The Secular Foxhole

For episode 14, we interviewed Vinay Kolhatkar, chief editor of The Savvy Street website and author of two fiction works, A Sharia London, and The Frankenstein Candidate. He also co-wrote: Media Wars: The Battle to Shape Our Minds.

Show notes with links to articles, blog posts, products and services:

• Invictus
• The Neo-Marxists’ Long March through the Institutions
• The Politicization of Medicine

This episode features Craig Biddle, author and entrepreneur. We cover some exciting ground talking about the new Objective Standard Institute and the Prometheus Foundation, both of which he leads, plus his book, "Loving Life," and other books he has planned.

Show notes with links to articles, blog posts, products and services:

• Objective Standard Institute
• The Objective Standard
• Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It
• Prometheus Foundation

On January 24th, we discussed the life and work of Thomas Paine, one of America's first, great, intellectuals. Margaret Downey of The Freethought Society and Andrew Seidel of The Freedom From Religion Foundation were our guests for this lively discussion. You will hear an important announcement by the Thomas Paine Memorial Association.

Show notes with links to articles, blog posts, products and services:

• The Freethought Society
• Thomas Paine Foundation/Memorial Committee
• Freedom From Religion Foundation
• Common Sense - Wikipedia
• Common Sense - Writ Large podcast
• The Inauguration's Beautiful Call for Unity was Undermined by the Invocation of Religion
• The American Crisis
• Zenos Frudakis
• Robyn Blumner
• Roy Speckhardt
• Annie Laurie Gaylor
• Dan Barker
• Thomas Paine Day on June 8
• Robert G. Ingersoll
• Andrew L. Seidel's book, The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American
• Margaret Downey - Secular Celebrations

Today we talk with Andy Clarkson, author of The Impact of Aristotle Upon Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Cultures: A Compilation of Notes and Quotes from a Variety of Sources Plus Commentary.

This is the perfect book for the intelligent layman who is seriously interested in philosophic ideas. Recommended.

Show notes with links to articles, blog posts, products and services:

• The Impact Of Aristotle Upon Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Cultures: A Compilation Of Notes And Quotes From A Variety Of Sources Plus Commentary
• The Impact of Aristotle Upon Christian, Islamic, & Jewish Cultures
• The Six Point Pattern Of The Anti-Aristotelians
• The Aristotle Adventure: A Guide to the Greek, Arabic, & Latin Scholars Who Transmitted Aristotle's Logic to the Renaissance
• The War Against the Jews Goes On
• Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York

Blair’s disclaimer:

I am not a professional philosopher, just a dedicated layman, fascinated by Ayn Rand’s ideas. I do not speak for her, her philosophy, or the Ayn Rand Institute. I speak only for myself.

Episode ten is a short year-end review, and then we talk about future podcast thoughts/ideas, and possible guests.

Show notes with links to articles, blog posts, products and services:

• "You're Fired"
• The Ominous Parallels: The End of Freedom in America
• Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World
• HumanProgress.org
• Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts That Support It
• Craig Biddle
• Heroes, Legends, Champions: Why Heroism Matters
• Andrew Bernstein
• Rights of Man by Thomas Paine
• Animal Farm
• The Scarlet Pimpernel
• "Pimpernel" Smith
• Swedes End Long Union Of Church And State
• Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand
• The DIM Hypothesis: Why the Lights of the West Are Going Out
• Leonard Peikoff
• Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump
• Parler
• Amy Peikoff, Chief Policy Officer at Parler

Blair’s disclaimer:

I am not a professional philosopher, just a dedicated layman, fascinated by Ayn Rand’s ideas. I do not speak for her, her philosophy, or the Ayn Rand Institute. I speak only for myself.

Episode nine consists of Martin and I talking about some of our favorite kinds of music. I wanted theme music for the show to be a cross between two of my all-time favorites, Mike Oldfield and Tangerine Dream. The more I hear what Jim created for the show, the more I like it.

We also cover what I think to be the greatest Rock song ever written. Listen to the show to find out what that is!

