values

Happiness II: Objective Confidence by Jean Moroney

November 17, 2023 arilive_user 0:59:03 0 Comments

An important component of happiness is confidence in your future success. How is such confidence possible, especially with ambitious goals that involve significant risks? In this talk, Ms. Moroney will discuss how the Objectivist ethics and epistemology help you establish objective confidence that you will be successful. A companion to her previous talk, Happiness, this will be a self-contained discussion of topics including: How to conceptualize ambitious goals to foster creativity; the need for objective self-awareness of your knowledge, values, and skills; and how rationally to deal with mistakes, setbacks, and failures.

The handout is available here: https://courses.aynrand.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Happiness-II-Objective-Confidence-OCON-2023.pdf

Recorded at OCON on Saturday, July 1, 2023, in Miami, Florida.

How to Be an Earthly Idealist by Don Watkins

November 7, 2023 arilive_user 59:57 0 Comments

Many are attracted to Objectivism for its idealism. But they often struggle to successfully use Objectivism as a guide for living on earth, and experience its ideals as a source of frustration, confusion, and guilt. In this talk, Don Watkins draws on his experience as Ayn Rand University’s Director of Coaching and Mentoring to discuss what gives rise to this problem—and practical strategies for overcoming it.

Recorded at OCON on July 2, 2023, in Miami, Florida.

Man’s Life as the Standard of Value in the Ethics of Ayn Rand and Aristotle by Gregory Salmieri

June 23, 2023 arilive_user 51:48 0 Comments

“Man’s life,” wrote Ayn Rand, “is the standard of morality.” Aristotle was the first to identify the proper standard of morality as the distinctly human form of life—the life of a rational animal. But Rand and Aristotle have importantly different views of what the human form of life is—in particular, about why reason is a value and how it relates to the faculties and the needs that human beings share with other living things. This talk explores the similarities and differences between these two ethicists.

Recorded live at Ayn Rand Con Europe 2023

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict . . . What Is the Solution? by Yaron Brook

April 26, 2023 arilive_user 2:12:02 0 Comments

Central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the question of whether the state of Israel has a moral right to exist. In this talk Dr. Yaron Brook argues that Israel deserves — but is not receiving — America’s moral and political support; that by sacrificing its loyal ally for the sake of appeasing our common enemies, America is undermining its own war on terrorism.

Recorded December 12, 2002

Hugo, Rostand, Hernani and How to Be a Romantic by Lisa VanDamme

September 14, 2022 arilive_user 1:29:56 0 Comments

Victor Hugo’s Hernani was more than a play. It was “the rehearsal of a revolution,” a bold theatrical rebellion that defied Classical dogmas and made way for a new Romanticism. On the centenary of Hugo’s birth, writer Edmond Rostand would pay worshipful tribute to his hero with a poem called Un Soir à Hernani. In this lecture, I will tell the thrilling story of Hernani, share excerpts from Rostand’s never-translated tribute, and highlight all that Hugo and Rostand have to show us about how to be a Romantic.

Recorded live on July 6, 2022 as part of the Objectivist Summer Conference.

Using Reason to Cultivate Passion: A Moral and Psychological How-To Guide by Gena Gorlin

April 13, 2022 arilive_user 59:07 0 Comments

Despite all the graduation speeches enjoining us to “be passionate” about something, the experience of deep, passionate emotion is not an easy one to achieve, much less sustain. This talk offers guidance for achieving that rarified quality which Ayn Rand ascribed to one of Atlas Shrugged’s heroes — a “disciplined capacity to feel too deeply.” The talk by Gena Gorlin, a postdoctoral fellow at Boston University’s Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, integrates tools from cognitive-behavioral therapy with insights from Rand’s theory of values, without assuming prior knowledge of either.

This talk was recorded live at Objectivist Summer Conference 2017 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, June 11, 2017.

Dostoevsky and the Drama of Ideas That Matter by Shoshana Milgram

March 9, 2022 arilive_user 01:02:46 0 Comments

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.

Purpose and Values with Gregory Salmieri

July 28, 2021 arilive_user 1:15:41 0 Comments

Ayn Rand described purpose as man’s “choice of the happiness which [his reason] must proceed to achieve.” It is one of the three “supreme and ruling” values that she wrote are “the means to and the realization of one’s ultimate value, one’s own life.” In this talk, Dr. Salmieri explores this distinctive aspect of the Objectivist ethics, with special attention to what it means to value one’s choice of happiness, and how such a choice can be both a part of one’s ultimate end and an essential means to it.

