The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article, “Debunking the Supernaturalism That Haunts Secular Ethics.” In that essay, he examines secular thinkers' approach towards ethics. As he argues, scientists like Richard Dawkins accept ethical claims that are fundamentally based on religious thinking. To combat this approach to ethics, we need a naturalistic alternative: and one has been offered by...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjAt5kXxxBs Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid criticize various pro-immigration arguments and discuss how they undermine a proper moral defense of immigration. Among the topics covered: How conventional pro-immigration arguments are based on altruism and collectivism; How altruism leads to the infantilization of r...

https://youtu.be/fC2PeuDuR5E Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews Paul Taske, associate director of litigation at NetChoice, to discuss the Supreme Court’s recent NetChoice decision and what it means for the future of free speech in America. Among the topics covered: The Supreme Court’s decision to send the question about regulating social media platforms back to...

https://youtu.be/lOPRUlOyTMU Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Mike Mazza discuss why the trans movement is essentially religious and unscientific. Among the topics covered: The religious character of the trans movement; Why many of its scientific claims are dishonest; How religious conservatives reinforce the movement’s irrationality; Why debates about gender have...

https://youtu.be/WSCTJ5fxqq8 Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Sam Weaver discuss how the introduction of both the Ten Commandments and DEI into the public school system represents an assault on intellectual freedom. Among the topics covered: How recent public-school mandates in Louisiana and Oklahoma use force to promote religion; Why the mandates are an assault on t...

https://youtu.be/1UvPyAQ6s5E Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer examines a discussion between Richard Dawkins and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, explaining why so-called secular humanists have been unable to offer a rational moral alternative to religion. Among the topics covered: Ali's rationalizations for her religious conversion; Why Western civilization is not purely Christian; How...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHXGamIEZ6g Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss how the Republican National Convention’s platform has turned away from its traditional appeal to small government and turned instead towards adopting many of the big government policies that socialists envy. Among the topics covered: The RNC platform on energy po...

https://youtu.be/4ivJl__LyWw Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the Trump assassination attempt and the violent climate of tribalism in our culture. Among the topics covered: The evil of using physical force to settle political disagreements; Why it’s important to comment on this event; The increasing normalization of political violence...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPEzaQP0SyU&t=1s Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss historian Niall Ferguson’s “We’re All Soviets Now,” a viral essay about American economic and cultural decline. Among the topics covered: Ferguson’s argument that America is following the path of the late USSR; The disanalogies between America and the...

https://youtu.be/GdlePIECjGc Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Adi Dynar discuss the Supreme Court's overturning of its 1984 Chevron doctrine, which held that courts should sometimes defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of a vague law. Among the topics covered: How Chevron gave the executive branch the power to make law, thereby incentivizing the passing of va...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEKVbWwlqhM Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Mike Mazza responds to an episode of Neil deGrasse Tyson's StarTalk, in which neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky argues against the existence of free will. Among the topics covered: The meaning and stakes of the free will debate; Why determinists are wrong to focus on atomistic choices about preferences: How free...

https://youtu.be/hGoQ52C0PAg Podcast audio: In this special episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo interviews Robert Mayhew, Tara Smith, and Greg Salmieri at the Objectivist summer conference in Anaheim, California. They celebrate the release of Smith's new book on the First Amendment and the republication of the essays in Mayhew's series on Ayn Rand's novels, discussing the importance of written...

https://youtu.be/LaS-oLBiRbI Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo interviews Tara Smith about her new book Egoism Without Permission: The Moral Psychology of Ayn Rand’s Ethics. Among the topics covered: What Rand means (and doesn't mean) by egoism and the virtues; Why  having desires and owning your emotions are crucial to having a good life, even though emotionalism is ba...

https://youtu.be/z5ptDg7iHlA Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Robertas Bakula interviews three of ARI's fellows to discuss their upcoming talks at Objectivist Summer Conference in Anaheim, California, which is being held from June 13 to 18. Among the topics covered: Jason Rheins’ talk “Socratic Wisdom,” concerning the value of knowing your own ignorance; Tristan de Liège’s talk “H...

https://youtu.be/N3B8VRLXjeg Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Sam Weaver and Onkar Ghate discuss the nature and significance of the Trump phenomenon. Among the topics covered: Why Trump’s base of support is significant; Why it’s important to study the Trump phenomenon; The meaning and consequences of Trump’s 2016 election Trump’s anti-intellectual character; Understanding Trump’s...

https://youtu.be/LJ20jmhEE7s Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the Libertarian Party’s (LP) convention, especially the speeches by Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and what it reveals about the nature of the libertarian movement. Among the topics covered: Why chaos in the Libertarian Party is a result of disunity about what liberty...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_yz-9X11ck Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss why and how DEI has become so dominant in American institutions, from universities to corporate businesses, despite its questionable nature. Among the topics covered: How DEI is sold as a form of justice for historically marginalized groups; How “diversity” rel...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXGhis0_6Jw Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews Harry Binswanger, a philosopher and longtime friend of Ayn Rand’s, about his observations as a graduate student at Columbia during the 1968 protests and how those protests compare to those taking place now at Columbia and other campuses. Among the topics covered: How the 1968 proteste...

https://youtu.be/8NdmIOYTB4s Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer is interviewed by Ziemowit Gowin about his article on the phenomenon of academic plagiarism following the resignation of Harvard University president, Claudine Gay. They discuss why academia’s greater interest in combating issues such as sexism and racism over academic dishonesty is consistent with their deepe...

https://youtu.be/RGhQLpYXo6Y Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the ongoing anti-Israel campus protests and analyze the demand that universities divest from Israel. Among the topics covered: How the divestment crusade is animated by hatred of Israel, not concern for the Palestinians; The dishonest claim that Israel practices apartheid; How the pro...

https://youtu.be/Bg9BFE1-49Y Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Milton Friedman’s impact as a public intellectual and how his advocacy of the free market differed from Ayn Rand’s radical philosophical case for capitalism. Among the topics covered: Why Milton Friedman is an essentially positive influence on free market thought; How Friedma...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O0HkJbbj4E Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the protests on university campuses against Israel’s war of self-defense and what they say about the state of our culture. Among the topics covered: Why the anti-Israeli campus protests are rightly labelled as being pro-Hamas; How there is a double standard in the public’...

https://youtu.be/FjsC7I-Qa4A Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Mike Mazza and Aaron Smith discuss Mazza’s recently published article about why academic philosophers tend to get Rand’s ideas wrong so frequently and the parochialism involved in many of their critiques. Among the topics covered: What Mazza aimed to explain in this article; Why responding to academic critics is importa...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Lm2YpZvyI Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo offers initial commentary on Iran’s April 13 attack on Israel. Among the topics covered: How Iran’s attack on Israel is a consequence of its Islamic and imperial nature; How America’s failure to recognise and confront Iran’s nature emboldens it; Why America and Israel are morally justified in...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeuU6AbIDOo Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo give a preview of ARI’s 2024 presidential election coverage and comment on some of the major political issues at stake in the election. Among the topics covered: How ARI uses Objectivism to analyze elections and the wider political culture; What the Trump phenomenon says about...