Stephen Hicks

“I have therefore found it necessary to deny knowledge to make room for faith.” Lecture Six: Awakening from the Dogmatic Slumber. Immanuel Kant Themes: The sorry fate of metaphysics. Limits to reason. Phenomenal versus Noumenal realities. Saving religion and saving science? Duty ethics. Hume. Rousseau. King Frederick William II. Locke. Sulzer. Texts: Kant: Critique of […]

Buchanan: Public Choice theory “extends the idea of the profit motive from the economic sphere to the sphere of collective action.“ About the Course In this eight-lecture course, Professor Stephen R.C. Hicks takes us on a journey through the evolution of modern political philosophies from the tensions of Cold War to the turbulent post-9/11 era.

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