Episodes

  • Happiness Team Presentation by Tal Tsfany

    Happiness Team Presentation by Tal Tsfany
    Mar 29 2024
    Happiness Team is a life-changing workshop and accountability team, aimed to systematize the pursuit of happiness using Ayn Rand’s deep, life-serving discoveries. In this session, you’ll get started on the road to understanding who you are, what you want and how to get it. You’ll come away with a workbook of exercises and actionable practices for leveraging Objectivism toward achieving your own, independent happiness. Every journey begins with a single step. Take yours.Recorded live on July 4 at OCON 2023
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    1 hr and 25 mins
  • “Atlas Shrugged:” America’s Second Declaration of Independence

    “Atlas Shrugged:” America’s Second Declaration of Independence
    Jul 8 2024
    In this special event celebrating Independence Day, Nikos Sotirakopoulos interviews Onkar Ghate about his 2007 talk “Atlas Shrugged: America’s Second Declaration of Independence.” The episode includes a full rebroadcast of the talk.Mentioned in the discussion is Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged (https://aynrand.org/novels/atlas-shrugged/).The podcast premiered on July 2, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher.
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • The Galileo Affair by Dan Schwartz

    The Galileo Affair by Dan Schwartz
    Mar 22 2024
    The Galileo Affair is widely viewed as the classic example of a scientific genius being persecuted by religious dogmatists. Yet, in recent decades, some philosophers and historians of science have put forward a new interpretation that defends the Church’s position philosophically and puts (at least some of) the blame for the conflict on Galileo. Is there any merit to this view? What actually led to Galileo’s persecution, censorship, trial, and house arrest? To address these questions, this talk examines the Galileo Affair in detail.Recorded live on July 3 at OCON 2023
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    1 hr
  • Mickey Spillane’s Miami (and More) by Shosana Milgram

    Mickey Spillane’s Miami (and More) by Shosana Milgram
    Mar 15 2024
    Ayn Rand admired Mickey Spillane as a writer and a crusader: “a brilliant literary talent” and a “moral absolutist.” Several of his novels, including the two-book series about Morgan the Raider (a pirate with an enigmatic past and mysterious motivations) were set partially or completely in Miami. One character, amazed at his first glimpse of the homes and hotels of the Miami skyline, asks: “How could men with their bare hands build such a place?” This talk, in addition to describing the stories and settings of Spillane’s Miami novels, will include new information about his life and parallels between his writing and the work of writers he admired, including Alexandre Dumas and Ayn Rand, whom he considered a personal friend.Recorded live on July 1 at OCON 2023
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    58 mins
  • Aristotle’s Method of Scientific Investigation by Gregory Salmieri

    Aristotle’s Method of Scientific Investigation by Gregory Salmieri
    Jan 26 2024
    This lesson explains Aristotle’s method of scientific investigation, focusing on Aristotle’s logical works—especially the Posterior Analytics. Salmieri discusses Aristotle’s view of the kinds of questions we seek to answer when we investigate; for example, the nature of definitions and their relationship to scientific demonstrations, and the formation of new concepts. This course includes a handout: https://courses.aynrand.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Greg_Salmieri-Aristotles_Theory_of_Knowledge.pdf Lesson 3 of 3 in "Aristotle's Theory of Knowledge" Copyright © 1985 – 2024 The Ayn Rand Institute (ARI). Reproduction of content and images in whole or in part is prohibited. All rights reserved.
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    1 hr and 30 mins
  • Aristotle on the Different Types of Knowledge by Gregory Salmieri

    Aristotle on the Different Types of Knowledge by Gregory Salmieri
    Jan 12 2024
    In this lesson, Salmieri discusses Aristotle’s view of the types and degrees of knowledge. In particular, he explains what is distinctive about the type of knowledge that Aristotle calls epistēmē (scientific understanding) and relates it to Objectivism’s view of the importance of thinking in principle. He also introduces Aristotle’s concept of technē (art, craft or skill) and explains why Aristotle regards both technē and epistēmē as superior to mere experience. This course includes a handout: https://courses.aynrand.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Greg_Salmieri-Aristotles_Theory_of_Knowledge.pdf Lesson 1 of 3 in "Aristotle's Theory of Knowledge" Copyright © 1985 – 2024 The Ayn Rand Institute (ARI). Reproduction of content and images in whole or in part is prohibited. All rights reserved.
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    1 hr and 30 mins
  • Aristotle’s Theory of Universals by Gregory Salmieri

    Aristotle’s Theory of Universals by Gregory Salmieri
    Jan 19 2024
    In this lesson, Salmieri explains Aristotle’s theory of universals and how that theory makes possible scientific understanding (epistēmē) of this world based on sense-perception. The lesson explains that universal knowledge, for Aristotle, is a power to know particulars as falling under kinds. Salmieri concludes with a discussion of a famous chapter of the Posterior Analytics, in which Aristotle uses a battlefield metaphor to explain how we grasp universals. This course includes a handout: https://courses.aynrand.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Greg_Salmieri-Aristotles_Theory_of_Knowledge.pdf Lesson 2 of 3 in "Aristotle's Theory of Knowledge" Copyright © 1985 – 2024 The Ayn Rand Institute (ARI). Reproduction of content and images in whole or in part is prohibited. All rights reserved.
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    1 hr and 31 mins
  • Stoicism and Objectivism on What (and How) to Value by Aaron Smith

    Stoicism and Objectivism on What (and How) to Value by Aaron Smith
    Jan 5 2024
    The ancient Stoics held that we suffer in life because we value the wrong things and/or have the wrong attitude toward our values. If we want to live the good life, they held, we need to radically change the way we value. Given the growing popularity of Stoicism in the culture today, it’s worth examining what this reorientation to values amounts to, and what it would mean to adopt it. This talk will explore both ancient and modern Stoic approaches to values from the perspective of Objectivism’s radically different view. Discover the crucial link between the right ideas and happiness. Visit aynrand.org/discover Recorded July 4, 2023, at OCON in Miami, Florida.
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    1 hr and 1 min