Greg Salmieri & Yaron Discuss Objectivism and Its Applications | Yaron Interviews

Gregory Salmieri is a senior scholar of philosophy in the Salem Center for Policy at the McCombs School. He holds the Brigham Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism and is the director of the center’s Program for Objectivity in Thought, Action, and Enterprise.

His research concerns epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy, and the philosophies of Aristotle and Ayn Rand. Salmieri is the co-editor of “A Companion to Ayn Rand” and “Foundations of a Free Society” and the author of numerous articles and talks.

Salmieri has taught philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Rutgers University, Boston University, and the Stevens Institute of Technology, and his course topics include ancient philosophy, ethics, and theory of knowledge

Salmieri earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor’s in philosophy from the College of New Jersey.

00:00 Intro
02:30 Greg's workshops at the Salem Center
05:40 Racism
17:30 Upcoming ethics workshop
22:54 Did Rand discuss or dilineate between racism (hating someone based on race) vs prejudices (eg coming across a menacing looking person bs a grandmother in a dark alley) Does she view prejudgement (vs racism) of an individual based on a class such as age/race as rational?
27:03 Immigration laws have been historically intertwined with racism, especially anti-Asian racism. Why are obstacles to immigration so seldom integrated into discussions of racism?
29:15 Upcoming workshops on philosophy of economics and probability/mathematics in reasoning
39:41 Can Greg expound on man’s life as the ethical standard and each man’s life as his purpose? Are those two principles in different contexts or are they connected?
44:00 Hello from India 🇮🇳 👋 In Rand’s novels people are black or white: heroes or villains. But in the real world a person's psychology, knowledge & context make it difficult to slot them so. Young readers get confused and can be obnoxious towards people around them... Any thoughts?
48:02 Does Rand's epistemology breakdown if we're all schizophrenic? Or do schizophrenic people know on some deep level that they're not registering reality as it actually is?
50:51 What gives philosophy veto power over scientific claims?
53:21 Popping in just to say thank you, Greg! Your work made it easier for me to understand Objectivism and better apply its ideas to my life. Your OCON talk a few years back, Principles and Personal Values, is absolute gold!
54:00 Greg, are you still glad you voted for Biden? He just announced he'll be running for a second term. And do you actually think Trump has a chance of winning?
55:10 Is it a sanction to work with An-Caps like Caplan?
58:05 Is there a branch of philosophy that deals with meaning, like a combonation of teleology, axiology, and semantic clarity? Can you point to any references about meaning fulfilling higher needs?
1:02:12 Relationship between meaning and purpose
1:04:39 Why are social issues dominating political discourse and how big of a national schism will the abortion issue create?
1:14:04 When is it fair to say you're in a lifeboat scenario and can initiate force for your own survival? When free speech is abolished?
1:17:59 Since ITOE, have you noticed in university philosophy course teaching the idea of Induction and unit measurement omission as Peikoff has spoken on? Like in Logical Leap and Axioms of Induction?
1:19:02 Do any academics you work with in philosophy departments have the slightest respect for Ayn Rand? Are your students more interested in Rand then they were a decade ago?
1:21:01 Are you overall optimistic about our ability to spread Objectivism and gradually change the culture? Do you think you will see real positive change in your lifetime?
1:23:49 Is the U.S. undergoing a cultural revolution, where leftist ideology infiltrates media, academia and law? For example, derivatives of critical theory have at least more visibility today.
1:26:54 Is The Ayn Rand Society still active and engaging with non-Objectivist philosophers?
1:28:49 See pinned comment for timestamps of additional questions
2:17:41 Outro







#Morality ​ ​#Objectivism​ #AynRand #politics

[YaronBrook]

