Épisodes

  • ‘From Heaven Through the World to Hell’: Goethe’s Faust as Romantic Hero | Nicolas Krusek

    ‘From Heaven Through the World to Hell’: Goethe’s Faust as Romantic Hero | Nicolas Krusek
    Apr 4 2025
    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.
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    58 min
  • Why Trust Science? by Naomi Oreskes | ARI Bookshelf

    Why Trust Science? by Naomi Oreskes | ARI Bookshelf
    Apr 1 2025
    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.
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    1 h et 35 min
  • Why Business Leaders Won’t Object to Trump’s Tariffs

    Why Business Leaders Won’t Object to Trump’s Tariffs
    Mar 31 2025
    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.
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    56 min
  • How to Value Friendship | Tristan de Liège

    How to Value Friendship | Tristan de Liège
    Mar 27 2025
    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.
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    1 h et 1 min
  • America’s History of Immigration Restrictions | Agustina Vergara Cid

    America’s History of Immigration Restrictions | Agustina Vergara Cid
    Mar 25 2025
    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.
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    38 min
  • USAID Corruption: Deeper Than You Think

    USAID Corruption: Deeper Than You Think
    Mar 24 2025
    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.
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    44 min
  • Egoism Without Permission – It Begins with Desire | Tara Smith

    Egoism Without Permission – It Begins with Desire | Tara Smith
    Mar 20 2025
    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.
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    1 h et 28 min
  • Freely Determined by Kennon M. Sheldon | ARI Bookshelf

    Freely Determined by Kennon M. Sheldon | ARI Bookshelf
    Mar 18 2025
    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.
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    1 h et 28 min