith reads aloud his article, “The False Promise of Stoicism.” In that essay, he examines the ancient philosophy of Stoicism, which is enjoying a resurgence of interest today. Ryan Holiday, Tim Ferris, Patrick Bet-David and others are promoting Stoicism as a valuable guide for living, and it’s garnering the interest of CEOs, professional athletes and Silicon Valley tech workers. However, Smith argues, there are good reasons to steer clear of Stoicism as a guide to life and to seek a better philosophy. Smith’s article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute’s journal, on June 10, 2019.
With coronavirus cases rising across the country and some states closing up again, it’s worth asking: Have government officials learned the lessons from the first spike in cases earlier this year? In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo talks with Amesh Adalja, expert on pandemic preparedness and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, to discuss this question and the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic.
Among other topics, they cover:
Is it safe for schools reopen in the fall, or should they remain closed and provide online classes?Can the current testing strategy effectively combat the spread of the virus?What is the state of contact tracing, and how effectively can we contact-trace in places with a high number of infections?What is the nature of the conflict between the CDC and the White House?What scientific developments can we look forward to in connection to combating the virus?
Mentioned towards the end of this episode is Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate’s recently published op-ed on the issue of testing strategy, and Onkar Ghate’s paper on a pro-freedom approach to pandemics.
This podcast was recorded on July 15, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived web episodes here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss the controversy surrounding ARI’s acceptance of a Paycheck Protection Program loan. ARI previously announced it was seeking PPP relief and elaborated the moral justification for its position in an article and previous webinar.
Topics discussed include:
Why ARI opposes the welfare state, and why it’s not hypocritical for opponents of welfare state programs to collect payments from these programsWhy the shaming of ARI in particular for receiving PPP loans stems from an anti-intellectual attitude aimed at shutting down criticsWhy precise bookkeeping of one’s losses to the welfare state isn’t necessary for seeking restitution from itWhy Ayn Rand’s opposition to the welfare state is not the “standard conservative” position
Two articles by Ayn Rand are mentioned in the discussion: “The Question of Scholarships” and “The Establishing of an Establishment.”
This podcast was recorded on July 8, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived web episodes here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Keith Lockitch discuss Journo’s recent article “When Tribal Journalists Try to ‘Cancel’ Ayn Rand.” Journo analyzes two articles (one from Salon, one from the New Republic) that not only misrepresent Rand and her philosophy, but display a tribal mentality that seeks merely to affirm and reinforce a set of prejudices for those who share them.
Topics discussed include:
Ways in which these journalists display a disregard of facts and rational persuasionHow they take as evidence things that don’t qualify as suchWhat it takes to sincerely engage with Rand’s ideas, even if it leads to disagreement with her philosophyWhat it takes to avoid this kind of tribal mindset
Mentioned in the discussion is another of Journo’s articles, “The Virulent Pull of Tribalism.”
This podcast was recorded on July 1, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived web episodes here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews Onkar Ghate, ARI’s chief philosophy officer, and Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert, to discuss Ghate’s recent paper “A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease.”
Some of the topics covered:
Why government’s role in protecting liberty includes the function of containing infectious diseaseWhy individuals should be free to choose precautions according to their own risk toleranceInternational role models for proper political and cultural response to infectious diseaseThe specific legal changes needed to both guide and constrain government decisions during a pandemicWhy lockdowns are unjustifiable, even in the face of uncertainty about the spread of infectious disease
This podcast was recorded on June 24, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived web episodes here.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, ARI philosophers Onkar Ghate and Aaron Smith discuss Ayn Rand’s views on mass protests in the context of the recent protests and violence following the killing of George Floyd and others.
Some of the topics covered:
How are the rights to free speech and peaceable assembly properly exercised?Is it ever appropriate to block public thoroughfares to make oneself heard?Can violence and looting be treated as “symbolic speech"?How can even peaceful acts of assembly initiate force on others?What are alternatives to mass protests in the streets?
Mentioned in the podcast is Ayn Rand’s essay “The Cashing-In: The Student ‘Rebellion’” in Return of the Primitive.
This podcast was recorded on June 17, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived web episodes here.
