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
Keith Lockitch presents a discussion of how the idea of intelligent design is simply a dressed up version of creationism. Even though intelligent design is often expressed in more formal, scientific sounding, language, it is not different in its essentials from the version of creationism based on a biblical version of geology, i.e., the world is only about 6000 years old and was created by some supernatural being. Dr. Lockitch says during the lecture:
The argument from design is not a valid argument
Yaron Brook gives a passionate talk on applying the morality of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism to the concept of war and how war should be fought. While no philosophy can properly specify tactics, the specific means and methods used in fighting a way, it can provide the basis for deciding from what pool of possibilities these tactics can be drawn from.
In the early part of the talk Yaron discusses “just war theory,” the theory that in part says a country should not go to
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
The Ayn Rand Institute has been publishing a number of video recently of lectures given on various topics, the most recent being a talk by Adam Mossoff on property rights. In this fascinating talk he discusses how the concept of the right to property arose, reaching its peak in the early to mid 19th century in the United States and how since that time these rights have been protected less and less.
This is an area I have been particularly interested in over the past few years, having come
The Ayn Rand Institute recently posted a 2003 talk by Dr. Leonard Peikoff in which he “analyzes and rejects — as appeasement-ridden and ineffectual — the entire Bush administration response to the terrorist attacks on the U.S.” In this talk, Dr. Peikoff passionately discusses the response of the government
Another excellent talk from Dr. Yaron Brook. In this talk he focuses on the welfare state in Scandanavia, Norway in particular. I love that more and more emphasis is being placed on the moral issues involved in questions about whether the welfare state with its focus on egalitarianism is good or not. The Q&A session, my favorite part of many of Yaron’s talks, is very good as well. During the Q&A Yaron mentions a book by Hernand Desoto,
Here is the prepared part of the presentation which I posted the Q&A for a few days ago. Another great speech by Yaron Brook.
As I have written before, one of my favorite parts of any of Yaron Brook’s talks is the Q&A that follows the prepared remarks. This one from his recent talk in Maastricht in Holland is definitely one of the best I have seen so far. While a good number of people, to judge by applause at some points, are sympathetic to the ideas he discussed, the vast majority of questions reflected antagonism towards the idea that selfishness, properly understood, is the key to a successful life. Definitely