Stephen R.C. Hicks's Blog, page 14

Immanuel Kant’s Profound Impact on Art | A conversation with Stephen Hicks and Jan-Ove Tuv

Synopsis: Late in the 19th century artists began to experiment with non-representational art. Dr. Hicks traces this movement to Immanuel Kant’s basic philosophy as expressed in his 1781 Critique of Pure Reason. Their conversation ranges over Kant’s metaphysical ideas and his ideas of beauty and the sublime as expressed in Critique of Judgment. The perceptual […]

Behaviorism and Education: B.F. Skinner [Lecture 10 of Philosophy of Education course]

By Professor Stephen R.C. Hicks, Rockford University, USA. Lecture 10: What did the major Behaviorist thinkers, and B.F. Skinner in particular, believe 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: The […]

ALTRUISM and SELF-SACRIFICE: SCHOPENHAUER and COMTE. Lecture 4 of Philosophy of Ethics course [Peterson Academy]

“Nothing else can be stated as the aim of our existence except the knowledge that it would be better for us not to exist.” Lecture Four: Altruism and Self-Sacrifice Themes: Suffering. Nihilism. Self-interest and selflessness. Egoism, Predation, and Altruism. The Religion of Humanity. Texts: Schopenhauer, The Basis of Morality and The World as Will and […]

MAGA and Trump: What Are the Issues?

My initial list of key issues and themes in the new Trump-MAGA era. Please add other major issues/themes in the comments. State them neutrally, as my purpose here is to identify the topics and not to make arguments for or against. 1. Real estate: Donald Trump is a real-estate-guy-now-become-President and thinking expansion: Greenland, Canada 2. […]

Hamas and philosopher-theologian Sayyid Qutb

The ideological roots of Hamas are the Islamic religion as updated and politicized. The most influential thinker in this tradition is Sayyid Qutb, who was executed by the Egyptian government. Qutb’s thought was incorporated into Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda, the Ayatollah Khomeini’s theocratic Iran, and, among others, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. […]

Turkish translation of *Explaining Postmodernism* forthcoming

I’m please to announce that the Turkish translation of Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault is in its final preparation. The publisher is The Kitap Yayinlari in Istanbul. As there are an estimated 100 million speakers of Turkish, I am pleased that my book will be available to them. The book’s thesis: […]

Heidegger’s War against Internal Enemies of the People

A quotation from Martin Heidegger’s Winter Semester course of 1933–34. Earlier that year the National Socialists under Adolf Hitler had come to power. Heidegger had become Rector of the University of Freiburg and was an active supporter of the Nazi regime. The quotation speaks to the state of Heidegger’s thinking. Note also that this is […]

Vivemos realmente em um mundo de recursos escassos? Não

Você provavelmente já ouviu as más notícias: supostamente, os recursos naturais estão acabando. Como resultado, surge a questão: você continuará a utilizar recursos de forma egoísta — ou você está disposto a se sacrificar? Possivelmente, você (como individuo) é uma pessoa abnegada, contudo, qual é a probabilidade de que a maioria das outras pessoas desista […]

Feminisms: liberal versus egalitarian-postmodern

Updating this chart from my Free Speech & Censorship course, used when we read Catharine MacKinnon’s Only Words (Harvard, 1993), an influential egalitrian-postmodern feminist case for the censorship of pornography. By then we have already read Plato’s pre-modern case for censorship from Book 10 of Republic and John Stuart Mill’s modern case for free speech […]

The best religious conservative song ever [reprise]

… is by Sting. From his 1999 Brand New Day album. If you like, listen to the song while reading the lyrics below (YouTube version here). Then further below are the lyrics with my thematic-dramatic-arc notes added. “Fill Her Up” Mobil stationWhere I standThis old gas pumpIn my hand. The boss don’t like meA face […]