reality – Ayn Rand Institute Live!

The Ontological Argument for the Existence of God by Robert Mayhew

November 3, 2023 arilive_user 59:45 0 Comments

Anselm of Canterbury (11th century) was the first to present the ontological argument, purporting to demonstrate God’s existence through a mere analysis of the definition of God. Aquinas rejected the argument, but Descartes revived it. Kant was thought by many to deliver it a death blow, but it continues to be resuscitated. This lecture is an exercise in philosophical detection: Dr. Mayhew will present the argument and then explain Objectivism’s unique reasons for rejecting it as not merely false, but as an absurd rationalization.

Recorded at OCON 2023 in Miami, Florida

Reason Versus Faith and Emotionalism by Aaron Smith

February 10, 2021 arilive_user 52:57 0 Comments

Recorded live at Ayn Rand Conference Europe 2020

From Metaphysical Facts to Moral Guidance by Aaron Smith

September 23, 2020 arilive_user 51:39 0 Comments

This session—part lecture, part class discussion—explores the fact that, and the ways in which, the guidance offered by the Objectivist ethics flows from the recognition of certain universal facts about human nature and the nature of the world in which man lives. The purpose of the session is to highlight the connection between facts and values from a uniquely Objectivist perspective.

Recorded live at OCON on June 24, 2019

Free Speech, Free Minds, Free Markets by Tara Smith

June 10, 2020 arilive_user 01:27:46 0 Comments

Many people believe that while freedom of speech is a vital human liberty, economic freedom is entirely separate, merely a distant and inferior relation. This lecture exposes their error by examining the underappreciated implications of free speech on free markets. After isolating the First Amendment’s core concern as intellectual freedom, Smith demonstrates how the mind is the bridge between speech and property—between intellectual activity, on the other hand, and its manifold material rewards, on the other.

Recorded Live in Cleveland on Thursday June 27th, 2019.

Why Be Honest? by Ben Bayer

November 20, 2019 arilive_user 58:28 0 Comments

We live in an age in which fabricated stories pulse through social media, fashionable startup companies are founded on swindles and, of course, politicians of all stripes routinely lie. Whatever happened to the idea that honesty is the best policy? Most people would recognize honesty as an obvious example of a moral virtue, but the idea of being honest on principle strikes many people as a burdensome duty they owe to other people, which is sometimes too impractical to stick to consistently.

Is honesty really just a duty we owe to others? What does it mean to be honest and why should we bother being honest at all?

Join Ben Bayer to explore one of life’s big questions: Why be honest?

What Is Killing Western Civilization? with Douglas Murray, Claire Fox and Yaron Brook

December 7, 2018 arilive_user 1:38:36 0 Comments

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?