The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the recent protests against the authoritarian regimes of Iran and Russia. They analyze the common causes that animate these public demonstrations and offer a philosophical perspective on why they effectively undermine the moral legitimacy of these dictatorships. Among the topics covered: Why we should care about protests in dictatorships;How Iran’s mandatory veiling laws coerce its citizens and triggered the latest protests;The recent revival of Russian anti-war demonstrations triggered by Putin’s military draft;Why the protests are an existential threat to the Russian and Iranian regimes' moral credibility;Ayn Rand’s explanation of why the best people choose to withdraw their moral sanction from tyrants;What, if anything, the U.S. should do to support the protests;What Westerners can learn about how to respond to the Iranian regime from journalist Masih Alinejad’s uncompromising stand;Why most Western leaders lack the moral authority to criticize dictators. The podcast was recorded on October 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/rIIU2_pSACE Podcast audio:

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:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Sam Weaver discuss political controversies that have erupted in the last two years around the discussion of controversial issues, like race or gender, in public schools. They analyze the causes of these political battles and what it would take to resolve them. Among the topics covered: The recent history of attempts to control the content of education by both the left and the right;Why right-wing attempts to influence education make headlines and leftist efforts do not;How the focus on controversial topics rather than educational fundamentals reveals a lack of concern for children’s interests;The tribal motivation behind attempts to indoctrinate children with certain views;Why the government monopoly on education leads to pressure group warfare;Why separation of education and state is needed for the same reasons as separation of church and state;Why education would be far more innovative if the government were not involved in it;How to reform education by giving more control to parents and less to government officials;Whether public school districts have objected to ARI’s Free Books for Teachers program. The podcast was recorded on September 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/TzpR_UUdAvk 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:

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:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss America’s failed response to 9/11 and some of its consequences, including the discrediting of American political and intellectual institutions, the proliferation of conspiracy fantasies, and the rise of “populism.” Among the topics covered: Why 9/11 was a turning point in American foreign policy and in the wider culture;How ARI’s analysis of 9/11 and America’s military response differs from mainstream analyses;Government institutions’ evasion of the nature of the Islamic totalitarianism movement that caused 9/11;How this evasion led to the deaths of American troops deployed to help create new Middle Eastern governments that empowered Islamists;How the evasive response to 9/11 discredited political institutions, the media, and the universities in the eyes of many Americans;How the post-9/11 climate of evasion mainstreamed conspiracy fantasies and unjustified skepticism of America’s military capabilities;How the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent bailouts further discredited the government, the media, and the universities;How the “populist” view of “elites” as the enemy was fueled by the financial crisis and the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic;Why the root of the problem is the failure to uphold America’s founding ideals. Mentioned in this podcast are Journo’s article “Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton Paved the Road to 9/11” and the book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism, edited by Ghate and Journo. The podcast was recorded on September 7, 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/qyuMYzV1Kvk Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith, Dan Schwartz, and Tristan de Liège discuss Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience, a recent book by Nancy Sherman that promotes the philosophy of Stoicism while arguing that a healthy modern Stoicism requires important changes. They discuss major themes of Sherman’s book and how we should evaluate her perspective on Stoic philosophy. Among the topics covered: A brief overview of Stoic philosophy and its history;The Stoic view that emotions are products of our judgments and hence can be harmonized with reason;The Stoic view that emotions like desire, fear, anger, and distress are inherently irrational;What this view of emotions and Sherman’s modified version of it get wrong;Sherman’s take on the Stoic practice of “pre-rehearsing” the loss of one’s values;The metaphysical perspectives behind Stoicism’s emphasis on adversity versus Objectivism’s emphasis on achieving values;How contemporary interest in Stoicism relates to the widespread acceptance of the morality of altruism. Mentioned in this podcast are Smith’s article “The False Promise of Stoicism,” Ayn Rand’s essays “Causality Versus Duty” and “The Metaphysical Versus the Man-Made” from her book Philosophy: Who Needs It, and the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on “Emotions.” The podcast was recorded on August 31, 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/pegi4KAKgpg Podcast audio:

