I recently came across a video posted by the Federalist Society of a talk given by ARI’s Onkar Ghate on selfishness. If you have read Ayn Rand or listened to other talks by Dr. Ghate or Yaron Brook, much of the information covered in this talk will be familiar, but I find it is often (always?) helpful to revisit ideas you are familiar with in order to achieve a better understanding of them.
In this case, this deeper understanding came when Onkar answered the first question in the Q&A
In this presentation from 2006, Dr. Onkar Ghate presents a fascinating discussion on the relationship between religion and morality. He makes the case that the rise in religion is the result in the remnants of the American sense of life seeking some code of absolute moral values in the absence of such values in the secular culture. As Dr. Ghate says:
It [religion] is in large measure a quest by individuals who have been abandoned in a moral desert and think they see in religion an oasis.
Onkar
An excellent introduction to major topics in Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism presented by Onkar Ghate from 2003. The video includes a Q&A session with Onkar Ghate and Yaron Brook. Topics include: Individualism vs Collectivism, What are rights?, Proper role of government, Egoism vs Altruism, Ethics, Mysticism vs Reason and more.
The Q&A session is particularly interesting. Many of the folks had challenging questions which resulted in some great answers. I was somewhat surprised
A great talk by Dr. Yaron Brook, given in 2005, in which he discusses the origin of neoconservatives (“leftists who have been mugged by reality”) and how the implementation of their policies after 9/11 have been contrary to actual American interests. The hour long talk is followed by nearly 90 minutes of Q&A with Yaron and Dr. Onkar Ghate.
One quote from Yaron Brook in answering a question about Iran:
When you go into Iran, there are two option. When, If. You go in there and after