Recorded on May 16, 2020 as part of OCON Live! 2020

The Purpose of Purpose with Yaron Brook

July 21, 2021 arilive_user 57:08 0 Comments

“The principle of purpose,” writes Leonard Peikoff, “means conscious goal-directedness in every aspect of one’s existence where choice applies.” In this talk, Yaron Brook will explore the role of purpose in human life: Why is it important and what does it mean to live purposefully, to have a central purpose, and to integrate all of your values around that central purpose? Recorded on May 15, 2020 as part of OCON Live! 2020

Transforming Burnout with Selfishness – Ellen Kenner, Edwin A. Locke and Jean Moroney

October 14, 2020 arilive_user 1:28:44 0 Comments

Burnout is a vicious cycle involving loss of motivation for one’s job or career. Internal causes include altruism, the duty premise and secondhand values. External causes include unrealistic expectations of others and injustice. Our panel of experts: Ellen Kenner, Edwin A. Locke and Jean Moroney discuss how making selfish value choices breaks the vicious cycle of burnout, so you can experience a virtuous cycle of productivity for achieving selfish goals.

Falling In Love With Poetry (Part 2) by Lisa VanDamme

September 16, 2020 arilive_user 58:57 0 Comments

The goal of this talk is to help you fall in love – or more in love – both with poetry and with love itself. With a symphonic integration of all the resources of language, great love poets take the most elusive nuances, thrills, mysteries, and motifs of love and throw them into sharp relief. During this talk, you will see these facets illumined by such timeless poets as Tennyson, Donne, Millay, and Browning.

You will experience the power of poetry to sharpen our vision, intensify our feelings, deepen our souls, and expand our capacity to love.

Recorded live at OCON 2018.

Falling In Love With Poetry (Part 1) by Lisa VanDamme

September 9, 2020 arilive_user 57:41 0 Comments

You will experience the power of poetry to sharpen our vision, intensify our feelings, deepen our souls, and expand our capacity to love.

Recorded live at OCON 2018.

Sense of Life in Medieval Persia by Barry Wood

August 20, 2020 arilive_user 58:21 0 Comments

Art is a universal need of man qua man, yet most people’s awareness of art is limited to the Western tradition. This horizon-expanding lecture offers an introduction to the culture of medieval Persia. Dr. Wood analyzes, in Objectivist terms, the ways in which the poets, painters and architects of that era distilled their sense of life into concrete form. The reward is an increased appreciation of Ayn Rand’s insights into art, as well as of a lesser-known legacy of human creativity.

Recorded live at OCON 2019

Practicum on “Motivation by Love” by Jean Moroney

July 8, 2020 arilive_user 1:27:40 0 Comments

Do you select actions because they help you achieve values (“motivation by love”) or avoid failures (“motivation by fear”)? The same action can lead to happiness or suffereing depending on your reason for taking it. You will learn:

– The full meaning of “motivation by love” and its antithesis “motivation by fear

– The need to act from “motivation by love,” i.e., with the achievement of your values as your primary focus

– How to switch to a values-focus when you spot “motivation by fear”

Recorded live on June 24, 2019 as part of OCON 2019

Aristotle and the Romantic Manifesto by Robert Mayhew

March 30, 2020 arilive_user 1:23:35 0 Comments

In the Romantic Manifesto, Ayn Rand reports that before she heard the name “Aristotle,” she had accepted his principle “that fiction is of greater philosophical importance than history, because history represents things only as they are, while fiction represents them ‘as they might be and ought to be.’” The aim of this talk is to explain the role of this principle in Aristotle’s esthetics and Ayn Rand’s, and to note other parallels between the Poetics and Romantic Manifesto.

Recorded live on June 27, 2019 in Cleveland, OH.

How to Fill Your Life With Art by Yaron Brook, Onkar Ghate

March 4, 2020 arilive_user 1:28:49 0 Comments

A central message of The Romantic Manifesto is the value of enriching your life with great art. But how? Dr. Brook has long pursued a passion for bringing Romantic art to Objectivists and other buyers and seeking out great art around the world. Join him for a discussion of the difference between great art and art you like; how to define your personal favorites; and how, over time, to elevate your taste in art.

Recorded live in Cleveland on June 24, 2019

Literature and the Quest for Meaning by Lisa VanDamme

February 26, 2020 arilive_user 1:28:31 0 Comments

One essential condition of fulfillment and happiness is the philosophic conviction that your life belongs to you. But it is only a condition. A truly fulfilled and happy life requires a sense of meaning. How to achieve that meaning is a question for which we have few tried-and-true, culturally established answers. Thankfully, one resource we do have for answering that question, or even knowing how to go about considering it, is great art. This talk explores how classic literature can contribute to the vital quest for meaning.

