The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

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. Until now, the Mayhew books were expensively priced for academic markets, but ARI is making this valuable content accessible to anyone, anywhere on the globe for free.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Mike Mazza and Aaron Smith discuss What's the Use of Philosophy?, a recent book by leading philosopher Philip Kitcher, in which Kitcher calls out academic philosophy for its useless work and corrupt methods. Among the topics covered: Why it is significant that an established professor of philosophy has written a damning critique of his own profession; Kitcher’s radical claim that philosophy has become disconnected from life, practical guidance, and useful methods, and his willingness to question whether the profession has any legitimate value; How Kitcher goes wrong by recommending a methodological turn towards pragmatism; Why the philosophy of science is noticeably working from better premises than other areas of academic philosophy; Why fundamental philosophic questions are crucially practical and must not be thrown out in favor of less ambitious, piecemeal investigation; Why, contrary to Kitcher’s pragmatist view, Objectivism says that the most abstract philosophic questions have the widest practical consequences. Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are Ayn Rand’s “The Chickens’ Homecoming,” “Philosophy: Who Needs It,” “For the New Intellectual,” the entry on Linguistic Analysis in the Ayn Rand Lexicon, and Onkar Ghate’s “Let’s Revive Philosophy”. This episode was recorded on July 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUHLl-uYr7w Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Matt Walsh’s film What Is a Woman? and how it reflects a deeper tribalism about sex and gender roles within the so-called culture wars and our current political climate. Among the topics covered: How Walsh’s film is much more propaganda than a sincere documentary; Why appeals to common sense can’t settle questions of sex and gender; Walsh’s appeal to the Maasai tribe reveals a mentality that wants to return to a more primitive view of gender roles; How Walsh’s “documentary” lacks any genuine concern for truth; Walsh’s appeal to tribal views of gender roles as rooted in religiosity; How Walsh’s appeal to traditional gender roles is an attack on an individual’s pursuit of happiness; Walsh’s disingenuous response to legitimate issues regarding sex and gender; How both sides in this debate are wrong in their approach human sexuality and gender identity; “Essentialism,” determinism, and the mind-body dichotomy in relation to gender roles; Individualism as the antidote to tribalistic, dogmatic thinking about sex and gender. Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion is the New Ideal Live podcast episode “Kathleen Stock's Reasoned Critique of Gender Ideology” with Onkar Ghate, Ben Bayer, and Daniel Schwartz, where they discuss and assess Kathleen Stock’s arguments about what is wrong with contemporary gender ideology. The podcast was recorded on July 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szTWy48PgiU Podcast audio:

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. Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (request a free copy of Atlas Shrugged here), and an article by Elan Journo on “Why So Many People Struggle to Gain Self-Esteem.” The podcast was recorded on July 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=kuxZuhxbHDQ Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Agustina Vergara Cid and Onkar Ghate analyze the impact of immigrants on national security and evaluate the argument that America’s national security requires strict limits on immigration. Among the topics covered: How the argument that immigration is a threat to national security is biased against immigrants; Why limiting immigration to prevent terrorism is dishonest; How immigrants make us safer by serving in the military; How restrictions on immigration have contributed to a shortage of skilled workers in areas of the economy the military depends on; Why we need a targeted response to actual national security threats, not blanket prohibitions on immigration; How those who oppose immigration, like environmentalists arguing against fossil fuels, selectively look for evidence to support their ideology; Why mainstream thinkers fail to consider the benefits of immigration to national security. Mentioned in the discussion is the New Ideal Live episode “The Debate Over the Right to Immigrate.” The podcast was recorded on June 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=O0F2QooSNhk Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo is joined by four of the Ayn Rand Institute’s fellows to preview talks they will be giving at our upcoming Objectivist Summer Conference 2023. Among the topics covered: Sam Weaver previews his talk, “The Reading Wars Today,” which addresses the destructive opposition to teaching children to read using phonics, and explains why Ayn Rand described phonics as the ‘conceptual’ method of learning to read; Dan Schwartz previews his talk, “The Galileo Affair,” which will fight back against a recent trend in academia that blames Galileo for his famous clash with the Church; Nikos Sotirakopoulos previews his talk, “The Left’s Long War on Israel,” which will explain the Left’s longstanding opposition to Israel, and why this opposition follows from their collectivistic, anti-achievement ideology; Agustina Vergara Cid previews her talk, “The Immorality of the U.S. Immigration System.” Agustina will share real-life stories of hardworking immigrants trying to work in the US, revealing that the US immigration system is much more unjust than most of us think; Question period. Virtual passes to OCON 2023 can be purchased here until July 1. This episode was recorded on June 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMy274gjH1k Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Sam Weaver and Mike Mazza discuss a recent paper, "In Defense of Science," which examines the increasing intrusion of "Critical Social Justice Epistemology" on scientific institutions. They explore issues such as this movement’s assault on objectivity and knowledge, how scientists are pressured into conformity, and why most defenders of science fail to articulate a well-founded understanding of the scientific method. Among the topics covered: The recent controversy over the influence of "Critical Social Justice" in science; The claims of the "Critical Social Justice" advocates; How the controversy is muddled by the failure to distinguish the scientific method from the scientific institutions which aim to practice it; Why so-called Diversity Statements vitiate the quality of scientific research; Why scientists' failure to understand their own method makes them vulnerable to bad ideas; How a vague view of merit hinders a proper defense of science; The need for a philosophical foundation for science. The podcast was recorded on June 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/hdVpP429qK4 Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the movements and regimes which have sought to destroy Israel since its founding seventy-five years ago. Among the topics covered: How to study history objectively; How the conflict started, and the motives of the Arab countries that invaded Israel in 1948; The rise of Pan-Arabism and the Six-Day War; The rise of the Palestinian movement, including its debt to communist ideology and its terroristic tactics; Why the Palestinian movement gained international sympathy; The rise of the Islamist movement; How a hostility to human life and freedom animated all these movements; Why we should support Israel. Mentioned in the discussion is the book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. This episode was recorded on June 8, 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=gYt20K39JJ8&t Podcast audio:

