Stephen R.C. Hicks's Blog, page 28

Talk on entrepreneurism at Campbell University, North Carolina

On Thursday, November 17, I’ll be at Campbell University in North Carolina to give a talk at the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business on being the entrepreneur of one’s life. Here’s the talk description: You Are the Entrepreneur of Your Life: Business, Ethics, Politics: How do you educate yourself for jobs that don’t exist yet? Education is […]

Are you rich enough to own a chair? Colonial American eating habits

From this WSJ review of Abigail Carroll’s Three Squares, a book about American eating habits across the centuries, here are two eyebrow-raising excerpts. 1. In 1744, a traveler was invited to eat a meal with a ferryman and his family. The traveler describes it this way in his journal: “They had no cloth upon the […]

*What is the Philadelphia Declaration?* — with David Kelley and Stephen Hicks

On Wednesday at 5 pm Eastern, Dr. David Kelley and I will discuss the Philadelphia Declaration of the a new 2024 venture, which seeks to mind the common cultural ground among key religious and secular groups. Its four-point mission and value statement is here: The Philadelphia Declaration For Freedom and Responsibility July 13, 2024 Preamble […]

*What is the Philadelphia Declaration?* —with David Kelley and Stephen Hicks

On Wednesday at 5 pm Eastern, Dr. David Kelley and I will discuss the Philadelphia Declaration of the a new 2024 venture, which seeks to mind the common cultural ground among key religious and secular groups. Its four-point mission and value statement is here: The Philadelphia Declaration For Freedom and Responsibility July 13, 2024 Preamble […]

Current champion in Philosophy’s Longest Sentences contest — Kierkegaard

Reviving this contest for readers: What is the longest sentence ever written by a philosopher? The kind of sentence that, as you are reading it through — trying to hold the context and decipher the meaning — flows majestically onwards, or meanders along deceptively, with occasional side streams (and parenthetical remarks), until your cerebrum is full, […]

Could Tchaikovsky play Tchaikovsky?

Reprising this amusing anecdote from Tchaikovsky, by Anthony Holden. Tchaikovsky was traveling from St. Petersburg to Tiflis “via the scenic route, aboard a steamship down the Volga. Concealing his identity from the other passengers, he agreed one evening to accompany an amateur soprano in a romance by Tchaikovsky, only to be told by the singer […]

Announcement: Leaving Rockford University

Rockford made me a very nice early-retirement offer, which I’ve accepted. “Retirement” is an undefined and vaguely alien concept to me. So far it means I am a free agent and think about what the next Big Thing will be. It also means getting more of those almost-done publishing projects out the door. It may […]

ON THE OBJECTIVITY OF SCIENCE: KARL POPPER and THOMAS KUHN. Lecture 5 of Postmodern Philosophy [Peterson Academy course]

Lecture Five: Science and technology have accomplished wonders since the Enlightenment. But, as Karl Popper asks, how do we “distinguish between science and pseudo–science“? Thomas Kuhn suggests that scientists are less-than-objective and more “like the typical character of Orwell’s 1984.” Themes:  Logical Positivism and Analytic philosophy’s aspirations and travails. Scientific method. Science and pseudo-science. Falsifiability. […]

The Enlightenment Vision — Flowchart

The Enlightenment of the long 18th century was an era of awesome intellectual and cultural transformation. My Enlightenment Vision flowchart [pdf] is pitched at a high level of abstraction, showing schematically how the philosophical revolution of the 17th century led to the 18th-century revolutions in science, technology, politics, and economics — which in turn led […]

Hannibal and Kipling at UL, Mexico City

This week I gave five talks at the impressive Universidad de la Libertad, a new university focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship. My hosts snapped this pic of me beside a favorite quotation adorning one of the walls there. For my fellow gringos whose Spanish could use an assist: “No price is too high to pay […]