OCON 2025 Program Highlights

OCON

July 1-5, 2025    |    Boston

The Westin Copley Place

Highlights

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Join the Ayn Rand Institute for our annual summer Objectivist conference (OCON) in the historic city of Boston to celebrate ARI’s 40th anniversary and the nation of the Enlightenment.
OCON 2025 will take place July 1–5, 2025, in the historic setting of Boston—which is the perfect location to mark Independence Day and ARI’s 40-year fight to preserve the Enlightenment ideals that culminated in America’s founding.
Since our establishment in 1985, the long-range goal of the Ayn Rand Institute has been to work to save Enlightenment values by advancing Objectivism in the culture.
As Onkar Ghate, ARI’s chief philosophy officer, explains:

To the extent the world has moved forward since the 18th century, it has done so by implementing, however imperfectly, the ideals of the Enlightenment: reason, science, individualism and a government limited by the principle of individual rights.

Philosophy and much of the wider intellectual world turned against the Enlightenment in the 19th century, which is why the 20th century was not just a century of progress, but also one of wide scale conflict, destruction and murder.

Ayn Rand viewed her new philosophy, Objectivism, as putting the Enlightenment’s ideals for the first time on a fully rational, fully defensible foundation.

Featured Talks

OCON’s lineup of outstanding Objectivist speakers will delve into a wide range of topics, challenging you to learn new things and come away inspired to use Objectivism to improve your life.

What Is Western Civilization?

Yaron Brook

Chairman of the Board,
Ayn Rand Institute

As “the nation of the Enlightenment” (in Leonard Peikoff’s description), America represents the culmination of philosophical ideals that trace back to the origins of Western civilization. But what are those ideals? In this talk, Yaron Brook will highlight as the essence of Western civilization the gradual recognition of reason as man’s only source of knowledge and guide to life—and the corresponding rejection of religious faith.
Conceiving Values

Greg Salmieri

Senior Scholar of Philosophy,
Salem Center

It is a central tenet of Objectivism that because the human form of consciousness is volitional, human beings do not have any automatic values—not even valuing our own lives. This talk will discuss the process by which we rationally form values at all levels, from valuing a specific activity, toy, career, or person to valuing one’s life and the moral values needed to sustain it. Topics covered will include: the relation between values, needs, and desires; the steps involved in the formation of new values; and what makes a value objective.
Allen Drury’s Inspiring Political Fiction: From Advise and Consent (1959) to The Promise of Joy (1975)

Shoshana Milgram

Associate Professor of English, Virginia Tech

Allen Drury’s Washington novels represent political fiction at its finest: intricate plots, colorful characterizations, violent conflicts of values, clear contrasts between good and evil, and, in Ayn Rand’s words, the “ability to dramatize abstract ideas.” The first in a six-novel series, Advise and Consent, won a Pulitzer in the face of fierce leftist opposition. Drury’s books entertain and inspire, making us wish our current political landscape had the sharp clarity of Drury’s novels—and that his heroes walked among us.
The Greek Enlightenment: Lessons from the Achievements and Failures of the First Age of Reason

Jason Rheins

Scholar of Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy

If a culture achieves “enlightenment” when its intellectuals bring all natural and human phenomena under the scrutiny and judgment of reason informed by experience, then the 5th–4th centuries BCE in ancient Greece were an age of nascent enlightenment. In this talk we investigate what made it culturally, politically, and intellectually possible; what its achievements and shortfalls were; and what we can learn from it.
Panel: Reclaiming the Fourth Amendment

Tara Smith

Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin

Josh Windham

Attorney, Institute for Justice

Elan Journo

Attorney, Institute for Justice

Tara Smith

Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin

Josh Windham

Attorney, Institute for Justice

Elan Journo

Senior Fellow and Vice President of Content Products, Ayn Rand Institute

This panel discussion will feature attorney Josh Windham, philosopher Tara Smith, and moderator Elan Journo. The Fourth Amendment (proclaiming the right “against unreasonable searches and seizures”) exemplifies the individualist spirit of the Enlightenment. Yet, despite increasing concerns with privacy these days (of medical records, financial information, etc.), it is increasingly abused. What is the relationship between privacy and property? How can we update our understanding of a trespass or of a search to accommodate digital technologies while maintaining objectivity? And what philosophical principles are needed to guide the application and fulfill the promise of the Fourth Amendment?
Unjust: How the Left Hijacks the Idea of Justice

Nikos Sotirakopoulos

Visiting Fellow, Ayn Rand Institute

The Left has been successful in claiming the moral high ground by associating itself with positive values, which it then distorts beyond recognition in order to pursue its collectivistic goals. A major example of such a hijacking is the value of justice. In this talk, Nikos Sotirakopoulos will present the Left’s appropriation of justice, the potent role it plays in the battle of ideas, why it’s a profound distortion of what justice actually demands, and how to counter it by a positive case for real justice.

Special Events
Junior Intellectual Talk Series
New this year, OCON will feature a series of brief, incisive short-form talks (think “TED”) from ARI’s intellectuals-in-training. Come hear from the new generation of developing Objectivist intellectuals as they showcase their burgeoning subject-matter expertise on a wide range of fascinating topics.
Archives Tours

Between 1961 and 1981, Ayn Rand spoke at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston a total of nineteen times, covering a range of topics that applied her unique philosophic worldview to the most complex and controversial issues of the day. The talks are a fascinating example of Ayn Rand’s pathbreaking career as a public intellectual. Join an ARI archivist-led exhibit tour at OCON for a chance to see original artifacts that illuminate Rand’s intellectual legacy.
The Fifth Annual OCON Poker Championship Tournament
Join board members, speakers, and fellow attendees on Wednesday, July 2, for the Fifth Annual OCON Texas Hold ’Em Poker Championship Tournament. Register by June 27 to receive a chip bonus.
OCON’s Got Talent
Announcing the return of the fan-favorite talent show! This year’s OCON’s Got Talent will take place on Wednesday, July 2.
Independence Day Excursion
Celebrate Independence Day on Friday, July 4, with a special scavenger hunt along Boston’s Freedom Trail. For every location along the scavenger route that you visit, you’ll receive an entry in our OCON 2026 week pass giveaway. You are also invited to join us for a special evening reception in honor of the Fourth of July.

Objectivist Conferences / Ayn Rand® Institute reserves the right to make necessary adjustments to the schedule. Speakers, talks, and events will be added periodically as they are confirmed.

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