Uploaded December 2018 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In this episode of Functional Philosophy, I answer the following questions:
00:38 - "I was watching a livestream with Yaron Brook, Onkar Ghate, and Gregory Salmieri about the Jordan Peterson panel at OCON. Yaron said the following in the chat: "Happiness is far from self-evident." That really threw me for a loop. Isn't happiness self-evident? It's simply irreducible that happiness is desirable. You can't get underneath the fact that happiness makes you feel happy. It's the foundation of ethics. There's no "proof." Am I missing something here?"
12:11 - "I have been watching your videos and I want to thank you for sharing your ability to explain philosophy and to identify errors and false premises. I have never seen someone able to articulate Objectivism in a way that shows such a deep and thorough understanding of the philosophy outside of a few of the best thinkers at ARI (Onkar, Greg Salmieri, HB and LP). I find it rather astonishing that you are on par with these highly trained professionals, especially since you appear to be under 30 years old. Is there anything in particular, as far as your thought/learning process, that has allowed you to advance so rapidly? Any particular material or mental habit? P. S. I really want to encourage you to keep up what you are doing and not to sell yourself short. You can be a marvelously successful philosopher even today."
21:06 - "Stephen Pinker’s latest book “Enlightenment Now” was released a few months ago. Since its release, there has been some discussion about resurrecting (or perhaps preserving) Enlightenment ideas. However, one notable criticism of The Enlightenment, mainly from conservatives like Ben Shapiro, is the failure of the French Revolution - Which we know resulted in replacing the French monarchy with a secular dictatorship before collapsing into the dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte. My question is: Why did the Enlightenment work in America, but fail in France? Conservatives like to claim that it was religion (notably Christianity) that grounded the Enlightenment in America."
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Functional Philosophy is the weekly Q&A podcast that helps you gain and strengthen the philosophical foundations required to achieve certainty, success, and happiness.
Subscribe to hear philosopher Charles Tew, an expert on Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, answer your questions on philosophy, politics, career, and more. New episodes on Mondays.
Website: charlestew.com
Podcast: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/functional-philosophy/id1242722316?mt=2
Patreon: patreon.com/charlestew
In this episode of Functional Philosophy, I answer the following questions:
00:38 - "I was watching a livestream with Yaron Brook, Onkar Ghate, and Gregory Salmieri about the Jordan Peterson panel at OCON. Yaron said the following in the chat: "Happiness is far from self-evident." That really threw me for a loop. Isn't happiness self-evident? It's simply irreducible that happiness is desirable. You can't get underneath the fact that happiness makes you feel happy. It's the foundation of ethics. There's no "proof." Am I missing something here?"
12:11 - "I have been watching your videos and I want to thank you for sharing your ability to explain philosophy and to identify errors and false premises. I have never seen someone able to articulate Objectivism in a way that shows such a deep and thorough understanding of the philosophy outside of a few of the best thinkers at ARI (Onkar, Greg Salmieri, HB and LP). I find it rather astonishing that you are on par with these highly trained professionals, especially since you appear to be under 30 years old. Is there anything in particular, as far as your thought/learning process, that has allowed you to advance so rapidly? Any particular material or mental habit? P. S. I really want to encourage you to keep up what you are doing and not to sell yourself short. You can be a marvelously successful philosopher even today."
21:06 - "Stephen Pinker’s latest book “Enlightenment Now” was released a few months ago. Since its release, there has been some discussion about resurrecting (or perhaps preserving) Enlightenment ideas. However, one notable criticism of The Enlightenment, mainly from conservatives like Ben Shapiro, is the failure of the French Revolution - Which we know resulted in replacing the French monarchy with a secular dictatorship before collapsing into the dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte. My question is: Why did the Enlightenment work in America, but fail in France? Conservatives like to claim that it was religion (notably Christianity) that grounded the Enlightenment in America."
***
Functional Philosophy is the weekly Q&A podcast that helps you gain and strengthen the philosophical foundations required to achieve certainty, success, and happiness.
Subscribe to hear philosopher Charles Tew, an expert on Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, answer your questions on philosophy, politics, career, and more. New episodes on Mondays.
Website: charlestew.com
Podcast: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/functional-philosophy/id1242722316?mt=2
Patreon: patreon.com/charlestew