Show notes with links to articles, blog posts, products and services:

• Granite State of Mind 2: Plow Guy Boogaloo by The Super Secret Project
• "Weird Al" Yankovic
• Jim Jonsson, JTUnesProductions
• Mike Oldfield
• Tangerine Dream
• Ethereal (space)
• The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show
• Big Band
• Glenn Miller
• Swing music
• Bossa nova
• Radio Dismuke
• Gramophone record
• Electronic music
• Synth-pop
• Kraftwerk
• Tubular Bells: The Mike Oldfield Story (2013) - BBC Four
• Tubular Bells
• Virgin Records
• Podcast Artwork, Symbols, and Future Jingle
• Richard Branson
• The Romantic Manifesto by Ayn Rand
• EGO NetCast
• Stairway to Heaven
• Rush
• Neil Peart
• 2112 (album)
• The Fountainhead
• Anthem
• Sergey Rachmaninoff

Blair’s disclaimer:

I am not a professional philosopher, just a dedicated layman, fascinated by Ayn Rand’s ideas. I do not speak for her, her philosophy, or the Ayn Rand Institute. I speak only for myself.

Our eighth episode features Aaron Smith, Fellow and Instructor at the Ayn Rand Institute. We cover the ancient Greek philosophy of Stoicism and his critique of it.

Show notes with links to articles, blog posts, products and services:

• Ryan Holiday
• Timothy Ferriss
• Stoa
• Massimo Pigliucci
• William B. Irvine
• The Metaphysical Versus the Man-Made
• Eudaemonia
• The False Promise of Stoicism
• Peikoff's podcast
• Causality Versus Duty

Blair’s disclaimer:

I am not a professional philosopher, just a dedicated layman, fascinated by Ayn Rand’s ideas. I do not speak for her, her philosophy, or the Ayn Rand Institute. I speak only for myself.

Martin and I have a great discussion with author James S. Valliant about his two books, focusing on his most recent, Creating Christ: How Roman Emperors Invented Christianity.

Show notes with links to articles, blog posts, products and services:

• The Passion of Ayn Rand’s Critics - The Objective Standard
• Creating Christ
• Creating Christ, the book on Amazon
• Analyzing Paul Krugman’s New York Times Smear of Ayn Rand - New Ideal
• Why Christmas Should be More Commercial by Leonard Peikoff
• The New Testament Versus the American Revolution

Authors mentioned: 

• Robert Eisenman
• James Atwell
• Robert Price
• Roger Williams
• Isaac Kramnick
• Warren Fahy

Blair’s disclaimer:

I am not a professional philosopher, just a dedicated layman, fascinated by Ayn Rand’s ideas. I do not speak for her, her philosophy, or the Ayn Rand Institute. I speak only for myself.

In episode 6 of The Secular Foxhole Podcast, Blair goes on a bit of a Rant about religion, and Martin acts as the Voice of Reason!

Show notes with links to articles, blog posts, products and services:

• Number (666) of the beast
• Blair's blog post, My Journey to Reason
• Halloween
• Religion - Ayn Rand Lexicon
• Altruism, Auguste Comte - Britannica
• Altruism - Ayn Rand Lexicon
• Svensk islamism i fårakläder - Göteborgs-Posten
• Why Trump — and some of his followers — believe he is the Chosen One - Religion News Service
• Liars for Jesus
• The Founding Myth
• Creating Christ
• God Versus Nature
• The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom
• The Threat of ‘National Conservatism’
• The Pope’s Deeply Christian Attack on Individual Freedom
• Church-State Separation: A Principle, Not a “Wall” (Part 1)
• Church-State Separation: A Principle, Not a “Wall” (Part 2)
• Power & Panic: The Last Days for Christian Nationalism
• "Religion Is Bullsh*t" - George Carlin Estate
• Tabula rasa
• Patreon page (Lyceum)
• Mammon

Blair’s disclaimer:

I am not a professional philosopher, just a dedicated layman, fascinated by Ayn Rand’s ideas. I do not speak for her, her philosophy, or the Ayn Rand Institute. I speak only for myself.

We interview Ben Bayer, a Fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute about, "The Ethics of Emergencies," and how that doesn't fundamentally explain what the field of ethics is about. We then cover Ben's current and future projects.

Show notes with links to articles, blog posts, products and services:

• The Undercurrent
• Strive
• The Virtue of Selfishness
• The Philosopher's Index
• Allan Gotthelf
• The Objectivist Newsletter
• Lifeboat ethics
• Peter Singer
• Effective altruism
• Benevolent Universe Premise
• New Ideal Live
• Prosperity gospel
• New Ideal Journal
• Aaron Smith
• The FDA Mandates Ignorance About Covid-19 - RealClear Policy

Blair’s disclaimer:

I am not a professional philosopher, just a dedicated layman, fascinated by Ayn Rand’s ideas. I do not speak for her, her philosophy, or the Ayn Rand Institute. I speak only for myself.