The perils of misinterpreting Objectivist principles - Mark Pellegrino and Aaron Smith
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Where do people go wrong with Objectivism? In this episode, Mark Pellegrino and Aaron Smith discuss ways in which people misinterpret Objectivist principles and some of the mistakes new Objectivists can make as they start to apply the philosophy. This is episode four in Mark Pellegrino's Philosophy and Mental Health Episode Series.
'A bad philosophy can wreck your psychology and a good philosophy can put it on the right track' - Aaron Smith
00:00:00 Why Aaron Smith is Mark Pellegrino's favourite philosophy teacher
00:00:20 Reason, self-interest, individual rights and laissez-faire capitalism
00:04:14 Discovering Objectivism
00:07:24 Getting philosophy wrong: misapplying the principles is common to Objectivism, Stoicism, and Christianity
00:08:40 Repressing emotions is bad for your psychological life
00:08:27 The Spock-McCoy false dichotomy and Catholic guilt
00:11:52 Life is essentially a knowledge problem
00:13:01 Culture tells you to follow your heart but Ayn Rand says emotions are not tools of cognition
00:16:14 Emotions can't distinguish between true and false but ignore them at your peril
00:17:40 The Objectivist view of emotions - emotions are fantastic!
00:19:08 Emotions have a proper psychological place
00:20:02 Ayn Rand is opposed to emotionalism, not emotions
00:20:30 The role of emotion in choosing a career: reason decides the issue but emotions are important.
00:24:00 Advice if you're new to Objectivism
00:24:54 The DOs and DON'Ts of Religion
00:27:43 Objectivism rejects duty
00:28:15 From facts to value judgement - the is-ought problem
00:31:55 The punishment for not living up to the objectivist morality is not achieving the goals you want out of life
00:32:38 Activities are not a chore if you hold your life as a value
00:33:14 Jeff Goldblum's philosophy: once I know something's good for me, I like it!
00:34:28 The keys to motivation
00:37:30 Validate your personal desires
00:38:00 Immanuel Kant on duty and morality
00:38:46 Causality versus Duty by Ayn Rand (Philosophy Who Needs It)
00:40:13 Long-range thinking
00:42:20 Don't ignore the short-range and the now
00:44:36 Objectivism and joy
00:45:36 Life is an end in itself and the enjoyment of life is an end in itself
00:47:14 Our Cultural Value-deprivation by Ayn Rand (The Voice of Reason)
00:50:30 Harmony between the long-range and the short-range
00:55:22 Being in the now at Jiu-Jitsu
00:56:30 Integrating daily pleasurable experiences
01:00:00 The Objectivist view of Art
01:04:45 Your response to art is highly personal
01:13:00 What do you respond to and why?
01:14:50 Jazz, classical, death metal
01:17:40 There's no such thing as Objectivist art
01:20:22 Question about toxic positivity and toxic negativity
01:26:00 Question about Rand's views on photography and what is art
01:39:20 Question about 'the higher the climb the further the fall'
'His emotions are not his enemies, they are his means of enjoying life. But they are not his guide; the guide is his mind.' Ayn Rand
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Aaron Smith on X: x.com/PhilosophySmith
Aaron Smith at the Ayn Rand Institute: ari.aynrand.org/experts/aaron...
Further viewing: Lecture 2 of Peikoff's Judging, Feeling, and Not Being Moralistic, which is called 'The Proper Role of Emotions,' addresses both emotions and repression and the issue of ignoring the short-range and the now. You can watch this lecture on ARI Campus: courses.aynrand.org/campus-co...
Пікірлер: 25
Great discussion and very good questions!
Tremendous talk. Aaron is an incisive thinker, and, thankfully for us, also a great communicator.
Outstanding discussion ... one I'll be recommending, especially to those who've read Ayn Rand's works, and are looking to apply Objectivist principles. What does this philosophy look like in practice? Lots of great answers in this interview.
That was very informative!! thank you so much! Rose was amazing too.
This is awesome, you’re an extremely smart and genuine person. I absolutely love your opinions and you’re an incredible actor, bro. Thank you so much for everything I especially love your performance in Capote pretty fantastic thanks man keep doing what you’re doing. Great podcast I loved it.
Loving this talk, Lisa Feldman Barrett cover constructed emotions theory, in line with the emotions section
Awesome podcast
With Ally, I agree that toxic humour is so widespread and terribly destructive to productive motivation. 🗽
Regarding Rose's photography question, i think it becomes art when the scene being captured is actually saying something rather than merely documenting something. For example, William Mortensen took fantastic pictures with wonderful, dramatic scenes. these scenes have themes, values that are being communicated. A picture of a static bowl of fruit isn't saying anything, it just is. I would recommend William Mortensen's book The Command to Look detailing his theory of dramatic photography if you're reading this, Rose.
@sybo59
22 күн бұрын
Helpful comment. Photography can certainly be a legitimate “selective recreation of reality.”
Mark Pellegrino must be a great actor. Thank you for the reminder of the hardly known great Bob Florence, jazz pianist, composer, and who I didn’t know was so much an arranger too.
I've said it many times to my Oist pals, Aaron Smith is the true chad of ARI.
”Art as end in itself.” Interesting, my interpretation of Rand was that art is always a tool for survival or it is suicide.
Thank you Mark
36:10 That might have been an episode of Futurama. But the purpose of the mirror wasn’t to motivate a goal. It was to sell underwear-Lightspeed Briefs. The changing room mirror in the department store presented an idealized version of yourself. But when the character looked closer, he saw the sign: “Objects in mirror are less attractive than they appear.”
Aaron should listen to the song “Big Time” by Peter Gabriel.
@aaronsmith7313
17 күн бұрын
I know that song. Not my thing. I like his voice though.
Speaking of metal.. have you heard Jinjer yet? I suggest the song Pisces.. many many views.
Why Objectivists are not so common in debating scene? Like for example Matt Dillahunty?
@RayceJacobson
23 күн бұрын
Every objectivist has his or her own reasons. For many of them, they find their career more productive than debating a non-objective intellectual. Only a handful of objectivists are engaged in intellectual activism, like those at the Ayn Rand Institute, and only a handful of them are interested in debate.
@TheNeuralist
23 күн бұрын
I've rarely found people willing to debate Objectivism with Oists in good faith. And I mean, I may have come across maybe three or four in my entire time as an academic.
@jonathanbauer2988
21 күн бұрын
@@RayceJacobson and some of us are learning, how much do I actually have to understand before I can even consider myself objectivist? I am curious about objectivism and have a goal to completely understand it, not necessarily to agree I don't want to be dogmatic about it, but just to understand it. That being said, how does one even know when you are understanding enough to call yourself an objectivist? Unlike other ideologies, because I am rejecting dogmatism it feels like I have to fully understand every single topic before I can commit.
@jonathanbauer2988
21 күн бұрын
and I am guessing im not the only person like this but how could I debate about it without fully understanding it? Its a ton of work compared to other ideologies where you just subscribe out of dogmatic choice and boom your part of the tribe.
@JohnMcAfee-se9ms
19 күн бұрын
Yaron Brook does a lot of debates.