Stephen R.C. Hicks's Blog, page 54

Derrick Bell | “Racial Realism” | Stephen Hicks’s *Philosophers, Explained* series:

“Black people will never gain full equality in this country.” Critical Race Theory is based in part upon a pessimistic, anti-progress view of race relations. Derrick Bell, one of CRT’s founders, thus urged a rejection of Martin Luther King’s “’We Have a Dream’ mentality”, to be replaced with a strategy “to harass white folks.” Here […]

Is commerce rendering war obsolete?

In his essay “To Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch,” Kant wrote that “the spirit of commerce, which is incompatible with war, sooner or later gains the upper hand in every state.” Kant was not a friend of the spirit of commerce, which he associated with the Jews, whom he despised as “immoral and vile” and […]

How great artists become great: Rodin

Following up on a series of posts about Michelangelo, Beethoven, and Liszt. From Frederic V. Grunfeld’s very good Rodin: A Biography, the answer in the case of August Rodin is education and self education. Rodin was born into a French culture in which the large majority of the population was illiterate or semi-literate. The fact […]

Van Gogh | “Irises” (1890) [Newberry on Great Art series]

An Artist’s View: Michael Newberry on Key Works of Art in History Michael Newberry is an avant-garde figurative painter, writer, and teacher promoting evolutionary flourishing through his work. He does this through advances in color theory, body language, symbolism, and composition. Michael is the author of two books released in 2021: Evolution Through Art and Newberry […]

My review of Zelmanovitz on money’s truth and money’s health

I’m again doing some work on the philosophy of money, now that we’re into the Bitcoin and crypto era, so reprising this piece. At the Library of Law and Liberty’s site — my reaction to Leonidas Zelmanovitz’s ambitious work in the philosophy of money: Review of The Ontology and Function of Money: The Philosophical Fundamentals of […]

Zamyatin: Children as bold philosophers

"Tell something to children, tell them the whole thing right to the end, and they'll still ask: Then what? What comes next?"
"Children are the only bold philosophers. And bold philosophers will always be children."

“The Moral Equivalent of War” | William James | *Philosophers, Explained* by Professor Stephen Hicks

Who are the great philosophers, and what makes them great? Episodes: The full playlist. Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, USA, and has had visiting positions at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., the University of Kasimir the Great in Poland, Oxford University’s Harris Manchester College in England, and Jagiellonian […]

Why did Professor Beck say Kant is Counter-Enlightenment?

Philosopher Lewis White Beck was selected to write the entry on “German Philosophy” for The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He wrote: “Immanuel Kant was to put almost every fundamental concept of the Enlightenment in jeopardy.” That is a striking claim, as it goes against a standard interpretation of Kant as a paragon of the Enlightenment. Immanuel […]

On Socialism | George Orwell | The Road to Wigan Pier | *Philosophers, Explained* by Stephen Hicks

Episodes: The full playlist. Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, USA, and has had visiting positions at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., the University of Kasimir the Great in Poland, Oxford University’s Harris Manchester College in England, and Jagiellonian University in Poland.

My Philosophy of Education course online

Why education is a philosophical enterprise — taking a child and instilling the knowledge, character, and skills necessary for adult life. How major philosophies — Plato’s, Locke’s, Marx’s, Dewey’s, Rand’s, Foucault’s, and others’ — lead to dramatically different goals and strategies for education In real life the course is a 15-week lecture course, so the […]