Film

Philosophy and Film Series: Crimes and Misdemeanors

The Philosophy and Film Series presents Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors, starring Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Alan Alda, and Anjelica Houston. My colleagues Shawn Klein and Matt Flamm will host a screening of the film and a discussion of its philosophical themes. Date and Time: November 8, screening at 6 p.m. and discussion

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Atlas Shrugged outing for Rockford College students

My colleague Shawn Klein has organized a trip for Rockford College students to see Atlas Shrugged, Part II on Friday, October 12 at 5:05 pm. Interested students can see the movie for free, courtesy of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship. (Only the tickets are free — not concessions or transportation.) Check out the trailer.

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On the dangers of exploration — medieval version

Why some cultures become great explorers and others stay home: the role of metaphysics. “And as for trying to sail down the west African coast, everyone knew that as soon as you passed the Canary Islands you would be in the Mare Tenebroso, the Sea of Darkness: ‘In the medieval imagination [writes Peter Forbath], this

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“Egoism in Nietzsche and Rand” at JARS

My lengthy journal article entitled “Egoism in Nietzsche and Rand” [pdf] is now publicly available for free at the Journal of Ayn Rand Studies‘ site. The abstract: “Philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Ayn Rand are often identified as strong critics of altruism and arch advocates of egoism. In this essay, Stephen Hicks argues that Nietzsche and

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Immigrant culture, race, and education

More data showing that culture, not race, is crucial to educational performance: “Africans outperform African-Americans in Seattle schools: Even the children of destitute Somali refugees do better.” From the Seattle Times report: “African-American students whose primary language is English perform significantly worse in math and reading than black students who speak another language at home

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Subprime mortgage crisis — history flowchart

Here is a simplified flowchart, developed for my business ethics courses, reflecting my understanding of subprime mortgages’ contribution to the crisis. Let me emphasize that this is only about the subprime contribution of the overall crisis. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac enabled much spillover into non-subprime mortgage sectors, government-set capital requirements and other regulations enabled

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