https://youtu.be/093vQKWPwvs

Podcast audio:

Objectivity is the key to avoiding misunderstandings and making one-to-one conversations productive. There are two contexts of knowledge, two value hierarchies, and two “crows” to consider to communicate effectively. In this talk from OCON 2024, Jean Moroney covers the topics: what constitutes subjective vs. objective goals for a conversation, the need to manage emotions as they arise rather than shut them down, and how doing this effectively by “holding all of the values with care” can get a conversation back on track and help you deal objectively with another person’s real or apparent irrationality.

Recorded live on June 14 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.

https://youtu.be/a3bgumyKdAA

Podcast audio:

In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos dismantle the claim that “real socialism” has never been attempted.

Among the topics covered:

Why many young Americans support socialism;

How Soviet leaders were driven by Marxist ideology;

Why Joseph Stalin epitomized Marxist principles;

Why dictatorship is the logical outcome of socialist central planning;

How the definition of socialism has been watered down to evade its historical crimes;

The persistent rationalizations used to defend socialism.

Recommended in this podcast are The Ayn Rand Lexicon’s entry on socialism, Bayer’s essay “The Dishonesty of ‘Real Socialism Has Never Been Tried,’” and Sotirakopoulos’ upcoming ARU course “Marx and Communism.” The podcast was recorded on April 1, 2025 and posted on April 2, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

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 characterizations, and demonstrate the rich rewards to be gained by joining his hero—the “good man” with the “darkling aspiration”—on his quest to discover the “highest wisdom” of life.

Recorded live on June 18 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.

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 gives are convincing and examine her views about the value of consensus and diversity in scientists’ beliefs and values. They also discuss the philosophy of science more generally and consider how laypeople should evaluate climate science and anti-vaccine claims.

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 administration instill fear in America’s top producers;

How attacks on Zuckerberg and other CEOs reveal that business has no allies;

Why businessmen are not the rulers of the system but the pawns;

The urgent need for business leaders to stand up for themselves.

Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essays “The National Interest, c’est moi” in The Objectivist Newsletter,  “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Onkar Ghate’s lecture “Freedom and the Need for Business to Stand Up for Itself,” and The Atlas Circle.

The podcast was recorded on March 25, 2025 and posted on March 27, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

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 to pursue friendship in a philosophically minded way—integrating the value of friendship with one’s other values, pursuing them with purpose, and honoring the trade that is the spiritual foundation of friendship.

Recorded live on June 15 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.

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 talk, Agustina Vergara Cid takes you through the history of the immigration debate in the U.S., uncovers the philosophy behind restrictionists, and points to a solution to bring about more freedom in the U.S.

Recorded live on June 16 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.

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 foreign aid and its justification in the name of “the public interest” as morally corrupt;

The continuing relevance of Rand’s critique of the altruistic premises underlying arguments for foreign aid;

How an unprincipled foreign policy has failed to protect America’s interests abroad and wasted its resources;

The role of foreign aid in a proper, pro-American foreign policy.

Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essays “The Pull Peddlers” and “Altruism as Appeasement,” available in The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought.

The podcast was recorded on March 10, 2025 and posted on March 19, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

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 of Ayn Rand’s Ethics.

Recorded live on June 17 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.

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 popular forms of determinism and argues that mental health depends on a belief in one’s agency.

Our panelists examine Sheldon’s arguments and positions from a wider philosophical perspective and indicate its strengths and weaknesses. They find value in his answers to scientific arguments for determinism but question his account of motivation. They also discuss the value of psychological research and the relationship between philosophy and the sciences.

The discussion covered:

Panelists’ general take on the book;

The history of arguments for and against free will;

How mental health may depend on a belief in one’s agency;

The book’s distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation;

The book’s vague conceptualization of the self;

Why progress in psychology is messy.

The video with the episode was originally released on September 10, 2024.