Ayn Rand Centre UK Podcast

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/The global pandemic has brought with it significant changes to all our lives. Whether it’s the health risk itself, the lockdown, trying to get used to working from home and giving up so many activities that we’ve always taken for granted, coping with these changes won’t be easy for anyone.Josh Dickson is an addictions counsellor, trauma therapist and positive psychologist. He is the founder and clinical director of Resurface, providing surf therapy retreats for trauma, positivity and creativity. He also works in private practice.

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/While we’re still trying to understand the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on our health and our healthcare systems, it is already clear that it’s one of the biggest crises of our lifetimes. As a consequence of the virus and the government action that followed, many jobs are being lost on a daily basis, stock markets are crashing, and entire industries seem to be on the brink of collapse.What are the potential long-term economic implications of the current crisis? How can we navigate the situation to mitigate the negative impact?

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/Quite often, we are told that in order to find meaning in life, one has to live for something big, beyond oneself. At the same time though, the notion of heroism is seen with suspicion. In popular culture, the figure that is gaining track is the anti-hero: flawed, imperfect, and ultimately, ‘one of us’. Quite often, traits traditionally linked with heroes are seen as destructive for their bearers, as well as for those around them.Is there space in our society for heroes and heroism? Can a hero be happy? Can a search for happiness go hand in hand with grand heroic deeds? Or does heroism ultimately require self-sacrifice?Ashley Frawley is senior lecturer in sociology and social policy at Swansea University in Wales. She is the author of Semiotics of Happiness: rhetorical beginnings of a public problem published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2015 and the forthcoming Significant Emotions (2020) which explores the seemingly never ending rise and fall of new emotional panaceas for social problems.Andrew Bernstein holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Graduate School of the City University of New York. He has taught Philosophy at the State University of New York at Purchase, Marist College, Hunter College, the State University of New York at New Paltz, and other New York-area universities. He is the author of several books, including the recently-released Heroes, Legends, Champions: Why Heroism Matters.

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/The pandemic is undoubtedly stressful for everyone. But unless we acknowledge and deal with the stress and its causes, we risk ending up with a trauma that we’ll live with long after the virus is gone.Join psychologist Josh Dickson for a discussion on stress management and trauma prevention.

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/During emergencies, especially when the cause is a complicated and invisible enemy like a virus, we are told that this is not a time for ideas and philosophy. We are encouraged to leave decision-making to the experts and those who know better, and watch from the sidelines. We have seen this during the last weeks, when voices questioning the governments’ reactions to COVID 19 are characterised as anti-social and as disregarding for the lives of others and of the most vulnerable.When we are lacking crucial information and the technical knowledge, shall we suspend moral and political judgment? Or is it that particularly in times of crises, one must act based on principles, and fight for them? How can one launch the battle of ideas in times of crisis and uncertainty?

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/“‘Value’ is that which one acts to gain and keep, ‘virtue’ is the action by which one gains and keeps it.” Ayn Rand, For the New IntellectualOne of Ayn Rand’s most significant and distinct contributions to philosophy - particularly ethics - was her conception of value, and by extension, virtue. She recognised three cardinal values that were essential for man’s survival and flourishing: reason, purpose and self-esteem. And she recognised three corresponding virtues by which one gained and kept these values: rationality, productivity and pride.In the first Meetup in a series of monthly discussions on the Objectivist values and virtues, we will discuss Rand’s first cardinal value - reason.What does it mean to value reason? What are some common manifestations of irrationality, and what is the standard by which one judges an idea to be rational or irrational? Why is the concept of reason relevant in the realm of morality?