The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTl2m5StrvQ Podcast audio: The crimes of the French Revolution have long been regarded as indicting Enlightenment ideals. Its Reign of Terror has been seen as the product of an overconfident belief in reason, liberty, and human perfectibility. The American Revolution, by contrast, is said to have succeeded only because it was more moderate and traditional. In his 2025 OCON talk, “Enlightenment on Trial: The Real Lessons of the American and French Revolutions,” Don Watkins challenges this narrative. What history shows, Watkins contends, is that Enlightenment ideals in France were largely confined to intellectual elites within a rigid, hierarchical society. French culture was also shaped by powerful anti-Enlightenment currents — notably Rousseau’s elevation of passion and the collective over reason and the individual. These ideas later fueled the Terror. By contrast, many American colonists read thinkers such as Locke, Montesquieu, and Franklin and had long practiced self-government, giving Enlightenment ideals real cultural depth. Watkins highlights a further, crucial difference between the two revolutions. The French were fundamentally motivated by hatred towards the ancien régime. French mob violence was widespread and brutal, since it sought, above all else, to eradicate the nobility, the clergy, and every other symbol of the past. Similar unrest was relatively limited and contained in America, where Americans resisted British rule with a positive aim: to establish a government that protected individual rights. Among the topics covered: Narratives about the French Revolution; The rise and fall of the Revolution; Two Revolutions compared; Contrasting motivations. This talk was recorded live on July 5th 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=28TpOvna_78 Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer discuss the recent American attack on Venezuela to capture Nicolas Maduro. Topics include: Invalid “international law” objections; An act of war; Drug, “narcoterrorism” and oil excuses; Nationalistic “spheres of influence”; The altruistic conception of “self-interest”; Contempt for the Constitution; Ayn Rand on the Roots of War. Resources:  Ayn Rand, "The Roots of War" ARI Podcast, "How Drug Boats Could Be Used to Rationalize an Unjust War with Venezuela," December 11  ARI Podcast, “Trump’s Anti-Capitalist Control Over Business,” Sept 18, 2025 Onkar Ghate, "Saving the Enlightenment," OCON 2025 This episode was recorded on January 7, 2026, and posted on January 8, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credit: Tomas Ragina / iStock / via Getty Images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shwbIXkaZPs Podcast audio: This talk comparing Newton and Descartes approach to mathematics by David Bakker 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 Credits: Newton: GeorgiosArt / iStock / via Getty Images. Descartes: ilbusca / DigitalVision Vectors / via Getty Images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClmXn3-j2t4 Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss a recent essay by Steven Pinker and Marian Tupy (“The Golden Age of Humanity? We’re Living In It”) that aims to offer a secular alternative to the recent resurgence in religious culture. Topics include: The Anti-Enlightenment Phenomenon; Pinker and Tupy’s secular strengths; A weak critique of Christian morality; Christian morality and antisemitism; Understanding the crisis of meaning; Unphilosophical moral foundations; Alternative, Pro-Enlightenment moral foundation. Resources:  “The Objectivist Ethics,” Ayn Rand “Finding Morality and Happiness Without God,” Onkar Ghate “Debunking the Supernaturalism That Haunts Secular Ethics,” Ben Bayer This episode was recorded on December 16, 2025, and posted on January 2, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credit: Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt / AFP / via Getty Images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hJO4ofx6VU Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, originally released on December 23, 2024, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid explore the true meaning of Christmas by examining the history and philosophical significance of our holiday practices. Among the topics covered: The secular meaning of Christmas; A proper view of Christmas’s commercial aspects;   Why some people are antagonistic towards the Christmas spirit;   How the doctrine of original sin undermines Christmas joy. Mentioned in this podcast are Ben Bayer’s articles “Give the Gift of a Guilt-Free Christmas” and “The Meaningful Delights of a Worldly Christmas"  and Onkar Ghate’s essay “An Atheist’s Tribute to Christmas”. This podcast was recorded on December 18, 2024 and released on December 23, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI3qhwVi1Eg Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Samantha Watkins interviews Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and a senior scholar at the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University, about the alarming trend of anti-vaccine irrationality coming from government leaders. Topics include: The state of vaccine science Hepatitis B vaccine Covid vaccine The cause of conspiracism The real-world impact of conspiracism A healthy culture’s approach to vaccine science Resources:  “A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease” by Onkar Ghate, in which he shares ARI’s view of the role of government with respect to infectious disease This episode was recorded on December 15, 2025, and posted on December 18, 2025. Image Credit: Alex Wong / via Getty Images

Ben Bayer, a policy analyst from the Ayn Rand Institute, dives into the controversial U.S. strikes on drug boats linked to Venezuela. He questions the legitimacy of claims labeling the Venezuelan military a threat and explores how drug prohibition fuels militarized responses. The discussion critiques the application of international law and warns against expanding presidential power in military actions. Bayer argues that any intervention in Venezuela lacks justification and could escalate into an unjust conflict.

In this engaging talk, Alex Silverman, a philosophical lecturer, explores the life and ideas of Baruch Spinoza, a pivotal figure of the Enlightenment. He delves into Spinoza's excommunication and the risks he encountered for advocating reason and freedom. The discussion highlights Spinoza’s critique of religion, ethical egoism, and his vision of God as nature. Silverman also emphasizes the importance of freedom of thought and Spinoza's enduring influence on Enlightenment ideals, making a compelling case for his legacy in our pursuit of knowledge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KEOmlA-YRo Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Agustina Vergara Cid interviews Josh Windham, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, about the Trump administration’s immigration policy and its violations of constitutional rights. Topics include: The Garcia Venegas case; Arbitrary “mass deportations”; Kavanaugh on permissible profiling; Qualified immunity; DHS’ denial of reality; Precedent for current enforcement; American principles betrayed; Standing up to authoritarianism. This episode was recorded on December 2, 2025, and posted on December 4, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image credits: Police: Octavio Jones / AFP / via Getty Images; Constitution: Tetra Images / via Getty Images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgur8cEOpnk Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and ARI’s senior intellectuals make a deep dive into the moral crisis of the conservative movement. Topics include: Moral sanction; “Cancel culture” and free speech; Conservative tribalism; How ARI is different. Resources: Onkar Ghate’s lecture On Moral Sanction This episode was recorded on November 19, 2025, and posted on November 22, 2025. Image Credits: Carlson: Leon Neal / via Getty Images; Fuentes: William Edwards / AFP / via Getty Images