The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

https://youtu.be/8wKAKmydUlg Podcast audio: Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s dramatic poem Faust is a monumental work of Romantic literature that presents one man’s ceaseless striving to transcend the limitations of human knowledge and experience. By exploring some of the most profound and moving passages from the poem, this talk by Nicolas Krusek provides a glimpse of Goethe’s grand-scale themes and char...

https://youtu.be/HtOmp-fh-Pk Podcast audio: This episode of ARI Bookshelf features Naomi Oreskes’s bookWhy Trust Science? Panelists include Ben Bayer, Jason Rheins, Mike Mazza, and Daniel Schwartz. Why Trust Science? asks when and why non-experts can trust science. It argues that it is the social character of science that makes it trustworthy. Our panelists judge whether the arguments Oreskes give...

https://youtu.be/S1DL9777gfk Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate challenge the myth that America is ruled by plutocrats, exposing how fear of governmental threats drives business decisions. Among the topics covered: How CEOs’ silence in the face of Trump’s destructive tariff policies debunks the myth of plutocracy; How threats from the Trump...

https://youtu.be/qBTy_9VVhuE Podcast audio: Often, people make the mistake of being too passive about friendship, treating it as something that just happens automatically in life—for instance, maintaining friendships with people one just happened to know growing up, or using shortcuts, such as a shared philosophy, in choosing friends. In this talk, Tristan de Liège explores in detail what it means...

https://youtu.be/9lMQ3idE9bw Podcast audio: Immigration is one of the most contentious topics on today's political landscape. But that has always been true throughout America history. Why have immigration restrictions taken hold in America since the nineteenth century? What ideas animate immigration restrictionists, and what explains their success in restricting immigration in the U.S.? In this ta...

https://youtu.be/3XFiAQbxtgQ Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid examine the current controversy over USAID and discuss Ayn Rand’s distinctive critique of the morality behind America’s foreign aid. Among the topics covered: How recent revelations about USAID expose the agency’s absurd, if not malicious, activities; Why Rand viewed fo...

https://youtu.be/DI1xqqIcj7k Podcast audio: How can we live more egoistically? What makes us want to live more egoistically? Not everyone does. In her talk “Egoism Without Permission – It Begins with Desire” at Objectivist Summer Conference 2024 in Anaheim, Tara Smith explored the connection between these questions, drawing material from her new book Egoism Without Permission: The Moral Psychology...

https://youtu.be/ZhqJzc75qeI Podcast audio: A new ARI podcast series, ARI Bookshelf, gives you a window into ARI’s educational programs by showcasing our faculty as they discuss books of recent interest. This episode discusses Kennon M. Sheldon’s book Freely Determined. Panelists include Ben Bayer, Jason Rheins, Greg Salmieri, and Gena Gorlin. Freely Determined offers a psychologist’s case against...

https://youtu.be/QT4O5p3oSAA Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss why ARI comments on current events and why applying Objectivism to cultural issues is central to its essence as a philosophy for living on earth. Among the topics covered: How ARI’s commentary fits its mission; Why applying Objectivism to current events is essential to u...

https://youtu.be/YjhHIgZzO3k Podcast audio: In this episode of The ARI Bookshelf, Jason Rheins, Ben Bayer, Don Watkins, and Alex Silverman examine two contrasting perspectives on the influence of Christianity: Tom Holland’s Dominion and Charles Freeman’s The Closing of the Western Mind and The Reopening of the Western Mind. While Holland’s widely discussed book argues that Christianity is the foun...

https://youtu.be/V8yIcXmoAnQ Podcast audio: Fifty years ago, Ayn Rand journeyed to West Point to speak to a new senior-level course offered by the Department of English. She told the cadets — and the world — who needed philosophy, and why. Now, from Shoshana Milgram, you can learn from archival documents and new interviews why and when she was invited, which readings the course contained, how she...

https://youtu.be/h1tIDRzi9Ho Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast Ziemowit Gowin interviews Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate on Trump’s stance on the Ukraine-Russia war, which led him to call President Zelensky a dictator and publicly berate him in the Oval Office. Among the topics covered: What America’s approach to the Ukraine-Russia war should be; How Trump’s Oval Office...