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:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Agustina Vergara Cid and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Iran’s recent attempts — on American soil — to assassinate Masih Alinejad, a journalist and critic of the Iranian regime, and John Bolton, a former U.S. National Security Advisor, as well as the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie, whose murder Iran has advocated for over 30 years. They discuss the philosophic nature of the Iranian regime and how decades of failed U.S. policy has emboldened Iran and other enemies. Among the topics covered: The history of Iran’s fatwa against Rushdie;Alinejad’s activism and Iranian agents’ attempts to kidnap and assassinate her;Iran’s attempt to assassinate Bolton following the killing of Qassem Soleimani;How U.S. foreign policy over the last several administrations emboldened Iran and other enemies;The amorality of President Joe Biden’s statement about the attack on Rushdie;America’s long history of appeasing Iran even in the face of acts of war against the U.S.;The power of fundamentalist Islam and the need to convince its adherents that this ideology cannot win;How the U.S. should have responded to Iran’s 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran;Why an alliance of evil regimes would be insignificant if the U.S. stood up for American values;What a proper U.S. response to Islamic totalitarianism would involve;How the intellectuals’ propagation of cultural relativism and hatred for America has led to widespread misunderstanding of regimes like Iran. Mentioned in this podcast are Ghate and Elan Journo’s book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism and Leonard Peikoff’s essays “End States Who Sponsor Terrorism” and “Religious Terrorism vs. Free Speech.” The podcast was recorded on August 17, 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/AL0eYahBE4Q Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate discuss the idea held by critics of “cancel culture,” such as John McWhorter and Bari Weiss, that we should not call our political opponents evil. They discuss why we should sometimes regard those who disagree with us as immoral or evil — and treat them accordingly. Among the topics covered: The phenomenon often called “cancel culture” and how critics conceptualize it;Objectivity versus the “principle of charity” endorsed by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt;What’s wrong with McWhorter’s case for not morally judging political opponents who have different value priorities from us;How the idea that values are not the province of reason breeds reluctance to make moral judgments;What’s wrong with Weiss’s idea that political disagreements shouldn’t affect personal relationships;Why Objectivism rejects the view that we can pass moral judgment only on people’s actions, not their ideas;How the Atlas Society’s stance that ideas are not subject to moral judgment has led to their failure to take ideas seriously. Mentioned in this podcast are Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Coddling of the American Mind; John McWhorter’s article “I’m Pro-Choice. But I Don’t Think Pro-Lifers Are Bad People”; Bari Weiss’s article “The New Founders America Needs”; Jonathan Howard’s article “Is Discussing the Consequences of Anti-Vaccine Disinformation Fun?”; Leonard Peikoff’s essay “Fact and Value”; and the New Ideal Live episodes “The Fuel on the Fire of ‘Cancel Culture’” and “Challenging 'Cancel Culture.'” The podcast was recorded on August 10, 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/x5VIfRZpMbI Podcast audio:

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:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss President Biden’s decision to visit Saudi Arabia and meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in spite of Biden’s condemnation of the regime following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The conversation analyzes America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and the philosophic ideas behind U.S. policy in the region. Among the topics covered: What we can learn from recent events about the nature of the Saudi regime;Whether the U.S. and Saudi Arabia can have “common interests” given the regime’s character and actions;The failure of American policymakers to take seriously the facts about Saudi Arabia and to adopt a principled stand;Why the oil shortage does not justify pursuing closer relations with Saudi Arabia;Why we should not ally with Saudi Arabia as a means of opposing Iran;The mentality behind calls to appease and ally with Saudi Arabia;Why the failure to deal properly with Saudi Arabia is ultimately a moral and intellectual failure. Mentioned in this podcast are the expanded edition of the book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism, edited by Journo and Onkar Ghate; the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on “Foreign Policy”; and Journo’s latest book, What Justice Demands. The podcast was recorded on July 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/QRuVPPTASyo Podcast audio:

