TV & Radio
Dr. Peikoff has appeared on dozens of national and local TV and radio programs to discuss both Ayn Rand and Objectivism. He has also created a number of informative videos.
Television Appearances
The McCuistion Show
Dr. Peikoff has recorded two one-hour television specials for a Dallas-based PBS program, McCuistion.
Ayn Rand and Objectivism: Is Atlas Shrugging?
Dr. Peikoff presents an overview of Objectivism and answers such questions as: Why do people need a philosophy? What is collectivism? Why was the dollar sign so important to Ayn Rand? What is your goal in promoting Objectivism?
Liberal, Objectivist and Conservative: Divergent Voices in America
Dr. Peikoff differentiates Objectivism from today’s political/intellectual mainstream. In contrast to the liberal (who advocates a wishy-washy form of altruism) and the conservative (who upholds the Bible as the fundamental source of morality) — Leonard Peikoff firmly defends reason and individualism as man’s proper values. Among the topics covered are: abortion, prayer in schools, racism, the function of government and the importance of ideas.
Ideas in Action
How does sex depend upon philosophy? What is the ideological significance of the “Republican Revolution?” What made a first encounter with Ayn Rand so galvanizing? In this interview, conducted by James Valliant and spanning the daily headlines and abstract philosophy, Leonard Peikoff demonstrates his astonishing intellectual scope.
Peikoff’s Radio Show
Ayn Rand, author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, is the most original thinker of our time, and talk radio is today’s liveliest intellectual forum. Leonard Peikoff, Ayn Rand’s close associate for 30 years, brought her philosophy of reason, egoism, and laissez-faire capitalism to the airwaves from 1995 through 1999.
Some of Leonard Peikoff’s past radio shows may be available from the
Ayn Rand Institute eStore.
Video
Why Ancient Greece Is My Favorite Civilization
In this heartfelt tribute to Greek culture, Dr. Peikoff names its essential virtue as man-worship. Greece, he says, was the only fully secular civilization in history — the “first and only conceptual-level culture ever.”
Debate 1984: Capitalism vs. Socialism
Seventeen hundred eager attendees braved a snowstorm to hear this extraordinary debate. Held at the Univ. of Toronto in 1984 — when academics still believed that socialism was the wave of the future — this event kept the audience captivated for over two and a half hours. The socialists were represented by Gerry Caplan, then Secretary of Canada’s New Democratic Party, and Jill Vickers, then Associate Director of the Institute of Canadian Studies. The debate centered on moral fundamentals eliciting profoundly opposing views on issues from the nature of man to the justification of government. Don’t miss this electrically charged confrontation.
An Introduction to Objectivism
This lecture by Leonard Peikoff is a brief introduction to the philosophy of Objectivism. Dr. Peikoff’s talk covers: the four basic concepts of Objectivism — reality, reason, egoism, capitalism; how Objectivism differs from dominant schools of philosophy on these key issues; why man needs a philosophy; why America needs Objectivism. Following the lecture, Dr. Peikoff answers questions from the students.
The Ominous Parallels
In a radical examination of the determinants of human history, Dr. Peikoff discusses the philosophic similarities between the cultural ideas of pre-Hitler Germany and those of America today. He identifies the intellectual disease — spread in the abstract writings of Germany’s “ivory-tower” philosophers, whose ideas now rule American universities — that rendered Germany vulnerable to Nazism and that now threatens America’s freedom. He also offers advice on how students can fight for capitalism. This talk is based on his book of the same title.
Also available on video:
– Why Should One Act on Principle
– The American School: Why Johnny Can’t Think
– Religion vs. America
– Medicine: The Death of a Profession
– My 30 Years with Ayn Rand: An Intellectual Memoir
ORDER INFORMATION
All of Leonard Peikoff’s lectures may be ordered from the Ayn Rand Institute eStore via their website, or by calling them at 1-800-729-6149 (U.S. or Canada), or 1-949-222-6557 (International)
Ayn Rand Institute eStore