In New York I debated Dr. Thaddeus Russell, who argues that postmodernism is correct and useful in advocating for a free society. I disagreed, arguing that the Enlightenment is essential to liberty and that postmodernism is an explicit reject of all Enlightenment and libertarian principles. The SOHO Forum debate was moderated by Gene Epstein. Post-script: […]
Libertarian Postmodernism? The Debate Read More »
I like this line from Shakespeare’s 1623 play: “O! it is excellent To have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant.“ Shakespeare, Measure for Measure. Related: “Why Power Does Not Corrupt.”
Shakespeare: “it is excellent to have a giant’s strength” Read More »
Nietzsche has a reputation for being an individualist. But note this from his The Will to Power: “My philosophy aims at ordering of rank not at an individualistic morality” (287; emphasis in the original). Nietzsche’s sometimes-yes-sometimes-not individualism is complicated. For more, check out my “Egoism in Nietzsche and Rand” (audio version; text version).
Was Nietzsche individualist? Ordering-of-rank version Read More »
Our topics with timestamps: 00:00:45 Introduction 00:01:18 Is Nietzsche’s philosophy positive? 00:03:06 Postmodernists as fundamentally jaded 00:03:48 Herbert Marcuse: Hermeneutics of Suspicion 00:07:26 Critical Theory: Marxism Modified? 00:12:00 Immanuel Kant-not postmodern, but… 00:17:08 More on Kant and the use of labels 00:26:29 Postmodernism’s discomfort with Categories and Labels 00:28:53 Marx or Rousseau as Guide? 00:35:37
Logocentric discussion on Continental philosophers: Daxton Page and Stephen Hicks Read More »
Suppose a building at a former concentration camp was designed, built, and used as a torture chamber. The camp is now only a museum for those interested in the history. But one night during a storm, the former torture building gets a broken window. Question: Do you repair the window? Related: I took the picture
Moral dilemma in museum preservation Read More »
Oscar Wilde was seated next to an elegant lady at a dinner party. The conversation became animated and contesting, and Wilde asked the women if she would go to bed with him for one million pounds. The woman was flustered, but upon consideration said Yes, she probably would. Wilde then asked if she would go
Prostitution, principles and integrity: Oscar Wilde anecdote Read More »
Stephen Hicks and Ryan Faulkner-Hogg discuss the great philosopher’s mature period. Who is Zarathustra? How does one become who one really is? What explains the Great Inversion: the decline of master morality and the rise of slave morality? Related: Ryan and Stephen discussing the influence of Schopenhauer on the young Nietzsche. Stephen Hicks’s Nietzsche and
Nietzsche’s *Zarathustra* and *Beyond Good and Evil*, with Faulkner-Hogg Read More »
At the rate of one woman per night, that would take 13.7 years. “In 281, Emperor Wu took 5,000 women from Sun Hao’s palace into his own, and thereafter became even more concentrated on feasting and enjoying the women, rather than on important matters of state. It was said that there were so many beautiful
Goats and the contingency of history Read More »