Empiricism

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The moral question has to be, is individual human life a good thing? And that's the starting point for morality, and it's a starting point for politics. We can see a certain progression and ses of the quality of human life. If the standard is human life, that's good. But we know what is achievable to human beings because we look around.

Michael Shermer speaks with entrepreneur, writer, and activist Yaron Brook about Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, Objectivism; individualism vs. collectivism; the nature of human nature; altruism, cooperation, reparations, and charity; the starting point of morality and the foundation of ethics; collective action problems and how they are best solved; our moral obligation to help those who cannot help themselves; the Is-Ought problem of determining right and wrong; reason and empiricism; immigration, abortion, foreign wars, the welfare state, and terrorism.