https://youtu.be/ad5KEuKz1a8 Podcast audio: How does science work, and how does it differ from religion or pseudo-science? According to Karl Popper’s “falsificationism,” science, unlike religion and pseudo-science, doesn’t claim certainty; it aims only to disprove its hypotheses, and this is the source of its rationality. Popper proposed his theory as an alternative to the view that science distin...

https://youtu.be/gFXDYaKnCVw Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo examine Jeff Bezos' decision to reorient The Washington Post's opinion section toward issues of personal and economic freedom. Among the topics covered: How Bezos' move reflects a genuine appreciation for the American ideals that enabled his success; How Ayn Rand's critique of...

https://youtu.be/1fLxvFQCScA Podcast audio: Philosophy is for living. But how do you get the most value out of your philosophy? This is a question the panelists have been exploring from a variety of perspectives, ranging from psychology to moral philosophy to personal development. Gena Gorlin, Tara Smith, Tal Tsfany, and Don Watkins, shared their thoughts on how to leverage Objectivism for success...

https://youtu.be/UVujQHg1kZo Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos challenge the exploitation theory of value at the root of many attacks on capitalists by both the political left and right. Among the topics covered: How the exploitation theory is entrenched in mainstream political thought; How the exploitation theory fails to grasp ho...

https://youtu.be/0SSL_XThHdQ Podcast audio: A new ARI podcast series gives you a window into ARI’s educational programs by showcasing our faculty as they discuss books of recent interest. The series, the ARI Bookshelf, premiered on August 6 with an episode discussing Wolfram Eilenberger’s book The Visionaries. Panelists included Ben Bayer, Jason Rheins, Greg Salmieri, and Shoshana Milgram. The vis...

https://youtu.be/y-WB-fhVJls Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Tristan de Liège discuss why the traditional conception of forgiveness is evil and indicate how to think of it from an Objectivist perspective. Among the topics covered: How forgiveness is conventionally understood; Why the idea of “forgive and forget” enables injustice; Why forgiving a m...

https://youtu.be/yOx0pcktQtI Podcast audio: What is at stake in the Russia/Ukraine and the Israel/Hamas conflicts? What are America’s interests in the chaotic Middle East? How do we evaluate China’s global ambitions and its claims on Taiwan? What’s the impact of foreign policy on the 2024 campaign trail? How does Objectivism help us unpack these and related issues? Panel discussion featuring Yaron...

https://youtu.be/9GjD66edA0g Join one of ARI's many online educational courses. Our new "Flex" option allows you to take these courses at your own pace, whenever you have the time, while also still retaining the benefit of having your questions answered and your assignments graded by a real instructor. Browse our catalog now: https://aru.aynrand.org/ In the age of social media everyone’s a self-pr...

https://youtu.be/a-SwX91pj2Q Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer discuss the moral travesty of the Gaza deal and the intellectual bankruptcy it reveals in foreign policy thinking. Among the topics covered: Why the Gaza deal will not bring peace but ensure further aggression by Hamas; How the lopsided hostage release deal is a win for Hamas; H...

https://youtu.be/Oly3eYzZiTg Podcast audio: Accelerate your understanding of Objectivism today by joining one of our many online educational courses. Our new "Flex" option allows you to take these courses at your own pace, whenever you have the time, while also still retaining the benefit of having your questions answered and your assignments graded by a real instructor. Sign up now: https://aru.a...

https://youtu.be/wmo0zqU_dIQ Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Robertas Bakula discuss the latest developments of the Department of Justice’s vicious antitrust persecution of Google. Among the topics covered: How the antitrust attack on Google is driven by hatred of its productive virtues; How the DOJ's remedies for Google's alleged crime punish their...

https://youtu.be/hPO8IQvENTY Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Elan Journo interviews, Bud Brigham, a lifelong entrepreneur and the founder of multiple successful companies, most notably Atlas Energy Solutions. Mr. Brigham built his career on a vision of innovation and an uncompromising commitment to individualism, values deeply informed by Ayn Rand’s philosophy of...

https://youtu.be/fEOGBX9R05w Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss Trump’s blanket pardon of all the people involved in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Among the topics covered: How Trump’s blanket pardon lets outrageous evil off the hook; How Trump’s claims about the 2020 elections and the January 6 attack are arbitrary; How Trump...