The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zg_ANzngT0 Podcast audio: The American attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities was met with intense public debate about the proper course of U.S. foreign policy. The Objectivist philosophy offers a distinctive framework for thinking about such issues. In his 2025 OCON talk, “Principles of a Proper Foreign Policy,” Peter Schwartz, an Objectivist intellectual and former chairman of ARI’s board, argues that a nation’s foreign policy should be guided by the principle of individual rights and aimed at protecting the nation’s freedom. Schwartz explains why this approach requires the consistent application of moral judgment. He criticizes the dominant diplomatic approach, which forbids pronouncing moral judgment and has led to decades of disastrous consequences as a result. Among the topics covered: Individual rights as the guiding principle of a nation’s foreign policy; Why justice and moral judgment are crucial for a proper foreign policy; Why Trump’s foreign policy is against America’s interests; How to address threats from Iran and elsewhere; Why diplomacy has failed, and why a principled policy of self-interest is urgently needed; Miscellaneous questions about foreign policy:How close we are to World War 3;Whether appeasement works sometimes;How people can sympathize with Hamas and Iran; Whether individuals should be allowed to trade with hostile countries. This talk was recorded live on July 2nd in Boston, MA, as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, and is available on The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credit: Vadim_Nefedov / via Getty Images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi8sRxe21qo Podcast audio: In this Ayn Rand Institute Podcast episode, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss the recent ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Overall evaluation of the deal; Evading Hamas’s evil goals; The injustice of the deal; Altruism enables the injustice; Enemies of freedom must be defeated. This podcast was recorded on October 15, 2025, and posted October 20, 2025. Image credit: Suzanne Plunkett / Pool / via Getty Images.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZCJXTdch2E Podcast audio: In this episode of ARI Bookshelf, Sam Weaver, Ben Bayer, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Ibis Slade critically examine America’s Cultural Revolution by Christopher Rufo and The Identity Trap by Yascha Mounk. Among the topics covered: Nature of “woke” ideology; “Domino” view of ideological influence; Influence of right-wing ideas; Rufo’s authoritarianism; Mounk’s egalitarianism and collectivism; Books’ perspectives on real injustices; Merits of Mounk’s book; Weakness of Rufo’s critiques; Rufo’s un-American tribalism; Influence of postmodern epistemology; Why “woke” ideology isn’t Marxism Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand's essay “The Left: Old and New”, Rand’s book Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, and Leonard Peikoff’s book The DIM Hypothesis. This episode was recorded on October 3, 2025, and posted on October 10, 2025.

This talk by Steven Warden was recorded live on July 3rd in Boston, MA as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference and is available on the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V6c-9O3UHk Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Tristan de Liège and Ben Bayer discuss the widespread claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Among the topics covered: Decoupling from the confusion of “international law” Validating the concept of “genocide”; The invalid collectivist elements of the concept; The absurd UN definition of “genocide”; Why the valid concept does not apply to Israel; Sidebar on the issue of just and unjust war; The genocidal intent of Hamas Recommended in this podcast is Elan Journo’s book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Ben Bayer's essay "We Ignore the Unconditional Right to Self-Defense at Our Peril", and the podcast with Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopolous, "Did Israel Steal Palestinian Land?" The podcast was recorded on October 3, 2025, and posted on October 7, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

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