Stephen R.C. Hicks's Blog, page 12

Kipling on the individual and the tribe

Re-posting this classic from Rudyard Kipling, which is also on my Quotations page: “The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you’ll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to […]

What is the best logical fallacy? A competition

(A list received via email, originally credited to Brian McGroarty.) Ad Hominem: This is the best logical fallacy, and if you disagree with me, well, you suck. Appeal to False Authority: Your logical fallacies aren’t logical fallacies at all because Einstein said so. Einstein also said that this one is better. Appeal to Emotion: See, […]

Realism and Education: Aristotle and Locke [Lecture 8 of Philosophy of Education course]

By Professor Stephen R.C. Hicks, Rockford University, USA. Lecture 8: What did the great Realist philosophers believe—e.g., “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed”—and how they apply it to education? Previous lectures in the series: Part One: Introduction: What is the purpose of education, and what is philosophy’s relevance? Part Two: Reality: Metaphysics and Education. […]

ABSOLUTE DUTY: KANT. Lecture 2 of Philosophy of Ethics course [Peterson Academy]

“Duty is the necessity to act out of reverence for the law.” Lecture Two: Absolute Duty Themes: Purifying Ethics. Divine Command Theory. Moses. Uzzah. Whose interests: Egoist, Predatory, Altruist? None: Deontology. Texts: Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals and Critique of Practical Reason About the Instructor Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D. is Professor of […]

Marxists and Violence — quotations, podcast, and video

Following up on posts on Marxism and its fellow travelers (Engels, Mao, Guzmán, Hobsbawm), a question about whether Marxism’s brutal history is a built-in consequence of its principles or an accidental by-product of well-intentioned theory. So a series of quotations (with sources) from some principal figures: Marx in 1848: “there is only one way in […]

Derrida: Deconstruction is “within the tradition of a certain Marxism.”

“Deconstruction never had meaning or interest, at least in my eyes, than as a radicalization, that is to say, also within the tradition of a certain Marxism in a certain spirit of Marxism.” Source: Jacques Derrida, Specters of Marx. Routledge, 1994. Related: On the fuller context of Derrida’s provocative claim: Related: On Derrida’s place in […]

The 3 Marxisms — as ‘scientific’, ‘religious’, ‘psychology’

Will the real Communists please identify yourselves? One reads of … * Communism as atheist scientific materialism. “The iron laws of historical development.” * Communism as fanatical religion: “The exploited shall inherit the Earth!” * Communism as angry envy-psychology: “Kill the rich!” My podcast at Open College: Related: “The Crisis of Socialism,” Chapter 5 of […]

Creative geniuses as selfish — Nietzsche version

From The Gay Science (1.3): “What distinguishes the common nature is that it unflinchingly keeps sight of its advantage, and that this thought of purpose and advantage is even stronger than its strongest drives; not to allow these drives to lead it astray to perform inexpeditious acts — that is its wisdom and self-esteem. In […]

How artists work: Leonardo anecdote

“A contemporary who saw Leonardo working on the Last Supper describes how he stayed on the scaffolding from dawn to dusk without putting down his brush, forgetting to eat and drink, painting all the time. Then for two, three, or four days he would not touch his work and yet be staying there, sometimes an […]

Idealism and Education: Plato and Kant [Lecture 7 of Philosophy of Education course]

By Professor Stephen R.C. Hicks, Rockford University, USA. Lecture 7: What did the great Idealist philosophers believe and how did they apply it to education? The associated reading excerpts are here: Plato (https://www.stephenhicks.org/wp-conte...) and Kant (https://www.stephenhicks.org/wp-conte...). Previous lectures in the series: Part One: Introduction: What is the purpose of education, and what is philosophy’s relevance? […]