Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.

Three more anti-free-market arguments (UFM seminar)

In this third Socratic seminar on the Best Arguments against Free-market Capitalism, we take up three arguments:
a) the paternalist argument that human beings are incapable of living freely,
b) the collectivist argument that wealth is a social creation (at 11 minutes), and
c) the religious argument that value is not of this world (at 32 minutes).

Related: My full series of UFM lectures, seminars, and interview:
I. Entrepreneurial Ethics.
II. Philosophy and the Evolution of the Mixed Economy.
III. Socratic seminars on the Best Arguments against Free-Market Capitalism:
1. “Capitalism is dog-eat-dog.”
2. “We live in a world of scarce resources.”
3. “Humans are too depraved for freedom” (at 23 minutes).
4. “Humans are too incompetent for freedom.”
5. “Wealth is a social creation” (at 11 minutes).
6. “Value is not of this world” (at 32 minutes).
IV. Interview: Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.
Post: “Elizabeth Warren and the doulos.”

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 — typically immigrants or refugees.”

A relevant anecdote: Immigrants and the spirit of entrepreneurship.

Also relevant is the great education work by NFTE, successfully teaching entrepreneurship to low-income students, giving them the knowledge and skill set to overcome their cultural deprivations, and Marva Collins’ classic achievements.

And fundamentally relevant are those individuals of any race or culture who decide to make something of themselves no matter what.

Related data:
Homework, race, and success in life.
Gannibal, “dark star of the Enlightenment.”

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Education during the dictatorship of the proletariat

Stephen Hicks discusses Marxism’s view of education during the dictatorship of the proletariat, i.e., during the transition from capitalism to socialism. This is from Part 13 of his Philosophy of Education course.

1 Clip:

Previous: Marxist teachers in a capitalist system.
Next: Education under socialism.
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Individualism?

Stephen Hicks discusses the debate over whether Existentialism is individualist. This is from Part 11 of his Philosophy of Education course.

Clips 1-2:

Previous: Assessment.
Next: Contra the good-news-sunny-skies approach to life.
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Religion and science as dehumanizing

Why Existentialists hold that both traditional religion and science are dehumanizing. This is from Part 11 of Stephen Hicks’s Philosophy of Education course.

1 Clip:

Previous: Jean-Paul Sartre and “Existence precedes essence.”
Next: Authentic humanism.
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Applying what we’ve learned from psychology

Stephen Hicks discusses how Behaviorism applies its psychological theory to educational practice. This is from Part 10 of his Philosophy of Education course.

1 clip:

Previous: 2×2 chart of techniques.
Next: Overcoming the resistance to conditioning.
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The assumption of environmental determinism

Stephen Hicks discusses Behaviorism’s controversial assumption of strong environmental determinism. This is from Part 10 of his Philosophy of Education course.

1 clip:

Previous: Black box methodology.
Next: Behaviorism as a “how” of education, not a “what.”
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The problem with the standard model

Stephen Hicks discusses the Behaviorist criticism of the “standard model” in psychology. This is from Part 10 of his Philosophy of Education course.

1 clip:

Previous: On correlating cause and effect: The “standard model” in psychology.
Next: The behaviorist solution.
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