Podcast audio:
"A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease: Planning for the Next Pandemic" is the Ayn Rand Institute's white paper on America's response to the coronavirus pandemic, authored by the Institute's chief philosophy officer, Onkar Ghate. You can read it online below (use the interactive table of contents to navigate) , view a PDF that's suitable for reading online, downloading and printing, or listen in podcast form.
https://issuu.com/aynrandinstitute/docs/a_pro-freedom_approach_to_infectious_disease_june
Podcast audio:
Listen and subscribe to New Ideal Live from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher.
Executive Summary
Our nation’s ongoing response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is not worthy of the leader of the free world. It is not an American response. We can do better in the future by changing our laws to assign government its only proper role in fighting the danger posed by infectious disease.
We need laws that focus government with laser-like precision on its proper goal: to remove the active threat posed by carriers of severe infectious diseases.
Government’s public health goal in the face of a novel respiratory virus like SARS-CoV-2 is to remove the threat posed by carriers of the virus — primarily by testing, isolating and tracking those carriers. Trying to save every life from a novel virus whatever the cost, or to balance some people’s lives against other people’s livelihoods, is not a valid public health goal. Apart from testing, isolating and tracking, government should issue only voluntary guidelines and then leave us each free to take the countermeasures we individually think necessary in the face of the new reality.
To accomplish its proper public health goal, the government must catalog the severity of various infectious diseases and then, for severe infectious diseases, it must have the ability to test, isolate and track contagious individuals. All of this can and needs to be carefully codified into law.
Here are at least some of the (interrelated) factors that are relevant to defining whether an infectious disease warrants legal intervention.
How contagious is the disease?By what means is the disease transmitted?What kind of damage can it do when a person contracts it?How much immunity exists in the population?What preventive countermeasures are known and easy to implement?
The basic issue is to define when coercive action against the carrier of an infectious disease is warranted because the threat he poses to others is significant enough. To focus our federal and state governments on the task of isolating carriers of dangerous infectious diseases, the first step to codify into law, therefore, is government’s responsibility to use objective legal criteria to determine which existing and new infectious diseases warrant coercive legal intervention.
And then governments must execute these laws. In the presence of a potential outbreak of a sufficiently severe infectious disease, governments must purchase or build the capabilities that enable effective testing, isolating and tracking. But this emphatically does not mean that they control testing across the country, or prohibit private labs from deploying their own tests, or decide who can and cannot purchase tests, and the law must make this clear.
We need laws that strip federal and state governments of the power to lock down entire states or even just cities in the name of public health.
Because our existing laws do not prohibit coercive statewide lockdowns, they were too easy a “solution” for our governments to adopt during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. If we really believe, as many state governors seemed to believe during this pandemic, that government’s lawful goal is to minimize at all cost the number of deaths from a new infectious disease, or to somehow “balance” the destruction the infectious disease may cause to people’s lives and livelihoods,
What has motivated the social unrest that has now spread to hundreds of cities around the United States? Following up on our June 1 webcast on the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, in this episode of New Ideal Live, Harry Binswanger, Yaron Brook, Onkar Ghate, Greg Salmieri and Peter Schwartz discuss what motivates the leaders and followers of the Black Lives Matter movement, and distinguish between the valid and invalid concerns animating them.
Topics covered include:
Signs that the leaders of the movement are not concerned with evidence of police racismThe extent to which, and in what forms, racism is a cultural force todayHow to communicate with those who are genuinely concerned with racism and police overreachWhether or not addressing these genuine concerns involves granting a moral sanction to the dishonest motives of movement leadersHow to offer positive alternatives to those who are genuinely concerned with justice
This podcast was recorded on June 10, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived web episodes here.
Podcast audio:
Are social media companies a threat to free speech? President Trump seems to think so. Recently, Trump signed an executive order ostensibly aimed at preventing “censorship” by digital platforms like Twitter and Facebook. In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer sits down with Gregory Salmieri to critique the president’s executive order and to clear up dangerous confusions about the nature of free speech and censorship.
Topics covered include:
The nature of free speech and of censorship;Why only government, not private business, can censor;The dishonesty of President Trump’s recent executive order;How both political parties cry “censorship” to rationalize restricting free speech;And more.
Additional resources from New Ideal on this topic include: “Unjust Attacks on Facebook,” “Social Media Are Victims, Not Villains, in Russia Scandal,” “Ominous Threats to the Marketplace of Ideas,” and “Facebook: Censor or Victim?”
This podcast was recorded on June 5, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below.
To see future episodes of New Ideal Live, join the Zoom broadcast on Mondays or Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific and take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recording on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
Were the statewide lockdowns in the U.S. imposed so as to significantly reduce the number of coronavirus cases? Critics who question lifting the lockdowns seem to assume this, but was this the real goal? In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer sits down with Amesh Adalja, expert on pandemic preparedness and senior scholar at the John Hopkins Center for Health Security, to discuss these questions and the latest developments on the pandemic.
Topics covered include:
How effectively the U.S. has approached the pandemic and what we can expect in the near future;Whether the recent protests across the country will increase the risk of spreading the virus;What the original goal of the lockdowns was, and how some people have misinterpreted that goal;Whether or not government should prohibit individuals from taking risks according to their own priorities in lifeWhether scientists are to blame for the ubiquitous lockdowns;And much more.
Mentioned in the discussion is Adalja’s excellent article on the Covid-19 pandemic. You can read it here.
This podcast was recorded on June 3, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below.
To see future episodes of New Ideal Live, join the live Zoom broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
In the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer last week, protests erupted nationwide. In this late-breaking episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Onkar Ghate and Gregory Salmieri discuss police misconduct, the riots that followed, and how to think about a path forward from the lawless injustice that is common to both.
During the discussion, both Salmieri and Ghate argue that the problem with police misconduct is essentially legal: laws empowering police interference with citizens’ private lives need to be repealed, and laws mandating transparency and objective protocol need to be implemented.
Because Ghate suggests that lasting change comes from legal reform, he is skeptical of the propriety of mass protests. The speakers all emphasize that violent protests need to be condemned because they severely undercut the cause of criminal justice reform and are as lawless as police brutality. Real reform takes intellectual effort; it is only undermined by tribalistic side-choosing between the police and oppressed minorities.
For leads on these issues, two essays from Ayn Rand’s Return of the Primitive are instructive: “Racism” and “The Cashing-In: The Student ‘Rebellion.’”
This podcast was recorded on June 1, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below.
To see future episodes of New Ideal Live, join the Zoom broadcast on Mondays or Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific and take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recording on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo sits down with Steve Simpson and Anastasia Boden, senior attorneys at the Pacific Legal Foundation, to discuss the legality of the stay-at-home orders issued by states amid the coronavirus pandemic and the status of several challenges they’re facing in the courts.
Topics covered include:
The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a stay-at-home order, and why it was a separation of powers challenge;A recent case in which the Pacific Legal Foundation successfully helped an art gallery challenge Napa County’s and the state of California’s order to keep their business closed;The rule of law implications of the stay-at-home orders, and their enforceability;The question of legal liability for businesses as they reopen.
This podcast was recorded on May 27, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below.
To see future episodes of New Ideal Live, join the live Zoom broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, more people are understandably focused on their immediate physical well-being. There’s more urgency to stay healthy and to secure food, supplies, and employment. But what about self-esteem? It is certainly nice to have, but is it essential? Do we need it all the time, or can we set it aside until other, more basic, needs are satisfied? In this episode of New Ideal Live, Gena Gorlin, professor and clinical psychologist, joins ARI’s Ben Bayer to discuss the role of self-esteem in life and during times of crisis.
The discussion draws on Gorlin’s recent article “COVID-19 and the Meaning of Life.” Bayer and Gorlin discuss the crucial importance of meeting both our physical and spiritual (i.e., psychological) needs. How to satisfy those needs may change over time or during times of crisis, but the needs themselves are constant. They also discuss Ayn Rand’s view of self-esteem as a cardinal moral value and the role of the concept in her fiction.
For additional resources on the value of and need for self-esteem, look at the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on self-esteem and Gorlin’s recent Objectivist summer conference lecture Earning Your Own Trust: The Psychology of Honesty.
This podcast was recorded on May 20, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below.
To see future episodes of New Ideal Live, join the Zoom broadcast on Mondays or Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific and take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recording on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
The recently released documentary Plandemic is a perfect example of the type of conspiratorial thinking that has emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic. The claim: that the virus was not "naturally occurring" and thus "manipulated" — and that it was released, "deliberately or not," on the public. In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo address aspects of the documentary in order to identify and explain several key characteristics of conspiratorial thinking.