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. His article was originally published in New Ideal on April 12, 2019.

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 Cop-out” 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-s Podcast 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=299nLFmdrkA Podcast 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=U0qeF1zdYo0 Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo explore the moral and political lessons of the Iraq War. Among the topics covered: Why Americans need to examine the lessons of the Iraq War; The 9/11 terrorist attacks and the context leading up to the war; The focus on weapons of mass destruction and intelligence weaknesses while evading the threat of Islamic totalitarianism; Why Russia’s attack on Ukraine is not analogous to America’s war in Iraq; David Frum’s analysis of the Iraq War in The Atlantic; John Bolton’s and Bret Stephens’ analysis of the war and the failure to question whether Iraq was the right target; The disastrous results of the war, including increased reluctance to defend American interests militarily; How America’s response to 9/11 set the stage for the rise of populism and widespread distrust of institutions; The erosion of American exceptionalism in the wake of the Iraq War. Mentioned in the discussion are the book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: What Went Wrong After 9/11 and Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, which is free to students. This episode was recorded on May 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=GlOaqmnrpRk Podcast audio:

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-aQCxg1E Podcast 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/uQuprxoqZ64 Podcast 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_WIeM8NZs Podcast 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=-PayhoZ6SSk Podcast 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/OJzFS3RmM80 Podcast 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=2402s Podcast 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-Y Podcast 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=I5Auzpbgb0A Podcast 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/uu5pLl496UA Podcast 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=XHmApTxyvCg Podcast 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/UtDGjiGdwcs Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith interviews Harry Binswanger on Ayn Rand’s distinctive value-centered approach to philosophy — and to living life. As a long-time student of Rand and close friend in her final years, Binswanger shares his recollections of Rand's passionate quest of values, both as presented in her works and ideas and in her personal life. Among the topics covered: Ayn Rand’s integration of fact and value in philosophy and how it contrasts with traditional views; How Rand answered long-standing philosophical questions about the basis and importance of values; Why Rand held that material values have deep spiritual meaning; Why the idea that there are no “blacks” and “whites” in morality is wrong; How Binswanger came to know Ayn Rand and the impact she had on him; The profound self-esteem that comes with achieving values one cares deeply about; How Rand brought a philosophical perspective to every aspect of life; The careful thinking that goes into pursuing what one really wants; Some of Rand’s personal values, both minor and major. Recommended in this episode are Leonard Peikoff’s “My Thirty Years with Ayn Rand: An Intellectual Memoir” and Mary Ann Sures and Charles Sures’ Facets of Ayn Rand. The podcast was recorded on February 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://youtu.be/6kgc8l9kWfU Podcast audio:

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-T59N3ppe0 Podcast 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/lmWYcYJuK9A Podcast 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=Eu0SbJxgKEE Podcast 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=pjE9oAqG5HQ Podcast 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/oUXjq6SWXBI Podcast 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/LeWuJMO5jSg Podcast 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_o8zSlI Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Dr. Amesh Adalja discuss the ethics of infectious disease and evaluate the continued push for stringent paternalistic measures to combat Covid, including the Chinese government’s push for “Zero Covid.” Among the topics covered: Why Covid is now endemic, not a pandemic; How an individualized harm reduction framework can help us navigate a world in which infectious disease is an inescapable fact; The egalitarian moral ideal behind prominent arguments for paternalistic measures such as mask mandates; Why egalitarianism is wrong; The ideas motivating China’s push for “Zero Covid”; The flawed approach towards pandemic preparedness motivated by effective altruism; The roles of vaccines and natural immunity in bringing about widespread immunity to Covid. Mentioned in the discussion are Dr. Adalja’s article “The Pernicious Folly of Pursuing Zero Covid,” his talk “COVID-19, mRNA and the Future of Vaccines,” and Onkar Ghate’s essay “A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease.” This episode was recorded on November 30, 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/47WOdN55k4M Podcast audio:

