The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

https://youtu.be/0R_RjyOJeI4 Podcast 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. Rec...

https://youtu.be/7Wjrmh8CjAk Podcast 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/sNtIs4UmXns Podcast 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 f...

https://youtu.be/S53avG169mw Podcast 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...

https://youtu.be/Ff78OyGNA40 Podcast 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...

https://youtu.be/oMFbMFvDJ50 Podcast 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/pWpAiAioZTE Podcast 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 b...

https://youtu.be/79fT9VIDkVs Podcast 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 secula...

https://youtu.be/UaRhK2N8m6Y Podcast 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/qctS25KQzrs Podcast 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  “a...

https://youtu.be/VaNHaT-xlOU Podcast 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/RKtLU6ntECU Podcast 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-mk Podcast 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 towa...

https://youtu.be/-c6W8JuZsVo Podcast 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...

https://youtu.be/093vQKWPwvs Podcast 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 l...

https://youtu.be/a3bgumyKdAA Podcast 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...

https://youtu.be/8wKAKmydUlg Podcast 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-Pk Podcast 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/S1DL9777gfk Podcast 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...

https://youtu.be/qBTy_9VVhuE Podcast 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...

https://youtu.be/9lMQ3idE9bw Podcast 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...

https://youtu.be/3XFiAQbxtgQ Podcast 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 pr...

https://youtu.be/DI1xqqIcj7k Podcast 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/ZhqJzc75qeI Podcast 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...

https://youtu.be/QT4O5p3oSAA Podcast 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 fr...

https://youtu.be/QT4O5p3oSAA Podcast 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 fr...

https://youtu.be/YjhHIgZzO3k Podcast 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 argument...

https://youtu.be/V8yIcXmoAnQ Podcast 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/h1tIDRzi9Ho Podcast 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 conseque...

https://youtu.be/ad5KEuKz1a8 Podcast 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 OC

https://youtu.be/gFXDYaKnCVw Podcast 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...

https://youtu.be/1fLxvFQCScA Podcast 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 l...

https://youtu.be/UVujQHg1kZo Podcast 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...

https://youtu.be/0SSL_XThHdQ Podcast 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, “t...

https://youtu.be/y-WB-fhVJls Podcast 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 pos...

https://youtu.be/yOx0pcktQtI Podcast 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/9GjD66edA0g Join 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 fa...

https://youtu.be/a-SwX91pj2Q Podcast 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...

https://youtu.be/Oly3eYzZiTg Podcast 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...

https://youtu.be/wmo0zqU_dIQ Podcast 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 Bid...