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Altruists smear egoism as being a system of whim-worship, while they portray their own ethics as one that is based on firm principle. But the opposite is true. It is altruism that repudiates moral principles - not merely principles of egoism, but principles as such. This talk shows how the enshrinement of need as the standard is actually the enshrinement of...See More

This talk delves into the thinking process by which Libertarianism - or any "complex" ideology - should be analyzed.

Errors of knowledge do not pose barriers to a proper cognitive process. If one is pursuing the truth, mistakes are in principle discoverable, and correctable.

This brief presentation of Ayn Rand's ethics and politics discusses the three revolutionary elements in her code of values and indicates how that code follows from her premise of man as a rational being.

Conceptual thinking entails the classification of existents according to essential similarities and essential differences. One of the most insidious techniques for undercutting conceptual thinking is that of the "package-deal" - the attempt to integrate opposites by blurring their essential differences.

Can one hold a true idea for false reasons? Mr. Schwartz discusses the ramifications of the principle that knowledge is contextual.

While we should always be clear on the meaning of the concepts we’re using, this commitment to clarity is especially important with respect to concepts that the culture seeks to muddy. Today, the primary muddiers are the advocates of altruism, and their targets are concepts of morality. This talk examines the obfuscations, including the “package-dealing,” generated...See More

Environmentalism, Mr. Schwartz argues, is a synthesis of religion and socialism.

The value of political freedom stems from two related facts: the nature of physical force and the nature of man’s consciousness. The concept “force” has meaning only with respect to volitional beings. Since force negates thought, and since the good requires chosen values, force is always harmful to man. If man is to live, he must be free to think. Our culture...See More

What basic premises condition a belief in the virtue of sacrifice and the evil of selfishness? More important, what is the hierarchical order in which we must address and refute those premises when trying to dissuade the altruist? This lecture discusses the altruist’s mistaken context of knowledge in four crucial areas: altruism and benevolence; selfishness and...See More