individualism – Page 2 – Ayn Rand Institute Live!

Ayn Rand’s Philosophy for Living on Earth (Part 1) by Ben Bayer

February 22, 2019 arilive_user 1:01:46 0 Comments

This session explores the basic contours of Ayn Rand’s overall philosophy by discussing highlights from Galt’s speech in Atlas Shrugged. On Day 1, we discuss the following questions: Is our society and our world, like Galt’s, going through a moral crisis? Why does Galt think the solution to this crisis is to discover morality, rather than return to it? What is the morality for living on earth, and on what earthly facts is it based? (We try to avoid Atlas plot spoilers.)

Recorded at Objectivist Summer Conference 2018.

What Might Be and Ought to Be: The Idealism of Objectivism by Aaron Smith

February 2, 2019 arilive_user 00:54:41 0 Comments

What Might Be and Ought to Be: The Idealism of Objectivism

Ayn Rand is often charged with advocating a kind of cynical amoralism; but the opposite is true. Rand was a moral idealist. In this session, we will discuss the nature and roots of that idealism, addressing such questions as: What does it mean to be an idealist? Why does Rand think that ideals are so important to have and to fight for? What is the connection between having ideals and having a self? Is idealism naïve and impractical?

This talk was recorded at Objectivist Summer Conference 2018.

Thinking Like an Individualist by Ben Bayer

January 12, 2019 arilive_user 58:55 0 Comments

This session explores a key theme of The Fountainhead: the importance of thinking for oneself. We discuss how key speeches and passages from the book address these questions: What does it mean to think for oneself? Does it mean believing whatever one likes, never learning from or agreeing with others, judging everything on a case-by-case basis? Or does it mean using a disciplined, principled method consistent with learning from others? (May contain mild Fountainhead plot spoilers.)

Recorded live at Objectivist Summer Conference 2018

Newport Beach, California

July 3, 2018

What It Means to Be Selfish in Life and in Politics: Yaron Brook at Exeter University

January 4, 2019 arilive_user 1:31:20 0 Comments

In this talk, Yaron Brook discusses what it means to be selfish, what role selfishness has in politics, and how selfishness contributes to creating a happy productive life.

This talk was streamed live from Exeter University on November 13, 2018.

Free Speech, Free Minds, Free Markets with Yaron Brook, Dave Rubin and Eric Weinstein

November 23, 2018 arilive_user 1:51:02 0 Comments

A conversation about freedom, between Yaron Brook, Dave Rubin and Eric Weinstein.

The Fountainhead on What Is Important (and What Is Not) by Gregory Salmieri

November 2, 2018 arilive_user 1:27:40 0 Comments

The characters in The Fountainhead have differing views of what is important in life. The more sympathetic characters differ in the significance they place on the vices or inadequacies they observe in other people and in the culture at large. Dr. Salmieri explores the novel’s treatment of this issue and elaborates on Howard Roark’s distinctive perspective (which Dominique Francon comes to share).