Why We Need More Objectivists and Objectivist Intellectuals by Onkar Ghate
Recorded live as part of AynRandCon Europe 2024 in Amsterdam.
Visit https://events.aynrand.org/ for more information.
ideas
Why We Are Losing Our Freedom of Speech by Peter Schwartz
Freedom of speech used to be an unquestioned value. Even as society endorsed the use of force in other realms, the individual’s right to express ideas freely was widely acknowledged. Today, that right is coming under increasing attack. Why? And what can we do to counter this ominous threat? Mr. Schwartz discusses the fundamental relation between force and the mind—and examines the modern philosophic premise that, by blurring the distinction between thought and action, leads to the suppression of free speech.
Delivered at OCON 2023 in Miami, Florida on July 2, 2023.
Judging Viewpoints by Their Fundamentals by Peter Schwartz
How do we judge viewpoints — political movements, ideologies, philosophies — that seem to contain mixtures of good and bad ideas? How do we determine whether any specific element of a broader framework is good or bad? This talk discusses a range of viewpoints, from environmentalism to religion to Black Lives Matter, and examines the means by which their concrete positions should be assessed. It explains how to identify the fundamental of any systematic viewpoint, and how that must shape our judgment of those concrete positions.
Recorded live on July 7, 2022 as part of the Objectivist Summer Conference.
Understanding Evil: The Soviet Union and the Sanction of the Victim by Nikos Sotirakopoulos
The Bolsheviks began as an insignificant, minority group that seized power in 1917, yet they maintained it for seven decades and established an empire with global reach. The regime struggled from day one, and yet it managed to sustain itself and expand. There are useful lessons to draw from this for the student of history and ideas. What does the Soviet Union’s history teach us about the nature of evil? How does it survive, and how important is the role played by the sanction of the good?
Recorded live on July 7, 2022 as part of the Objectivist Summer Conference.
Don’t Be Boring: Winning the Attention Game by Don Watkins
There has never been more competition for people’s attention. And yet you can’t win the war of ideas unless you can cut through the noise and get your message heard. In this talk, Don Watkins looks at the theory and practice of capturing attention and how you can use that knowledge to promote Ayn Rand’s ideas.
Dostoevsky and the Drama of Ideas That Matter by Shoshana Milgram
Fyodor Dostoevsky was a novelist of ideas. Ayn Rand praised his “enormous intelligence” and “superb mastery of plot structure”; some of her fiction even has parallels with his. As a writer, he dramatized principles with passionate intensity and psychological complexity. As a man, he took part in Russia’s debates and dangers (including hard labor in Siberia). Powerful convictions inspired his characters’ actions–and his own. (No advance reading required.)
Recorded live as part of The Objectivist Conference on September 01, 2021.
Free Speech Under Attack Panel with Steve Simpson, Flemming Rose, Dave Rubin
Freedom of speech is a bedrock principle throughout the Western world, but increasingly it is being challenged — on college campuses, among intellectuals and in politics — in the name of preventing offense and “hate.” Why is this happening and what does it mean for the future of free speech.
Panelists are Steve Simpson, director of Legal Studies at the Ayn Rand Institute and editor of “Defending Free Speech”; Flemming Rose, author of “Tyranny of Silence: How One Cartoon Ignited a Global Debate on the Future of Free Speech,” and Dave Rubin, creator and host of the Rubin Report. The event, “Free Speech Under Attack,” took place at Objectivist Summer Conference 2017 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, June 13, 2017.
OCON 2021: Spreading Objectivism: A Vision for ARI’s Future with Tal Tsfany
Tal Tsfany, ARI’s president and CEO, will review ARI’s mission to spread Objectivism and the progress made during 2020-21. ARI’s strategy for the future will be presented together with many data points and insights, collected through newly implemented technologies and methodologies. Mr. Tsfany will answer questions about the direction ARI is taking.
Ayn Rand’s Ideas: An Introduction
Tens of millions have read Ayn Rand’s novels, including The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and half a million copies of her works now sell each year, but far fewer people know of the radical system of ideas underlying the stories she created. This lecture by Onkar Ghate introduces some of the main ideas of this controversial thinker — and their vital importance today. Recorded June 2, 2003
Capitalism Versus Statism: The Real Lessons of the Berlin Wall by Yaron Brook
Recorded live at Ayn Rand Conference Europe 2020
Taking Your Happiness Seriously with Tara Smith and Dave Rubin
This is the sixth episode in a series looking at Objectivism’s approach to Happiness. Philosopher Tara Smith joins Dave Rubin to discuss what it means to take one’s happiness seriously.
