Stephen R.C. Hicks's Blog

Professor Gary Jason’s review of *Explaining Postmodernism*

"Stephen Hicks, a professor of philosophy at Rockford College, has produced a clearly written, concise book explaining just what postmodern philosophy is and how it arose, and he has done so in an admirable way."

Nvidia CEO Huang on how failure leads to success

Jensen Huang (Nvidia CEO) on why innovation first takes failure. “Unless you have a tolerance for failure, you will never experiment. If you don’t experiment you won’t innovate, and if you don’t innovate you won’t succeed.” So a key question for educators: How do we teach successful failing? Especially since kids often learn to fear […]

NATIONAL SOCIALISM. Martin HEIDEGGER. Lecture 7 of *The Philosophy of Politics: From the French Revolution to World War II*

Heidegger: “Russia and America, seen metaphysically, are both the same: the same hopeless frenzy of unchained technology and of the rootless organization of the average man.“ And: “German Socialism wants an order of merit based on inner confirmation and achievement: it wants the inviolability of service and the absolute honor of all labor. That is […]

1927 interview with Sergei Rachmaninoff

Rachmaninov Is Reminiscent An interview with Rachmaninoff By Basanta Koomar Roy Published in The Musical Observer, May 1927 [Transcription] Among composers, Rachmaninov looms large. While it seldom transpires that one gains equal distinction as a composer, and a pianist, yet this may be said of Rachmaninov. In the course of the next hundred years or […]

Nietzsche: “The whole great tendency of the Germans ran counter to the Enlightenment.”

Friedrich Nietzsche on the philosophical legacy from Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer: “The whole great tendency of the Germans ran counter to the Enlightenment.” Source: Friedrich Nietzsche, Daybreak [1881], Section 197. Related: The context of Nietzsche’s provocative claim: Related: On Nietzsche’s place in the historical course of philosophy: Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault […]

Frederick Douglass’s 1848 Letter to His Former Master [excerpt]

From Douglass’s 1848 open letter to Thomas Auld, his former master, on the tenth anniversary of his escape from slavery to freedom, which he accomplished on September 3, 1838. Sir: … When yet but a child about six years old, I imbibed the determination to run away. The very first mental effort that I now […]

Good advice for young seekers who don’t yet know what they’re seeking

Attributed to Paul Graham (via Philip HM Oliver). Related: How Great Artists became Great.

CEE guest speaker video interviews — new location

All CEE videos are now hosted at YouTube. Thanks to Chris Vaughan for performing the gargantuan task of transferring the material. Anil Singh-Molares on Microsoft and entrepreneurship.Terry Noel on The Virtuous Entrepreneur.Emily Chamlee-Wright on non-profits and the recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina.Steven Horwitz on Wal-Mart to the rescue after Hurricane Katrina.David Mayer on Thomas Jefferson, […]

MODERN PHILOSOPHY — 8-lecture course syllabus

In this eight-lecture course, Professor Stephen Hicks guides us through the Enlightenment and the Counter-Enlightenment, including philosophers Francis Bacon, René Descartes, John Locke, Voltaire, David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, and Friedrich Nietzsche. For each, Dr. Hicks establishes the philosopher’s context, presents his or her most influential arguments, […]

The PHILOSOPHY of POLITICS — a 16-lecture series

Professor Stephen Hicks‘s courses on the influential political philosophies of the modern era —Liberalism, Conservatism, Nationalism, Communism, Fascism, Capitalism, Islamism, Postmodernism, and more. The syllabi: Part 1: From the French Revolution to World War II Part 2: From the Cold War to After 9/11 Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D. is Professor of Philosophy and the […]