Stephen R.C. Hicks's Blog, page 22

Rick Walker interviews Stephen Hicks on what history teaches us about the culture wars

From high theory in the 1960s to applied education in the 1980s to woke activism in the 2000s. Sub-topics: Woke, Critical Theory, Pomo, National Socialist philosophy. Related: The ‘Galt’s Gulch’ lecture mentioned in the interview:

St. Augustine on why babies are evil

One of my professors in graduate school argued that St. Augustine is the most influential philosopher in history. I’m not convinced, though a good case can be made. I recently re-opened Confessions and came across Augustine’s strong version of original sin. As he exclaims to his God, “no one is free from sin in your […]

Explaining ‘Woke’ activism’s origin in two charts

Chart 1, showing faculty political views are mostly left or far left (using ‘Democrat’ and ‘Republican’ as proxy for ‘more left’ and ‘more right’). E.g., Sociology has 43 Democrats for every Republican, and Religion departments have 70 Democrats for every Republican. Chart 2, from Higher Education Research Institute‘s survey of faculty: 80% of faculty say […]

“You can’t sabotage your own soul in order to fit in.” Savvy Street interview on Rand, Kant, & Real-World Ethics (w/ transcript)

Hosts Vinay Kolhatkar and Roger Bissell ask guest Stephen Hicks: Transcript: Ayn Rand, Immanuel Kant, and Real-World Ethics The Savvy Street Show Hosts: Vinay Kolhatkar and Roger Bissell. Guest: Stephen Hicks. Date of recording: November 6, 2024 For those who prefer to watch the video, it is here. The transcript at the Savvy Street site. […]

THE PROMISE OF INDIVIDUAL EMPIRICISM: JOHN LOCKE. Lecture 3 of Modern Philosophy [Peterson Academy course]

“I esteem it above all things necessary to distinguish exactly the business of civil government from that of religion and to settle the just bounds that lie between the one and the other.” Lecture Three: The Promise of Individual Empiricism. John Locke Themes: Empiricism. Tabula rasa. Individualism. Liberalism. Toleration. Church and State. Henry VIII. Shakespeare. […]

The Center of the Universe (quotation)

Reposting this from a favorite novel, set in Paris in the world of mid-nineteenth century theater, a time and place of revolutionary art and politics. A young woman of wonderful intensity and resilience remembers a key lesson from a mentor, Nandou, an actor. “She walked to the place du Calvaire and stood for a time […]

Audacious historical cause-and-effect claims

In an 1846 review of Grote’s History of Greece, John Stuart Mill makes this claim: “The Battle of Marathon, even as an event in British history, is more important than the Battle of Hastings.” My first reaction to Mill’s sentence was agreement. My second reaction was to the audacity of the claim and to wonder […]

Jordan Peterson interviews Stephen Hicks: How to disagree, challenge, and revise [Excerpt]

First, here’s the full interview, with timestamps for sub-topics, filmed in Arizona in November 2024: In the following excerpt, Dr. Peterson sketches a hypothesis, Dr. Hicks objects to it, Dr. Peterson then rephrases, and Dr. Hicks suggests an alternative formulation. An example of how disagreement can be constructive when truth-seeking is one’s mutual goal: Related: […]

Jordan Peterson interviews Stephen Hicks: How to disagree, challenge, and revise

Here’s our full interview, with timestamps for sub-topics, filmed in Arizona in November 2024: In the following excerpt, Dr. Peterson sketches a hypothesis, Dr. Hicks objects to it, Dr. Peterson then rephrases, and Dr. Hicks suggests an alternative formulation. An example of how disagreement can be constructive when truth-seeking is one’s mutual goal: Related: Stephen […]

The Great Lover

A favorite poem, by Rupert Brooke, which I sometimes use in my Introduction to Philosophy course. The Great Loverby Rupert Brooke I have been so great a lover: filled my daysSo proudly with the splendour of Love’s praise,The pain, the calm, and the astonishment,Desire illimitable, and still content,And all dear names men use, to cheat […]