Stephen Hicks

In conversation with Dubai’s Lucas Skrobot.

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:

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.”

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).

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

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