Outline:
02:30 Greg's workshops at the Salem Center
05:40 Racism
17:30 Upcoming ethics workshop
22:54 Did Rand discuss or dilineate between racism (hating someone based on race) vs prejudices (eg coming across a menacing looking person bs a grandmother in a dark alley) Does she view prejudgement (vs racism) of an individual based on a class such as age/race as rational?
27:03 Immigration laws have been historically intertwined with racism, especially anti-Asian racism. Why are obstacles to immigration so seldom integrated into discussions of racism?
29:15 Upcoming workshops on philosophy of economics and probability/mathematics in reasoning
39:41 Can Greg expound on man’s life as the ethical standard and each man’s life as his purpose? Are those two principles in different contexts or are they connected?
44:00 Hello from India 🇮🇳 👋 In Rand’s novels people are black or white: heroes or villains. But in the real world a person'spsychology, knowledge & context make it difficult to slot them so. Young readers get confused and can be obnoxious towards people around them... Any thoughts?
48:02 Does Rand's epistemology breakdown if we're all schizophrenic? Or do schizophrenic people know on some deep level that they're not registering reality as it actually is?
50:51 What gives philosophy veto power over scientific claims?
53:21 Popping in just to say thank you, Greg! Your work made it easier for me to understand Objectivism and better apply its ideas to my life. Your OCON talk a few years back, Principles and Personal Values, is absolute gold!
54:00 Greg, are you still glad you voted for Biden? He just announced he'll be running for a second term. And do you actually think Trump has a chance of winning?
55:10 Is it a sanction to work with An-Caps like Caplan?
58:05 Is there a branch of philosophy that deals with meaning, like a combonation of teleology, axiology, and semantic clarity? Can you point to any references about meaning fulfilling higher needs?
1:02:12 Relationship between meaning and purpose
1:04:39 Why are social issues dominating political discourse and how big of a national schism will the abortion issue create?
1:14:04 When is it fair to say you're in a lifeboat scenario and can initiate force for your own survival? When free speech is abolished?
1:17:59 Since ITOE, have you noticed in university philosophy course teaching the idea of Induction and unit measurement omission as Peikoff has spoken on? Like in Logical Leap and Axioms of Induction?
1:19:02 Do any academics you work with in philosophy departments have the slightest respect for Ayn Rand? Are your students more interested in Rand then they were a decade ago?
1:21:01 Are you overall optimistic about our ability to spread Objectivism and gradually change the culture? Do you think you will see real positive change in your lifetime?
1:23:49 Is the U.S. undergoing a cultural revolution, where leftist ideology infiltrates media, academia and law? For example, derivatives of critical theory have at least more visibility today.
1:26:54 Is The Ayn Rand Society still active and engaging with non-Objectivist philosophers?
1:28:49 Did you see Stephen Hicks debate with Craig Biddle about weather Objectivism is a static system?
1:29:31 Did we have any radical individualist presidents or were they all collectivists to varying degrees?
1:31:12 If Trump wins the nomination and gets absolutely destroyed in the general election by an 82year old demented man, will we see a real shift in the GOP towards a more rational limited government party?
1:34:06 And if Trump wins a second term, will he be able to get anything done? Or will the GOP morph into a fully fascist populist reactionary party?
1:35:39 You guys have viciously criticized Trump over the last 7 years. Is it appropriate when he is persecuted by the entire system? He's a victim.
1:39:57 Your evaluation of Charles Murray's work on race?
1:44:04 What do you think about FIRE defending Amy Wax?
1:48:23 Were you concerned about financial prospects when you chose an intellectual career?
1:52:41 Why should we criticize the right when the left dominated all the major institutions? Academia, media, Hollywood, tech, medical establishment etc.
1:53:28 Why do you give so little credit to Christian tradition when many good ideas arise from it? Though the good ideas are influenced by Greek philosophy they still manifested themselves in this tradition.
1:56:23 Speaking of Christianity, what's the origin of the idea that Christianity is the foundation of individualism? I heard it in the wild recently and have been wondering about it since.
1:59:15 You read 'The Senses as Perceptual Systems'?
1:59:37 Will social security be the first major socialist system we privatize? Since it's going bankrupt much sooner than expected and it's the easiest to transfer to a private system?
1:59:59 Have you read much about the Nyaya school of Indian philosophy, which had a strong emphasis on epistomology?
2:00:42 Question for Yaron and Greg. Alex Epstein is doing great work in energy policy, but which industry would you like to see the next Alex take on?
2:02:26 For Dr. Greg. What is going on with the Salem Center and similar think-tanks right now, and what would be some ways to get involved and take action?
2:04:03 Thoughts on the Austrian School? Your 2023-4 plans
2:07:42 are there any blogs that you frequently visit or recommended reading resources? how about something you think we've never heard of? any topic resource ie, news, economics, tech etc.
2:10:12 For most people your identity is the lest important thing about you. Training kid's to make Identity the most important thing in there lives seems like a path back to the Bronze age.
2:11:44 Health Care needs much attention! Thank you Greg and Yaron!
2:11:51 Love the interview. Thanks for this!
2:12:21 Thoughts on the new University of Austin? Will you be working with them?
2:15:54 How much of a superchat donation would it take to get Greg to shred (or gently play) something on stream?
2:17:40 Got you. 😎
2:17:41 Outro

[frederickmfarias]

Kant instead of actual reason used a simplistic dualism of pode vs anti pode to attack a principle, idea or value.
Where both are wrong, similar to right vs left today.

[TeaParty]

If youre hallucinating, stop watching cable TV news. Watch a nature program about hummingbirds in Costa Rica.

[patrickponticel]

Greg Salmieri being disingenuous (and Yaron Brook failing to call him out for it) with the following quote: "Anti-abortionists....make no distinction between a zygote and a 32-year-old person." C'mon fellas, don't treat your listeners like idiots. I could just as easily pretend to believe that you two make no association between a zygote and a 32-year-old person. But I don't. Because I know you both know full well that there IS an association. And because I'm not disingenuous. Nor ideologically possessed. I've got my own, different flaws.

[frankrockefeller]

On abortion: If men and women had the self and mutual respect as to preserve pre-nuptial chastity then abortion would not present the dilemma of individualism preserved through (a) the trauma of abortion or (b) the individualism of single parents and their future angry, anarchic children. Abortion within the context of marriage is the only possible 'rational' grounds where the mutual vulnerabilities of men and women are safeguarded. The abortion conflict (pro-life - pro-choice) ignores this rational context. The purpose of morality is to 'head-off' the permanent, irreversible damage that the political dilemma/debate is largely indifferent to.

[TeaParty]

Christianity breaks your legs but provides a wheelchair and a nun to wheel you to church where you can pray for good legs.

[TeaParty]

Heidegger thought Hitler revealed Being, ie, the meaning of the unfocused mind.

[TeaParty]

What is a grandmother doing in a dark alley?

[exnihilonihilfit]

Why is the podcast of this episode so quiet?

[PhilosophicalZombieHunter]

Where do I find these workshops and are they online?

[micchaelsanders]

1:42:30 I don't quite see how that follows...

[TeaParty]

Zwang is an emotionalist w/an evasive question.

[albionicamerican]

If Objectivism worked in the way it is implicitly "advertised" in the Randian literature, then installing and using it properly would look like a transhumanist software upgrade for the mind, like something out of science fiction. Perhaps not in the cartoonish way shown in the movie _Limitless, _ starring Bradley Cooper, of course; but Objectivists should stand out somehow from ordinary mortals.

So why aren't we seeing that in the real world? Instead successful people apparently don't need Ayn Rand's help, like the multimillionaire financial advisor Dave Ramsey, who is an evangelical Christian, not an Objectivist.