Tuesday 1 May 2012

Morality and Religion

Livestream events hosted by Objectivists are coming thick and fast now. Here’s a provocative live-stream internet event for tomorrow, Wednesday NZ time:

Morality and Religion

A talk at the University of Minnesota, live-streamed at: www.livestream.com/arsg

Description: If God is dead, is everything permitted?

How many times have you heard it said that without religion, morality is impossible? Good and evil would lose their meaning and no one would bother to do the right thing.

But what if the truth is actually the opposite? What if, on a proper conception of morality, religion is the enemy of the good? In this provocative talk, Dr. Onkar Ghate explores these questions from the unique perspective of Ayn Rand's radical rethinking of morality.

An extended Q&A will follow the talk.

     Who: Dr. Onkar Ghate, senior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute
   What: A lecture examining good and evil and the role of religion in morality
    When: Wednesday, May 2, 2012, at 12:30 p.m. NZ time

Bio: Dr. Ghate teaches at the Institute's Objectivist Academic Center, speaks on philosophy and Objectivism across North America, and publishes scholarly articles on Ayn Rand's fiction and philosophy. His op-eds have appeared in the Houston Chronicle, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Providence Journal, San Diego Business Journal, Orange County Register and BusinessWeek.com. He has given numerous radio interviews, including BBC Radio, and has appeared as a television guest on CNBC, KCET, Fox News Channel and the CBS Evening News. Dr. Ghate received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Calgary.

NB: As always with these live-streamed events, you can either watch them in the comfort of your own domicile, or if you’re near Mt Eden bring your lunch and join us here at the Organon Architecture offices, Level 1, 236 Dominion Rd (corner of Valley Rd and Dom Rd).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rand had a screwed up moral compass too though. She was happy to be fucking Nathaniel Branden although they were both married, but got all upset when she discovered that he had the temerity to be fucking student Patrecia Scott on the side as well !

For this transgression, Rand excommunicated Branden, a man she had anointed as a potential heir to the throne as the high priest of the Cult Of Objectivism

Peter Cresswell said...

Anonymous? Yes, of course you're Anonymous. Who would want to put their name to garbage like this.

Strange as it might sound, but Rand's affair with Branden was with the full and open approval of both their partners.

In other words, its was open and honest.

Her problem with Branden's affair with Patrecia (which happened long after he had finished his affair with Rand) was that he lied constantly about this and many other things about himself, all while using Rand as a meal ticket from which to make piles of money and a name for himself--which he acquired on the basis of his supposed integrity.

When she discovered his various frauds, she withdrew her endorsement of him as a spokesman for her ideas. As you would.

If anyone honestly wishes to know anything about this, then rather than reading dishonest smears on the internet, my best recommendation would be to read James Valliant's 'The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics.'