Stephen R.C. Hicks's Blog, page 59

St. Augustine: Righteous Persecution and Benevolent Torture

Some quotations and brief glosses on Augustine’s views on persecuting and torturing to save souls. “No salvation outside the church.” (418 CE) “[M]any must first be recalled to their Lord by the stripes of temporal scourging, like evil slaves, and in some degree like good-for-nothing fugitives.” Augustine had defended toleration for much of his life. …

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Is Existentialism a Humanism? | Jean-Paul Sartre | Philosophers, Explained by Stephen Hicks

In this episode of Philosophers, Explained, Dr. Hicks discusses discusses Sartre’s 1946 lecture “Existentialism is a Humanism.” Sartre (1905-1980) was a French philosopher, playwright and Nobel Prize Winner for Literature (1964) — which he refused. Episodes: The full playlist. Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, USA, and has had …

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Is Communism a modern doctrine? Or born of the Enlightenment?

Is Communism a modern doctrine? Or born of the Enlightenment? Heavens, no. Brief history-of-politics series of points, in response to this question from a few places on social media: 1. For millennia all communisms were religious. (* exception at end) 2. Think of the many religious monasteries and convents, populated by those who see their …

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Thankful

On this day, I am thankful in a way that history puts in perspective. Three quotations: From William Manchester, A World Lit Only By Fire, on life in medieval Europe: “Because most peasants lived and died without leaving their birthplace, there was seldom need for any tag beyond One-Eye, or Roussie (Redhead), or Bionda (Blondie), …

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Lincoln’s “Gettysburg” speech as PowerPoint

Too bad Abraham Lincoln had only old-tech. Advice for presenters everywhere. Click image to begin:

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres | “Grand Odalisque” (1814) [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 …

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War metaphors and trade — Bastiat

A flotilla of ships is approaching your shore. Does it matter to you whether they are carrying smartphones and shoes — or rockets and soldiers? In his Economic Sophisms, Frédéric Bastiat makes this exasperated point: “A French ironmaster says: ‘We must protect ourselves from the invasion of English iron!’ An English landlord cries: ‘We must …

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Emile, or Education | Book 1 | Jean-Jacques Rousseau | 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.

Why Spinoza still matters

Religious zealotry, political intolerance, and the precarious status of free-thinkers. In Aeon magazine, a strong essay worth reading again by Steven Nadler on “Why Spinoza Still Matters.” At a time when Americans seem willing to bargain away their freedoms for security, when politicians talk of banning people of a certain faith from our shores, and …

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Anatomy and the Practicality of Philosophy

I posted earlier on The Knife Man and John Hunter, the great 18th-century anatomist and surgeon. In Hunter’s era surgery was brutal, in large part due to surgeons’ ignorance of anatomy, and in that earlier post I wondered: Why there was still such ignorance of anatomy given that the 1700s were two centuries after Andreas …

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