Stephen R.C. Hicks's Blog, page 36

Comparing yourself to others —experiment and anecdote

I came across this report of an “experiment at Harvard University’s School of Public Health in 1995. In it, a group of students and faculty were asked to choose between earning $50,000 per year while everyone else earned $25,000 — or earning $100,000 per year while others made $200,000. The researchers stipulated that prices of […]

FedEx and the Marines — quip

FedEx is a pioneer in speedy and reliable delivery. For many years its slogan was: When it absolutely, positively, has to get there overnight. I’ve been reading David Freedman’s Corps Business: The 30 Management Principles of the U.S. Marines, and I learned that FedEx founder and CEO Fred Smith is a former Marine. Freedman reports […]

Brazilian swimming ethics, then and now

Brazil a century ago: “Sarah Bernhardt [the French actress] in 1886 … soon shocked [Brazilian] society with her daring swimsuit and alarmed the city’s inhabitants by entering the water … . At the time, Brazilians had believed a quick dip in the sea had some medical efficacy, but only around dawn before the sun became […]

Rousseau’s five children

In an earlier post I asked, Who is the most loathsome philosopher in history? I suggested that Rousseau and Heidegger be considered top candidates. Some more data relevant to Rousseau: He made his common-law wife leave all five of their infants at foundling hospitals, on the grounds that they’d be better off there and that […]

Liberal versus gender feminism: McElroy’s *Sexual Correctness*

In my Ethics course, we cover the arguments for and against banning pornography. One of our readings is from Wendy McElroy’s Sexual Correctness: The Gender-Feminist Attack on Women. McElroy takes up the gender-feminist arguments against porn and contrasts them with liberal individualist forms of feminism. The following updated* chart of contrasts is a work in […]

Estonian translation of *Explaining Postmodernism* published

I’m happy to announce that the Estonian translation of Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault has been published by Postimees Kirjastus out of Tallinn, Estonia. Here’s the cover: I’ll post the publisher’s link soon. For other editions and translations, please see the Explaining Postmodernism page.

The Mongols and modern European history

Did the death of one man in Mongolia affect the entire course of European history since the 1200s? Here’s the context: In 1227, Genghis Khan’s son Ogedai became head of the Mongolian empire, which at that time included much of northern China, southeastern Russia, and Persia. Ogedai sent one of his generals, Tsubodai (or Subotai), […]

Mises as socialist hero

Ludwig von Mises was, of course, one of the great advocates of a liberal society, including its free-market economy. But here is Oskar Lange, a champion of socialist central planning, suggesting that socialists erect a monument in Mises’s honor: “Socialists have certainly good reason to be grateful to Professor Mises, the great advocatus diaboli [devil’s […]

4.99 million views, and counting

When the audio-book edition hit 1 million views at YouTube, I was astounded. “That many people will listen to a philosophy book??” When it hit 2 million, amazed. Then 3 million …. So I’m happy and continuingly surprised as Nietzsche and the Nazis has passed 4.99 million views and is closing on 5 million. Description: […]

The Rise of Woke | Talk in Washington, DC

Last month in Washington I gave this talk — on how the Woke activist movement developed (in large part) out of two related theory movements, Critical Theory and Postmodernism — at TAS “Galt’s Gulch” event. It was a full-house international event with professionals as well as students from a surprising range of countries: USA, Morocco, […]