Stephen Hicks

Lecture Two: What Is Religious Education? From Plato to Augustine Themes: Plato’s Myth of the Cave and Myth of Gyges. The quarrel between Philosophy vs. Poetry. The Romans captured Greece — but the Greeks conquered Rome. Christianity institutionalized. Augustine’s rejection of pagan philosophies. Core issues: Super-naturalism. Dualities. Human inequality. Human badness. Texts: Plato, The Republic. […]

Mill: “The majority … may desire to oppress a part of their number; and precautions are as much needed against this, as against any other abuse of power.” About the Course In this eight-lecture course, Professor Stephen Hicks takes us through the development of political philosophy from the late 18th to the early 20th century,

From a 2020 interview: Jennifer Grossman [43:41]: Is Cultural Marxism a real thing? Where are the greatest dangers? And how can we fight against it? Maybe you could just start with what is Cultural Marxism. Stephen Hicks: The quick-and-dirty version is that Cultural Marxism is a real phenomenon, and it is a danger. The quick genealogy is

From a 2020 interview: Jennifer Grossman [51:40]: While no rational person would support racism, would you accept the idea that a person has the right to be racist? I mean, do people have the right to believe horrible ideas? Stephen Hicks: I would say you don’t have the cognitive right. You don’t have the moral right

“Nothing but the most determined scepticism, along with a great degree of indolence, can justify this aversion to metaphysics.” Lecture Five: Counter-Enlightenment. David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau Themes: Skepticism, Passions, Fideism. Critiquing the Enlightenment. French Revolution. Lafayette. Voltaire. de Gouges. Robespierre. Texts: Hume: A Treatise on Human Nature. Rousseau: Discourse on Inequality. About the Instructor

Lecture One: Why Philosophy of Education? The Radical Greeks, from Homer to Aristotle Themes: “Philosophy” of “Education.” Your ideal school. The radical Greeks. Parents as first teachers: bedtime stories. Homer as educator. Contrast to Ramayana and Gilgamesh. Arachne and Athena. Core issues: Religion. Questioning. Human-centered. Method: Socratic (e.g., conversational, discussions after story). Content: Aristotle on

The original interview is Spanish is published at Tras la Identidad. Below is a translation into English. A COALITION AGAINST THE WESTStephen RC Hicks, philosopher and professor, October 1, 2025 Stephen RC Hicks is a philosopher and author of, among others, texts such as “Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault”, a book

“I esteem it above all things necessary to distinguish exactly the business of civil government from that of religion and to settle the just bounds that lie between the one and the other.” Lecture Three: The Promise of Individual Empiricism. John Locke Themes: Empiricism. Tabula rasa. Individualism. Liberalism. Toleration. Church and State. Henry VIII. Shakespeare.