Among other topics, they discuss:
What real evidence for a claim looks like and how to spot arbitrary claims;What Objectivism’s theory of knowledge has to offer in terms of how to think about conspiracies and the facts presented to us;Why conspiratorial thinking is sometimes appealing to self-proclaimed “individualists.”
Mentioned in the podcast are three additional resources of interest: Bayer’s articles “An Alternative to Conspiracism’s Foolish Illusions” and “Analyzing the Conspiracist Firestorm over Notre Dame,” and the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry “Arbitrary.”
This podcast was recorded on May 18, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below.
To see future episodes of New Ideal Live, join the live Zoom broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
Several governors have announced that they will lift lockdown orders using the advice they receive from scientists and doctors. But even though scientific knowledge is obviously relevant to a government’s response to a pandemic, can it offer policy guidance all by itself? In a recent episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Gregory Salmieri discuss this very question: “Should government just ‘follow the science’?”
Springboarding from several recent articles on the same topic, Bayer and Salmieri discuss how scientific information and expertise are not sufficient to ground the ethical and political value judgments at the basis of policy guidance. These value judgments are the subject of moral and political philosophy. This means that it’s philosophy that provides the basic tools for evaluating and applying scientific information.
During the discussion, Bayer and Salmieri recommend several additional resources that highlight the value of philosophy and identify rational standards in morality and politics. These include Ayn Rand’s essays “Philosophy: Who Needs It,” “The Objectivist Ethics," and "Man’s Rights," and Onkar Ghate’s essay “Finding Morality and Happiness Without God.”
Watch or listen to the whole discussion below.
And join the live Zoom broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews special guest Adam Mossoff, intellectual property expert and professor of law at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, to discuss an alarming plan by lawmakers to bar research companies from patenting Covid-19 drugs, treatments and vaccines.
Addressing themes from Mossoff’s recently published article, Congress Plans to Steal the Coronavirus Vaccine, the two discuss:
How the proposed plan would impact the development of therapeutics for Covid-19;How the plan’s proponents rely on the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 — and misinterpret its purpose and meaning;Whether the current pandemic is an emergency that justifies expropriating patents;Why enforcing drug patents, and property rights in general, is essential to creating and sustaining the benefits of medicine and the standard of living that we enjoy today;And much more.
Watch or listen to the discussion below.
To see future episodes of New Ideal Live, join the live Zoom broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
As millions of parents are now learning how to homeschool their children in the midst of the pandemic, a recent article in the Arizona Law Review by Harvard law professor Elizabeth Bartholet advocates for a “presumptive ban” on the practice. In this episode of New Ideal Live, ARI’s Elan Journo and Aaron Smith expose the weaknesses of Bartholet’s argument (which was recently profiled in Harvard Magazine).
Bartholet argues that homeschooling allows parents to “escape” from the public school system and from government oversight of education. Yet she conspicuously neglects to acknowledge any of the serious failures of government schools, and takes their necessity for granted. Smith and Journo call out Bartholet’s naked assault on this pocket of freedom in education.
Watch or listen to the whole discussion below.
And join the live Zoom broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
“We are all in this together.” In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Keith Lockitch look at the different ways in which this catchphrase is being used in the context of the pandemic.
Focusing on two recently published articles: “We’re Not ‘All in It Together’” by Eric Liu and “Are We All in This Together?” by Michael Sandel, Bayer and Lockitch argue that although the catchphrase is sometimes used innocuously, it is also used to create false alternatives that oversimplify the debate about the best path forward in this crisis. They also isolate the underlying philosophical premise that Liu and Sandel are communicating in their articles — and note how that premise goes unchallenged more broadly in our culture today.
Watch or listen to the discussion below.
To see future episodes of New Ideal Live, join the live Zoom broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
Why was the United States, one of the richest and most technologically advanced countries in history, so ill-prepared to deal with the Covid-19 health crisis?
A recent article by George Packer in The Atlantic argues that America has “underlying conditions” — political corruption, partisan divisiveness, and social inequality — that deprived it of the unity of action needed to deal with the crisis. In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith and Elan Journo analyze some merits of and flaws in this argument.
Smith and Journo observe that while the argument acknowledges a real problem it fails to identify its deeper roots. To find that root, the issue must be examined philosophically. To learn more about the philosophical issues at stake watch the episode below.
Some of the resources discussed in the episode for thinking philosophically about the roots of the problem include Ayn Rand’s “A Nation’s Unity,” “Global Balkanization,” and “An Untitled Letter.”
To see future episodes of New Ideal Live, join the live Zoom broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and special guest Gregory Salmieri discuss recently published articles, secular and religious, that address the question of whether we can find meaning in the facts of suffering and death — facts the coronavirus pandemic are forcing many to face first-hand.
The articles mentioned in the discussion are “The Pandemic and the Will of God” by Ross Douthat, “Extraordinary Moment of Prayer” by Pope Francis, “To Philosophize Is to Learn How to Die” by Simon Critchley and “Sickness and Stoicism” by Roy Wayne Meredith II.
Bayer and Salmieri dissect the main arguments of some these pieces, uncover premises that tie secular and religious views together, and offer a unique alternative to these fundamentally flawed approaches.
Join the live Zoom broadcast of our podcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
Audio podcast:
Is it morally permissible to accept government money? Does the answer change in the midst of a pandemic like Covid-19? In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss how to think through these questions in a principled way, drawing on Ayn Rand’s essay “The Question of Scholarships.” Topics discussed include: why this is a challenging issue for anyone who values freedom; how the principle of justice applies in this context; why one’s view of government welfare programs is a crucial factor; and the importance of preserving one’s integrity.
Watch or listen to the whole discussion below.
And join the live Zoom broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo is joined by Tal Tsfany, CEO of the Ayn Rand Institute and former tech entrepreneur, and Jason Crawford, writer and co-founder of several tech startups.
Journo, Tsfany and Crawford discuss a recently published essay by Marc Andreessen, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, called “It’s Time to Build.” Andreessen attempts to explain the widespread failure to prepare for this pandemic and how to move forward.
Topics covered include:
The positive, production-oriented perspective Andreessen brings to the table;What Andreessen is missing in identifying the root cause of why people don’t want to build;What premises and ideas are actually needed to solve the problem.
Mentioned on the podcast are two additional articles of interest: Tsfany’s open letter to Andreessen, "It's Time to Think," and an illuminating essay by former ARI fellow Don Watkins, “We Don’t Deserve Builders.”
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Join the live Zoom broadcast of our podcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Keith Lockitch analyze a recent Vox article, “These are the trade-offs we make when we depend on billionaires to save us.” The article warns that by involving themselves in charity work during the pandemic crisis, billionaires will only cement the power they wield over our lives.
Unpacking that argument, Journo and Lockitch discussed the article’s underlying political and moral assumptions, particularly its views on “power” and on how to evaluate tech billionaires. They contrast these views with Ayn Rand’s perspective on the difference between political and economic power and the nature and impact of the moral code of altruism.
Watch or listen to the whole discussion below.
And join the live Zoom broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
In this episode of New Ideal Live, philosophers Aaron Smith and Onkar Ghate analyze a recent Bloomberg.com article, “How Coronavirus Is Shaking Up the Moral Universe.” That article surveys “some of the leading idea systems undergirding competing conceptions of right and wrong,” informing the views of governments and individuals in response to the pandemic.
Smith and Ghate discussed these influential moral outlooks, noting a common emphasis on sacrifice, while contrasting them with Rand’s morality of rational egoism as a framework for addressing the pandemic.
Watch or listen to the whole episode below.
And join the live Zoom broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
Podcast audio:
How should we sort through the information about Covid-19 and distinguish fact from falsehood? In the first episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate sat down to discuss the claims around the drug hydroxychloroquine and the debate over mandatory lockdowns. The discussion provides philosophic guidance for individuals to better navigate the flood of information coming from the news and social media.
Topics covered include:
How should one evaluate the reliability of information or its source?Can your conclusions be objective without examining counter-evidence?Does relying on expert knowledge amount to simply accepting “arguments from authority?”How do “right to try” arguments factor in when dealing with a new disease?
One additional resource, recommended during the discussion, that provides helpful tools for assessing the reliability of news sources, was Bayer’s lecture “Being Objective About the News.”
For these and other insights, watch or listen below.
And join the live Zoom broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube and Facebook.
https://youtu.be/rJF56X1osco
In these challenging times, people need clarity. But how can you cut through the noise? How do you step outside the bubble of commentary which puts partisan loyalty above the facts? Where can you find analysis informed by an unwavering dedication to objectivity?
At the Ayn Rand Institute, we are dedicated to this ideal. For a rational perspective on the issues we face today, tune in to our web series and podcast, New Ideal Live. We break down the complex events and issues shaping our world in these times of crisis — from the perspective of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, a philosophy that upholds the ideals of reason, individualism and capitalism.
Join the live Zoom broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Pacific to take part in the Q&A. Go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718.
Or catch the livestream or recordings on YouTube, Facebook, or (coming soon) your favorite podcasting app.
As COVID-19 continues to impact every aspect of human life, government has assumed a key role in the fight against the pandemic. Federal, state, and local governments are implementing directives intended to enforce social distancing, stimulate the economy, and address medical shortages, among other measures.
In a special installment of our webinar series Philosophy for Living on Earth, I sat down with Onkar Ghate, the Ayn Rand Institute’s chief philosophy officer, and Gregory Salmieri, a lecturer in philosophy at Rutgers University, to discuss government’s proper role in a public health crisis. The discussion covered many aspects of the ongoing pandemic and various governmental responses.
Some of the questions covered in the discussion include:
Is the fight against COVID-19 analogous to being in a “state of war”?What role, if any, should government play in addressing the spread of infectious diseases?How should an individual think about issues of aging, death, and quality of life during a health crisis?Should government weigh the lives of some citizens against others when making decisions about how to handle the pandemic?
Stay tuned for future installments of our webinar series, where we’ll continue to analyze the effects of the pandemic from the principled perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy. And please consider donating to ARI if you value our unique and rational evaluation of this crisis.
Watch the full discussion between Ghate, Salmieri, and myself below:
All across the United States, millions of people have been ordered to "stay at home" or "shelter in place" to slow the coronavirus pandemic. They’ve been told not to go to work, not to go to school, not to go out of their homes — unless absolutely necessary. And this situation is expected to last for many weeks to come.
What legal precedents, if any, are there for such measures? Do they represent the suspension of the Constitution? How do the lockdowns relate to the principle of the rule of law and the protection of individual rights? Should we expect to see any of the lockdown orders challenged in court? These are some of the questions I put to two legal experts, Larry Salzman and Steve Simpson, in a special episode of ARI’s web series Philosophy for Living on Earth.
Make sure to catch Salzman and Simpson’s answers to the question: What are “trip wires” for concern about the widening scope of government power and, worse, authoritarian measures?
Watch the whole interview, followed by audience Q&A, here:
And catch up on previous episodes on our Youtube channel or the podcast (Apple, Stitcher, Spotify).
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a negative impact on all aspects of human life, and the U.S. economy is no exception. The virus outbreak and governmental reactions to it have sent the stock market crashing and dealt a major economic blow.
In a special installment of our webinar series Philosophy for Living on Earth, the Ayn Rand Institute’s chief philosophy officer, Onkar Ghate, sat down with finance and economics specialists Yaron Brook and Rob Tarr to talk about the effects of the virus and government intervention on the markets and the economy. The discussion covered many aspects of the ongoing financial crisis and approached the topic from a perspective informed by the philosophy of Objectivism.
Some of the questions covered in the discussion include:
How does this crisis compare to the 2008 crisis?What did the markets look like before the pandemic hit?How has the coronavirus affected the markets?What will be the short-term and long-term consequences of the measures taken by the Fed?What is an optimistic, yet realistic, scenario for the future, and what can we learn from this crisis?
Stay tuned for future installments of our webinar series, where we will continue to analyze the effects of the pandemic from the principled perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy. And please consider donating to ARI if you value our unique and rational evaluation of this crisis.
Watch the full discussion between Ghate, Brook and Tarr, below.
Audio only:
The COVID-19 pandemic and the responses to it from both business and government are now dominating the headlines and overwhelming our lives. As we all begin to grapple with the wide-ranging effects of both the disease and the steps being taken to fight it, there’s a need to take a step back and survey the situation with a philosophic eye. In today's special episode of Philosophy for Living on Earth, philosophers Onkar Ghate and Gregory Salmieri discussed how philosophy can help guide our thinking about the impact of the pandemic on our lives, our economy, and about our government’s response to it.
Audio of this event is also be available on the Philosophy for Living on Earth podcast (Apple and Stitcher).