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. Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. Also mentioned is Matt Bateman’s essay “A Pedagogy of Gratitude.” The podcast was recorded on November 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/pULLJLqbD4E Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith and Mike Mazza discuss World Philosophy Day to explore what is the nature and value of philosophy. They address how philosophy is commonly perceived (especially within academia) as a useless field and how Ayn Rand's distinctive conception offers a deeper and more practical perspective that matters for life. Among the topics covered: What philosophy is and the kind of questions it addresses; How people operate philosophically even when lacking a systematic outlook; Ayn Rand’s take on philosophy as inescapable and life-impacting; How contrasting philosophical worldviews produce different ways of living; Ayn Rand’s view on the practical guidance that philosophy offers; The problems with Bertrand Russel’s influential view of philosophy; Why academic philosophy has failed to defend the value of its field; How religion makes people unaware of secular philosophical worldviews; Objectivism’s integration of method and content. Recommended in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s book Philosophy: Who Needs It and Onkar Ghate’s article “Let’s Revive Philosophy.” The podcast was recorded on November 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/AdH8Yy0NC5c Podcast audio:

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. The sympathy for them, and for those who remain under Russian bombardment, has been widespread (with American schoolchildren mailing small toys, crayons, and stuffed animals to comfort Ukrainian kids displaced from their homes). From across the globe, military aid to Ukraine has poured in. Underlying this reaction is an unspoken, in many cases impressionistic, recognition that Russia is the aggressor. But one prominent intellectual, Professor John Mearsheimer, argues that we’ve got it all wrong. In this episode, we read aloud Elan Journo's article, “Why John Mearsheimer Gets Ukraine Wrong.” In that essay, he argues that Mearsheimer's "realist" take on Russian invasion on Ukraine is an object lesson in the destructiveness of amoralism. Journo’s article was originally published in New Ideal on September 14, 2022. Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the midterm elections and offer a philosophical analysis of the state of American politics. Among the topics covered: The value of analyzing the midterms from a long-term, philosophical perspective;Why the results in Georgia are an encouraging sign about the mindset of independent voters;The absence of long-term policy visions on key issues such as pandemic preparedness, inflation, and foreign policy;How today’s intellectual vacuum represents a degeneration compared to 1980s, 1990s and 2000s;The fact that today’s politicians don’t feel the need to even attempt to formulate policies;How the increasingly short-term, concrete-bound and tribal nature of American politics affects citizens’ ability to regard government officials as their representatives;How American politics became so intellectually empty;How religionists and democratic socialists are related to the anti-intellectual trend;Why voters generally have better views than many of today’s candidates;The importance of supporting better candidates when they come along. Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s lecture “The Age of Mediocrity,” Ben Bayer’s book Why the Right to Abortion Is Sacrosanct, and Onkar Ghate’s article “One Small Step for Dictatorship.” This episode was recorded on November 10, 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/9vb1UYM7LFo Podcast audio:

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.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the recent attacks conducted by the Just Stop Oil activists and offer a moral and political evaluation of both the group itself and people supporting them. Among the topics covered: How the media justification of the soup attack on a Vincent van Gogh painting encourages further attacks; How to morally assess the protests conducted by the Just Stop Oil activists, especially in light of their harmful consequences; Why we should worry that these protests might become more violent; Why the wealthy fund and sanction Climate Emergency Fund, thereby indirectly supporting Just Stop Oil; How violent environmental groups are the logical endpoint of the environmental movement; Why Just Stop Oil and other similar violent groups cannot view themselves as heirs of the civil rights movement. Mentioned in this podcast is Ayn Rand’s essay “The Sanction of the Victims” from her book The Voice of Reason. The podcast was recorded on November 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/jIeRQb_G2-o Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the attacks on "neoliberalism," an alleged ideology that critics blame for many of today’s political, social and economic problems. They analyze the critics’ central claims and explain why the very concept of “neoliberalism” clouds, rather than clarifies, our thinking about our political landscape. Among the topics covered: The critics of “neoliberalism” and what they claim;How “neoliberalism” was coined to designate a departure from laissez-faire capitalism;Ayn Rand’s distinctive approach to questionable concepts like “neoliberalism”;How many of the charges against "neoliberalism" resemble conspiracy fantasies;How the critics of “neoliberalism” grossly misrepresent the extent of our economic freedoms;Why the UK's slight shift towards freer markets met with such backlash;How altruism biases people against the achievements of the free market;How a mixed economy unjustly benefits those with political pull. Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and Don Watkins and Yaron Brook’s Equal Is Unfair. The podcast was recorded on October 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/OMpFNRatJPw 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.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 [email protected] with “Podcast question” in the subject header. https://youtu.be/RDR0YtdJWes 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. 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:

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: