Aristotle and Ayn Rand: A ‘Classical Wisdom’ Podcast

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Anya Leonard, cofounder of Classical Wisdom, to record a podcast exploring the connections between Aristotle and Ayn Rand. Classical Wisdom, a website devoted to “bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds,” recently featured my article “The False Promise of Stoicism,” which generated a lot of discussion online. As a philosopher at the Ayn Rand Institute and a specialist in Aristotle, I was happy to follow up with a podcast devoted to my two favorite philosophers. Ms. Leonard and I discussed:

• Rand’s enormous respect for Aristotle’s achievement;
• Key similarities between Aristotle’s philosophy and Rand’s;
• Aristotle’s surprising idea that we should all be “lovers of self”;
• Rand’s philosophy as a significant development within the Aristotelian tradition.

Whether you’re interested in Rand or classical thought, or both, I hope you’ll find the podcast engaging. If you’d like to read or listen to Ayn Rand’s “Review of Aristotle by John Herman Randall, Jr.” (mentioned in the podcast), you can do so on the Ayn Rand Institute’s website.

This podcast was recorded on April 21, 2020.