Reality and Man | Exploring Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand | Episode 2

Gloria Alvarez, Onkar Ghate and Harry Binswanger discuss reality and what we can know about it. They touch on Ayn Rand’s view that reality is objective and on views that reject this, how our senses know reality, and how our knowledge of reality depends on the exercise of our free will.

If you have ever wondered what philosophy is and how ideas shape human life, this series is for you. Join Gloria Álvarez as she interviews Ayn Rand Institute philosophers Harry Binswanger and Onkar Ghate on Ayn Rand’s revolutionary philosophy: Objectivism. This in-depth but accessible discussion series covers a broad range of topics, starting from the fundamentals of philosophy to ethics, politics and art.

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[noway]

I used to hate Ayan Rand views, but now I am entertaining her views and philosophy of objectivism.

[timjung]

This is good stuff. Having a layman discuss at length with philosophers is what non-Objectivists desperately need. She asks a lot of the same questions non-Objectivists would ask.

[azatkhabibulin]

Easy to understand and very meaningful. Thank you!

[elysef]

This is my favorite episode so far (of the first three out as of now). Thank you for putting these out!

[maribbens]

I know some people will consider these fightin' words, but my favorite living philosopher is Dr. Ghate.

[squireA]

Gracias por los subtítulos. A pesar de los errores de interpretación/traducción.
Y no es que G.A sea mala entrevistando, pienso que lo hace simple a propósito.
Y preguntas tan simples pueden parecer una mala entrevista para alguien que esté versado en Objetivismo.

[yasserostyn]

I really like Harry Binswangers clarification.

[sathyath]

There's one objective reality. And each life form has their own set of senses to perceive the reality. The senses might be different to each kind of life form, but one objective reality still exist nevertheless. And reason is one of the senses (intuitive sense), a tool, unique to human to perceive the objective reality.
If there;s a wall nearby, a person may perceive it through their visual sense, another blind person may perceive it through their touch sense, and a bat may perceive it through their audial sense, but nonetheless, the wall is there. If, for example the blind person tried to use his visual sense to perceive the wall and failed, and argued that there's no wall, despite never tried to use his other senses for example his touch sense, then it's his failure see the reality. And that's how people end up divided when it comes to perceiving reality. When they tried to find an objective reality, they may find different version of subjective realities and just end their journey there, and accepting the notion that reality is different for everyone.

[vic]

I have personally talked with H. Binswanger, on more than one occasion, and he has always been consistent in his intellectual expressions & philosophical positions!

[eliteshergio]

15:48 yo tengo otros datos jajajaj excelente ejemplo!

[joshuagould]

0:47 Oh no! The look on Dr. Ghate's face! Will anyone pronounce your name correctly?!
I'm only teasing. Ms. Gloria is an amazing interviewer!

[ameyer]

As for the color blind people: If you ask a color blind person to separate a group of blocks by color, they will separate them into the same groups as a person with normal color-vision. So, yes there is one reality even if a person has a physical defect.

[SpacePatrollerLaser]

If there is no objective reality independent of our thoughts and feeling, why are there so many candidates for the Darwin Award? Which, in 2384 was renamed "Ayn Rand's Revenge"

[hookem]

What would you guys say about a person who is in a coma. Could they reason that what they are dreaming is not reality?

[asstone]

Hans-Herman Hoppe in this speech, addresses what left vs right means and he shows that it is not individualism vs collectivism or capitalism vs socialism. It is equality vs hierarchy and even deeper it is a world view based on socio-biology vs a worldview based on the blank slate view of human nature.

Sadly, Rand herself held a blank slate view of human nature which we can forgive her for because she did not have access to the ton of information we have on the related subjects now. Hoppe explains how one of the most important events for humanity was that the northern peoples, ie lighter skinned people, developed greater cognitive skills because of the selection pressures from dealing with the harsh winters from the last mini-ice age (glacial minimum). This changed both the IQ and the reproductive strategies of the various races. This has consequences. Hoppe is the most hated of the Austrians because he has gone down the path of race and sex realism, ie hereditarianism, and included it in his approach to libertarianism. He has gone beyond Rothbard here. Obleftivism at large refuses to do this because it has such a commitment to Rand's blank slate view of individualism that it just won't recognize group differences for fear that it would destroy the entire movement and liberty itself.

[frizfarm]

I find many of the tenets of objectivism to be true. One of the things that bothers me, though, is that there seems to be a misunderstanding by Onkar and others about Christianity. He stated that Christians can only define God, heaven and eternity in terms of what they are not. Actually, the Bible gives many, many descriptions of these in concrete positive terms. Yes, some of the attributes, such as the eternality of God, are hard to understand because we don't experience those attributes as mankind. Yet, to say that something doesn't exist because it doesn't fit into the way we experience life is, in my opinion, rather shallow and not broad minded.

[SpacePatrollerLaser]

There seems to be the belief here that everyone has a "mind", That is not true, at least empirically. For any person, the mind does not exist automatically, you have to BUILD it. Why do you think so many false philosophies resemble "mental illness"? Here's the score on that:

[bretnetherton]

Reality is not two there can be no primacy. "Awareness is known by awareness alone, " is the sole irreducible axiom of reality...

[mustang]

As he is describing how people pay homage and ask favors of God, at the same time sounds like he's describing some central government. Different philosophies.

[ihavenohair]

The reality is: these guys do a supurb job not staring at her legs the entire time