In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the moral significance and the consequences of the January 6 storming of the Capitol by supporters of President Trump.



Among the topics covered:



* How the storming of the Capitol resembled the 9/11 terrorist attacks* Trump’s level of moral responsibility for the attack* The arbitrariness of Trump’s conspiracy assertions* Our culture’s descent into irrationalist tribalism* The increasing authoritarianism on both the right and the left* The importance of recognizing the varying degrees of support for violence and authoritarianism on both sides of the culture* The importance of recognizing the various forms of dictatorial aspiration* The tribalistic attempt to claim victimhood in order to scapegoat the other side* Why the attackers were not “patriots” but nihilists* The commonalities between the storming of the Capitol and the BLM protests* The attack as an attempt to defy the rule of law* The political institutions worth supporting in an irrational political culture* The philosophical causes of tribalism* How to think rationally about election fraud claims* What should happen to Trump in the future given his moral responsibility for the attack* What is the best path forward for America



Mentioned in the discussion is Onkar Ghate’s 2016 essay “One Small Step for Dictatorship: The Significance Of Donald Trump’s Election.”



This podcast was recorded on January 13, 2021. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.









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In this episode of New Ideal Live, on the sixth anniversary of the murderous attacks on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss the attacks as a symptom of the erosion of free speech in the West.



Among the topics covered:



* The history of Islamist attacks on free speech;* The ineffective public reaction to the Hebdo attacks;* Why free speech — and intellectual freedom more generally — is so important to defend;* The West’s failure to take a principled stand in defense of free speech;* Why it’s important to criticize religion;* How unopposed threats to free speech engender self-censorship.



This podcast was recorded on January 6, 2021. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.









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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer is joined by Gena Gorlin, professor and clinical psychologist, to discuss the psychology of personal change and its connections with philosophy.



Among the topics covered:



* Gorlin’s view of New Year’s resolutions, and why change is so hard;* Considerations for making effective New Year’s resolutions;* Whether and how we can change fundamental aspects of ourselves;* How conscious and subconscious beliefs impact our mental health;* How our motivations impact our ability to change;* How we can tell when a change is worth making;* The role of heritability in shaping our character.



Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “Causality Versus Duty” and her book Atlas Shrugged. Also mentioned are Gorlin’s Psychology Today article “What It Really Looks Like to Rebuild Your Soul” and her paper, with Reinier Schuur, “Nurturing Our Better Nature: A Proposal for Cognitive Integrity as a Foundation for Autonomous Living.”



This podcast was recorded on December 29, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.









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On the final installment of New Ideal Live’s three-part analysis of the Biden administration agenda, Ben Bayer and Keith Lockitch discuss, from a philosophical perspective, the environmental and energy agenda of the upcoming administration.



Among the topics covered:



* Whether climate change poses an existential threat;* Why we need industrial capitalism to deal with real climate vulnerability;* Why Biden’s alternative energy plan is impractical and threatens progress;* What environmentalists’ opposition to nuclear and even solar energy reveals about their real motivation;* The devastating impacts of a dramatic reduction in carbon emissions;* Why government “investment” in energy doesn’t incentivize innovation but hampers it;* The anti-life philosophical ideas that drive Biden’s energy and environmental agendas.



Mentioned in the discussion are Keith Lockitch’s articles “Pandemic Exposes the Reality of a Low-Carbon Economy,” “The Green New Deal: A War Against Energy,” and “Climate Vulnerability And The Indispensable Value Of Industrial Capitalism.” Also mentioned are Ayn Rand’s “The Anti-Industrial Revolution,” “The Left: Old and New,” and “Egalitarianism and Inflation.” This podcast was recorded on December 23, 2020.

On the second installment of New Ideal Live’s three-part analysis of the Biden administration agenda, Ben Bayer Onkar Ghate discuss, from a philosophical perspective, the proposed health care policies of the upcoming administration.



Among the topics covered:



* Why the health care industry’s importance is a reason to keep it free from regulation;* Why Biden’s “public option” plan is not a form of freedom, and why it crowds out private enterprises;* Why the idea of the “right to health care,” which motivates government intervention in health care, misinterprets the concept of “rights”;* How policies implementing the “right to health care” demonize health care workers and treat them as slaves;* The new restrictions that Biden policies will place on health care producers;* Why socialized medicine is not the panacea some think it is.



Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s “The Forgotten Man of Socialized Medicine” in For the New Intellectual, and Leonard Peikoff’s essay “Health Care Is Not a Right.” This podcast was recorded on December 22, 2020.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss the philosophy behind the “left,” and Ayn Rand’s critique of it.



Among the topics covered:



* The philosophical roots of the “left” as a political phenomenon;* Why Ayn Rand thought the ideas behind socialism, communism and fascism are evil;* Why Rand thought that these nominally secular ideas were still forms of mysticism;* Why Rand thought that conservative politicians of her time failed to oppose the left on principle;* How Rand differentiated the “New Left” from the old;* Environmentalism, racism and tribalism as outgrowths of “New Left” ideas.



Mentioned in the discussion were Ayn Rand’s talks “The Anti-Industrial Revolution” and “Apollo and Dionysus,” and her book Return of the Primitive This podcast was recorded on December 16, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.









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In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article “Why Today’s Ethics Offers No Real Guidance.” In that essay, he examines the strange set of cases today’s academic ethicists choose to analyze. All too often, he observes, they see morality as concerned with settling interpersonal conflicts or even resolving dilemmas in rare emergency situations such as the “trolley problem.” Bayer argues that these ethicists are unable to provide meaningful advice for everyday life because they think that the special province of morality is to give us advice about who is to be sacrificed to whom when there are conflicts of interest. Bayer’s article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute’s journal, on November 18, 2020.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate And Ben Bayer talk about the Ayn Rand Institute’s approach to promoting Rand’s ideas in the face of cultural opposition, and what is needed to change people’s mind on important philosophical issues.



Among the topics covered:



* Why changing minds is important;* ARI’s long-term mission of changing the culture’s philosophical ideas, as inspired by Ayn Rand’s view of the importance of philosophy;* Why it’s important to speak up about important issues of the day;* Why knowing one’s audience is important to persuasion;* ARI’s approach to some key current issues: the pandemic, the right to abortion, and racism;* Why persuasion requires presenting a positive philosophical alternative.



Mentioned in the discussion is Ayn Rand’s essay “What Can One Do?” from her book Philosophy: Who Needs It.



This podcast was recorded on December 9, 2020. Watch or listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.









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