Recorded live in Cleveland on June 26, 2019

Principles and Personal Values by Gregory Salmieri

February 19, 2020 arilive_user 1:31:17 0 Comments

Morality is widely seen as a counterweight to self-interest, and it is often thought that adherence to esthetic principles constrains the artist’s ability to express himself and an audience’s ability to respond in a genuinely personal way. On this common view, principles are opposed to personal values. In this talk, Dr. Salmieri explores Rand’s contrary view that principles identify what makes personal values possible and that adhering to them enables an individual to value on a grand scale.

Recorded live in Cleveland on June 25, 2019

Ayn Rand on Art with Yaron Brook, Onkar Ghate and Robert Mayhew

February 12, 2020 arilive_user 1:01:20 0 Comments

Yaron Brook, Onkar Ghate and Robert Mayhew have a panel discussion and Q&A on various aspects of Ayn Rand’s perspective on art.

Recorded live at OCON 2019 in Clevland, OH on June 23, 2019.

Why Should I care About Israel? with Elan Journo

February 5, 2020 arilive_user 1:00:18 0 Comments

Israel is talked about often in the media, but many Americans don’t understand why we are so preoccupied with this country.

Often Israel is spoken of in a negative context: boycotts at universities, condemnations by the United Nations, and so on. What makes Israel worse than other countries? On the flip side, good defenses of Israel are scant. Is Israel important to U.S. foreign policy? If so, why?

Join David Birnbaum as he interviews foreign policy expert Elan Journo on the question: Why should I care about Israel?

What’s Wrong with “Virtue Signaling”? by Ben Bayer

January 29, 2020 arilive_user 1:00:55 0 Comments

Think about celebrities who tweet about their politics all the time, or think about companies who want you to buy their products because they’re supposedly eco-friendly. Some say that these are symptoms of an epidemic that’s coursing it’s way through social media and through our political discourse generally, an epidemic they call “virtue signalling”.

Ben Bayer, a fellow at The Ayn Rand Institute, has some questions about this. You’re said to be a virtue signaller when you promote some cause or criticize some figure people love to hate in a way that doesn’t involve much cost, but which draws attention to your own right way of thinking.

What, if anything, is wrong with this kind of behavior? Is there a kind of behavior here at all or do the critics of virtue signalling lump together lots of different things? Is speaking out ineffective only because it’s speaking? Does profiting from the judgment of others make you insincere?

Join Ben Bayer and explore the question: What’s wrong with “virtue signalling”?

Do People’s Interests Have to Conflict? by Gregory Salmieri

January 8, 2020 arilive_user 1:02:52 0 Comments

People are at odds with one another all the time (we have wars, personal animosities, etc.) and it is generally assumed that people’s interests conflict. We are often told that the only way to have any kind of peace is to compromise—to give up our interests in deference to other people.

Ayn Rand rejects this idea. Her view is that the interests of rational people don’t conflict, in fact, they harmonize. But what does it mean to form a rational view of what’s in your own interest?

Join Greg Salmieri as he presents Rand’s answer to the question: Do people’s interests have to conflict?

Love Does Not Require Sacrifice by Keith Lockitch

July 24, 2019 arilive_user 59:19 0 Comments

Conflicts among priorities and values, big or small, come up in relationships all the time. Figuring out how to navigate them is critical to making the relationship work.

If you look to any self-help or psychology website for advice on this topic, you’ll see articles with titles like: “7 things you should sacrifice for a relationship.” Many such articles seek to draw a boundary between what should and what shouldn’t be sacrificed—but it’s taken for granted that there has to be some willingness to sacrifice.

In this webinar, we’ll challenge that idea.

We’ll put the concept of “sacrifice” under the microscope and untangle common confusions about the intersection of self-interest and romantic love. We’ll describe what a healthy, non-sacrificial relationship would look like—and how to achieve it.

Recorded live as part of ARI’s Philosophy of Living on Earth webinar series on July 20, 2019
Sign up up to attend the next webinar live at http://courses.aynrand.org/webinars/register

How to Fill Your Life with Meaning with Yaron Brook, Gena Gorlin and Dave Rubin

March 20, 2019 arilive_user 53:06 0 Comments

This is the seventh episode in a series looking at Objectivism’s approach to Happiness. Yaron Brook and psychologist Gena Gorlin join Dave Rubin to discuss what it takes to have a meaningful life.

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?

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.