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:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Agustina Vergara Cid and Don Watkins discuss their initial reactions to the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which overturns Roe v. Wade and lays the groundwork for states to restrict or ban abortion. They outline what ARI has done and plans to do to promote Ayn Rand’s defense of abortion rights. Among the topics covered: Why ARI has been a vocal defender of abortion rights; [0:28]The panelists’ initial reactions to the Dobbs v. Jackson decision; [1:59]Responses to Vergara Cid’s recent column defending abortion; [9:31]Why Roe v. Wade and the political Left have failed to defend abortion rights; [12:17]What ARI has done recently and plans to do to advance the case for abortion rights; [16:57]The importance of keeping in mind the lives of actual women when thinking about abortion. [23:22] Mentioned in this podcast are Bayer’s book Why the Right to Abortion Is Sacrosanct and Vergara Cid’s column “The Pursuit of Happiness Includes the Right to Abortion.” The podcast was recorded on June 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/y01zuqcDHUU Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss Ayn Rand’s provocative view of the meaning and importance of moral judgment as articulated in her fiction and in her nonfiction philosophic work. This discussion assumes familiarity with Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, and listeners should note that it includes plot spoilers. Among the topics covered: Why Ayn Rand thought the slogan “judge not, lest ye be judged” is radically wrong;Why moral judgment is necessary for living life;The importance of moral judgment in Rand’s novels;The need for moral judgment in foreign policy;How to be rational when making moral judgments;Cases in which one lacks sufficient information to reach a final judgment;Rand’s view that a person’s ideas are subject to moral judgment;Whether someone can innocently adopt evil ideas;What to do after reaching a negative moral evaluation of one’s own actions;The difference between Objectivist and intrinsicist views of moral judgments;Judging people whose moral character has changed over time. Mentioned in this podcast are Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, her essays “How Does One Lead a Rational Life in an Irrational Society?” “The Psychology of Psychologizing” and “The Cult of Moral Grayness,” Leonard Peikoff’s essay “Fact and Value” and his course “Judging, Feeling and Not Being Moralistic.” The podcast was recorded on June 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/JdvsrFwuDQI Podcast audio:

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. Podcast audio:

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:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Dan Schwartz and Ben Bayer discuss British philosopher Kathleen Stock’s book Material Girls, in which Stock bravely challenges “gender identity theory,” the influential idea that gender is determined entirely by private feelings. Among the topics covered: The controversy over Stock’s opposition to gender self-identification laws in the UK;The case that an orthodoxy has formed around “gender identity theory;”The value of Stock’s book for different audiences;Stock’s argument that biological sex is real and essentially binary despite borderline cases;Why we need a concept of biological sex;Stock’s critique of the idea that gender identity is a psychological state;Stock’s model of gender identity as a psychological assessment of one’s own sex in relation to that of others;Stock’s view that the ability to change biological sex is a fiction many are immersed in;Similarities between Stock’s view of concepts and Ayn Rand’s;The role of secondhandedness and authoritarianism in the acceptance of “gender identity theory.” Mentioned in this podcast are Stock’s book Material Girls and Rand’s book Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, especially chapter 7, “The Cognitive Role of Concepts.” The podcast was recorded on June 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://www.youtube.com/embed/fbIqLa3I5Ao Podcast audio:

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Keith Lockitch and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Fossil Future, a powerful new book on energy and climate change written by former Ayn Rand Institute fellow Alex Epstein. The book argues that to achieve a better world, we need to expand our use of fossil fuel energy, not decrease it. Among the topics covered: Fossil Future in relation to other recent books challenging climate alarmism;Epstein’s account of the widespread ignorance of the benefits of fossil fuels;Epstein’s concept of a knowledge system by which expert knowledge is reached and disseminated (often inaccurately) to the public;How problems in our knowledge system are caused by the acceptance of an “anti-impact” moral standard;The human flourishing framework Epstein endorses as a positive alternative;Objectivism’s influence on Epstein’s perspective on energy and climate;The persuasive power of explicitly naming the moral ideas involved in a debate. Mentioned in this podcast are Epstein’s book Fossil Future, Gregory Salmieri’s lecture “How to Be an Objective Consumer of Science,” Ayn Rand’s essay “The Anatomy of Compromise” from Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Lockitch’s review of Fossil Future, and other articles by Lockitch. The podcast was recorded on June 1, 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/fxzNw2lE6f8 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: