Tag Archives: selfishness

What Should Society Do About The Poor? by Aaron Smith

March 4, 2020Podcastaltruism, charity, compromise, duty welfare, ethics, good will, homelessness, morality, politics, poverty, selfishnessphilosophy-for-living-on-earth

Most people believe that society has a moral obligation toward its poor and its needy—and that something must be done, politically, to help them.

Is this the right way to think about the poor and society? Are these issues for the whole of society to decide? Are they political problems that need to have imposed political solutions? How would one think about issues surrounding the poor, handicapped or needy from a more individualist perspective rather than a collectivist perspective?

Join Aaron Smith in examining the question: What should society do about the poor?

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Is Doing Drugs Wrong? by Onkar Ghate

February 12, 2020Podcastdrugs, free will, health, legality, liberty, mind, Objectivism, recreation, selfishness, thoughtphilosophy-for-living-on-earth

On the issue of legal, non-medical drugs, there are at least two common perspectives at odds in our culture today: one camp contends that some drugs can beneficially “expand” one’s mind—increasing creativity, decreasing anxiety, and otherwise providing benefits that should be explored. Another side regards using mind-altering “recreational” drugs as immoral or at least morally suspicious.

Join David Birnbaum as he interviews philosopher Onkar Ghate on the question: Is doing drugs wrong?

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Why Are New Years Resolutions So Hard To Keep? by Keith Lockitch

January 15, 2020Podcastethics, exercise, free will, Keith Lockitch, Podcast, reason, resolutions, self-help, self-made, selfishness, will powerphilosophy-for-living-on-earth

Every year droves of people make New Year’s resolutions, but polls suggest that four out of five people fail to keep them. One report even found that most resolutions last less than two weeks. So why are New Year’s resolutions so hard to keep? Are they just a joke and a waste of time? Are…

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Do People’s Interests Have to Conflict? by Gregory Salmieri

January 8, 2020PodcastConflict, ethics, Greg Salmieri, Objectivism, people, Podcast, rationality, relationship, selfishness, trade, valuesphilosophy-for-living-on-earth

People are at odds with one another all the time (we have wars, personal animosities, etc.) and it is generally assumed that people’s interests conflict. We are often told that the only way to have any kind of peace is to compromise—to give up our interests in deference to other people. Ayn Rand rejects this…

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How Can One Be Fully Independent in Today’s Society? by Harry Binswanger

November 13, 2019PodcastAyn Rand, Harry Binswanger, independence, individualism, Podcast, reason, self-esteem, self-interest, selfishness, society, The Fountainheadphilosophy-for-living-on-earth

Independence is the theme of Ayn Rand’s great novel The Fountainhead. Howard Roark, the novel’s hero, is the epitome of independence. He speaks of the need to have a self-sufficient ego and says nothing else is as important. What is a “self-sufficient ego”? What is independence and how does one preserve one’s independence in a…

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Is Altruism Good? by Ben Bayer

October 9, 2019Podcastaltruism, Ben Bayer, effective altruism, ethics, morality, motivation, Objectivism, Peter Singer, Podcast, selfishness, selflessphilosophy-for-living-on-earth

Maybe you’ve heard of something called “effective altruism”? It’s a recent movement that encourages people to do research to figure out the best way to give away as much of their own money as possible, allegedly in order to help out as many people as possible. Now one wonders if calling it “effective altruism” implies…

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Isn’t Everybody Selfish? by Gregory Salmieri

September 18, 2019PodcastAyn Rand, Ayn Rand Institute, ethics, Greg Salmieri, human behavior, Objectivism, Philosophy, Podcast, psychology, radical, selfishnessphilosophy-for-living-on-earth

The question “Isn’t Everybody Selfish?” is often asked cynically by people who think selfishness is a bad thing and that it’s impossible to avoid. Sometimes it is said by economists who think that selfishness helps to explain human action, and sometimes the question is posed skeptically to people, e.g., Ayn Rand, who say that everyone…

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Is Selfishness the Root of All Evil? by Keith Lockitch

August 28, 2019Podcastaltruism, Ayn Rand, ethics, evil, happiness, individualism, life, morality, Podcast, self-interest, selfishnessphilosophy-for-living-on-earth

If there is one thing that almost everyone agrees on today, it’s that selfishness is bad. From day one, we’ve been told, “don’t be selfish” or “selfishness is the root of all evil.” But what if the way we think about selfishness is completely wrong? What if our conventional understanding of what it means to be selfish is…

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What Is Self-Esteem? How Do I Get It? by Elan Journo

August 7, 2019PodcastAyn Rand, Elan Journo, ethics, morality, Podcast, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-interest, selfishness, The Virtue of Selfishnessphilosophy-for-living-on-earth

Is having self-esteem a good thing? Most people will say it’s part of living a good life. And we all know someone who lives with gnawing self-doubt, someone with little or no self-esteem at all. It really holds them back. But is self-esteem something anyone can attain, or is it just for the lucky few?…

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