Onkar Ghate on Moral Sanction

How should we act toward immoral people? Must we always ostracize them, in order to avoid sanctioning or supporting them? Should we associate with those who wittingly or unwittingly give them a platform? Why does it matter whether we express our moral disapproval?

Rand’s answers to these questions are often misunderstood. In his talk “On Moral Sanction” at Objectivist Summer Conference 2024 in Anaheim, Onkar Ghate showed how these misunderstandings are rooted in a religious mentality that turns moral disapproval into a taboo and equates it with a cruel act of damnation.

Ghate then showed how to combat these attitudes and gain a proper perspective on moral sanction. Moral disapproval can be something positive, productive, and kind.

One of the many highlights of the talk was Ghate’s analysis of how Objectivism’s concern with sanctioning the sanctioners of evil applies to the pro-Hamas student protests in the wake of the October 7 massacre of Israelis. Contrary to the critics of the idea of “sanctioning the sanctioners,” he argued that it’s important to evaluate billionaires who fund the universities, because by doing so they sanction the university presidents and administrators, who sanction the pro-Hamas students.

During the Q&A session, Ghate addressed questions on various topics, such as:

• How to interact with people without sanctioning the sanctioners of evil;
• The meaning of the term “sanction”;
• Whether everybody evades;
• How to build the strength to stand up for one’s values;
• The issue of redemption and changing one’s course of action;
• Moral sanction in a proper foreign policy.

You can watch the whole talk below: