On June 10, 2015, ARI’s Distinguished Fellow Peter Schwartz gave a talk in New York City at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. In his talk, Peter discussed the ideas in his new book, In Defense of Selfishness: Why the Code of Self-Sacrifice Is Unjust and Destructive. Peter’s talk, which was delivered as a part of ARI’s Road to a Free Society tour, was recorded by C-SPAN and is now available online.
When you hear the word selfishness what comes to mind? Typically, selfishness is associated with amoral, predatory behavior. It’s a word used to describe people like Bernard Madoff or Attila the Hun. On the other hand, selflessness is generally celebrated and aligned with friendship and love. In this talk, Peter Schwartz challenges these misconceptions.
The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In this episode, I interview Claremont Review of Books senior editor William Voegeli on his recent book The Pity Party: A Mean-Spirited Diatribe Against Liberal Compassion.
If you haven’t pre-ordered your copy of In Defense of Selfishness: Why the Code of Self-Sacrifice Is Unjust and Destructive, by Peter Schwartz, to be published on June 2, 2015, please do so today. As a special inducement to those who pre-order the book on or before May 8, ARI is arranging an exclusive Q&A webinar, to be held in August. You’ll have the opportunity to ask Mr. Schwartz questions about the material in his book.
Ayn Rand is known as a champion of the virtue of selfishness. Most believe, however, that selfishness is incompatible with benevolence, kindness and goodwill towards others. What is the relationship between benevolence and the selfishness that Ayn Rand advocates? That is the question ARI instructor Aaron Smith will explore in a series of talks he will be giving across the country.
Here’s the mystery: although most Americans say they support cutting government spending in general, they nevertheless oppose cutting any specific program — least of all the so-called entitlement programs that are driving today’s torrent of spending: Social Security and Medicare.
On today’s episode of The Yaron Brook Show, topics included: whether Obama loves America; whether ISIS is Islamic; Scott Walker; the virtues necessary for a selfish life; and the Oscars.
On Monday, February 23, Yaron Brook will talk about the virtues of rational selfishness as presented in Ayn Rand’s essay “The Objectivist Ethics” in The Virtue of Selfishness.
On today’s episode of The Yaron Brook Show, Yaron talks about altruism in practice and the virtue of rationality. Topics included: The terrorist attacks in Denmark; the debt crisis in Greece and the morality of sacrifice; the value of reason and the virtue of rationality; selfishness and charity.