Grounding Morality in Facts with Harry Binswanger, Gregory Salmieri and Dave Rubin
This is the fifth episode in a series looking at Objectivism’s approach to Happiness. Philosophers Gregory Salmieri and Harry Binswanger join Dave Rubin to discuss Objectivism’s view on the relationship between facts and values, why Ayn Rand’s ideas generate the strong reactions they do, and Harry’s experience knowing Ayn Rand personally.
Creating a Life Worth Living with Onkar Ghate, Gregory Salmieri and Dave Rubin
This is the fourth episode in a series looking at Objectivism’s approach to Happiness. Philosophers Gregory Salmieri and Onkar Ghate join Dave Rubin to discuss how to create a life worth living.
Tribalism vs. Enlightenment Culture with Yaron Brook, Onkar Ghate and Dave Rubin
This is the third episode in a series looking at Objectivism’s approach to Happiness. Yaron Brook and Onkar Ghate join Dave Rubin to discuss Enlightenment culture and the pursuit of happiness, in contrast with the culture of tribalism and self-sacrifice.
Do We Have Free Will? with Onkar Ghate and Dave Rubin
This is the second episode in a series looking at Objectivism’s approach to Happiness. Philosopher Onkar Ghate joins Dave Rubin to discuss the perennial philosophical question: Do we have free will?
Why Selfishness is a Virtue with Onkar Ghate, Tara Smith and Dave Rubin
This is the first in a series looking at Objectivism’s approach to Happiness. Onkar Ghate and Tara Smith join Dave to discuss the virtue of selfishness.
Objectivism is Radical (and Applying It Can be Hard) by Yaron Brook
FROM THE VAULT–classic content from the Ayn Rand Institute.
In this talk, Yaron Brook discusses how radical Objectivism is and the difficulties involved in applying it, especially in the current culture.
This lecture was recorded at Objectivist Summer Conference 2013 in Chicago.
What Is Killing Western Civilization? with Douglas Murray, Claire Fox and Yaron Brook
Cultural observers have often noted that Europe — and, more broadly, Western civilization — despite historically unprecedented success, is in danger of losing itself. But what exactly is being lost, and why? And what can be done about it?
In a recent panel discussion entitled “What Is Killing Western Civilization?,” Yaron Brook (chairman of the board of the Ayn Rand Institute) and Douglas Murray (author of The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam) met at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers lecture theatre in central London to discuss the future of Western civilization in the context of its own identity crisis and the growing trend of immigration to the West from those outside it — and, in some cases, hostile to it. The panel, moderated by Claire Fox (director and founder of Academy of Ideas), addressed such questions as:
- What is Western civilization?
- What is the nature of the crisis that the West faces?
- How should one think about immigration in today’s world?
Free Speech, Free Minds, Free Markets with Yaron Brook, Dave Rubin and Eric Weinstein
A conversation about freedom, between Yaron Brook, Dave Rubin and Eric Weinstein.
Elevating the Dialogue: Overcoming Today’s Intellectual Abyss with Sargon of Akkad and Gregory Salmieri
The political climate in the West, described by some as toxic, is deteriorating rapidly. The worse it gets, the more we hear about the conflation of speech and action, that words lead to violence, and that government should step in.
How serious are the problems around modern political discourse, such as trolling and de-platforming, and what is the best way to bring about constructive discussions on controversial topics?
This event was recorded live in London on October 12, 2018.
“Kill by Laughter”: Humor in The Fountainhead by Robert Mayhew
“Kill by Laughter”: Humor in The Fountainhead and Its 21st-Century Relevance
The Fountainhead is the novel in which Ayn Rand’s conception of humor (good and bad) comes across most clearly. The novel begins: “Howard Roark laughed.” Yet the villain Ellsworth Toohey, presenting his recipe for achieving power, recommends that we “kill by laughter.” This lecture discusses humor in The Fountainhead and the prevalence of the bad kind of humor in today’s culture.