Seminar: Professor Yaron Brook, "Ayn Rand’s Moral Defense of Capitalism"

Past Event

Date
 11 February 2009, 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Location
 Lecture Theatre, Oxford Martin School
34 Broad Street (corner of Holywell and Catte Streets), Oxford, OX1 3BD

Professor Yaron Brook, President and Executive Director, The Ayn Rand Institute

Abstract: Ayn Rand is widely known as a defender of laissez-faire capitalism. Less well known is that she based her defense on a new and radical conception of morality: rational egoism. Whereas the conventional view holds that the good consists of sacrificing oneself to others, Rand held that the moral purpose of one's life is one's own success and happiness. She argued that pursuing one's self-interest does not consist in indulging one’s desires or exploiting others, but in committing oneself unwaveringly to reason. In this talk, Dr. Brook will outline Rand's ethics, and its relationship to her advocacy of capitalism.