Stephen R.C. Hicks's Blog, page 27

Inequality of anything

Eight billion human beings. Yet: * Only about 500 million run or jog regularly, and only about 75 million have completed a 5K race. So less than 1% have all the 5K completion certificates and trophies. Such unequal distribution of certificates? * Only about 500 million have college degrees, and less than 70 million have […]

The Bottom Button Rule on a man’s suit — a gripe

Many style guides for men’s wear will tell you never to use the bottom button on your suit. It is simply not done. I heard the rule as a young man when I wore a suit for the first time and mentions of it many times since. But why? Here’s the answer: “The tradition originated […]

Cover for Pakistani edition of *Explaining Postmodernism*

My publisher in Pakistan, Muhammad Fahad, sent me this interior cover design for the forthcoming edition: Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault will be published in Pakistan in both Urdu and English editions. Dr. Nazir Azad’s translation of EP was also published in India in 2023. Urdu is the first or second […]

RADICAL DOUBT: RENÉ DESCARTES. Lecture 2 of Modern Philosophy [Peterson Academy course]

“I think. Therefore, I am.” Lecture Two: Radical Doubt. René Descartes Themes: What can I doubt? Rationalism. Unintended Skepticism? God? External world? Dualism. Vesalius. Hobbes. Copernicus. Galileo. Pope Urban VIII. Text: Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy. About the Instructor Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D., has been Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, Illinois; Visiting Professor […]

Does religion make you more warlike? Unamuno on war and the soul

From philosopher Miguel de Unamuno’s The Tragic Sense of Life, which I re-read for the first time since my undergraduate days. Note these arresting lines: “A human soul is worth all the universe, someone — I know not whom — has said and said magnificently. A human soul, mind you! Not a human life. Not […]

Was Kant really that skeptical?

Some readers of Explaining Postmodernism object that I over-interpret Kant’s skepticism. Some prefer a gentler, more objectivity-friendly Kant. So while I quote Kant a lot in making the argument that Kant’s philosophy is radically subjectivist and the critical step down the road to postmodernism, not everyone is convinced. So I am grateful to Quee Nelson […]

Poet Omar Khayyâm (1048–1131) on the Islamists of his era

Khayyâm was a Persian astronomer-poet and free-thinker. From his Rubáiyát: And do you think that unto such as youA maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crewGod gave a secret, and denied it me?Well, well—what matters it? Believe that, too! More on Khayyâm here. Related: My article No Reformation for Islam, Please, on why Islam needs reforming but not […]

More on how great artists become great: Liszt

Some fascinating glimpses of Franz Liszt, the virtuoso pianist and composer. Biographer Alan Walker writes:

From the Office of the Reproducer-General

Bulletin: Sex and Economics — A Modest Proposal Fellow citizens: Our nation’s sex life is in peril. Surveys show widespread sexual discontent. Market failure is everywhere. Many males complain of not getting enough sex and many females object to constant male looks and advances. Other males are dissatisfied with the options available in their local […]

THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN: FRANCIS BACON. Lecture 1 of Modern Philosophy [Peterson Academy course]

“Knowledge is Power.” Lecture One: The Birth of the Modern. Francis Bacon Themes: What is the Modern? 1500: Art. Science. Exploration. Religion. Economy. Politics. Individualism of independent thinking, Individualism of identity, and Individualism of worth. Galileo. Milton. Descartes. Empiricism. Experimentalism. Text: Bacon: The Great Instauration, esp. Novum Organon. About the Instructor Stephen R. C. Hicks, […]