Stephen Hicks

Nechayev’s “The Revolutionary Catechism”

[Posted here as an example of nineteenth-century nihilism integrated with violence and destruction as a means to a revolutionary end.] The Revolutionary Catechism By Sergey Nechayev (1869) The Duties of the Revolutionary toward Himself 1. The revolutionary is a doomed man. He has no personal interests, no business affairs, no emotions, no attachments, no property, […]

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Lifeboat ethics: how scarcity thinking sets us at each others’ throats [The Good Life series]

A scenario beloved of ethicists, public policy experts, and management consultants asks you to imagine yourself on a lifeboat. Built into such scenarios are powerful assumptions with life-or-death consequences, so as we work through the lifeboat scenario try to make those assumptions explicit. Here we go: You were flying over the Pacific, but bad weather

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Nuestro problema con el Che Guevara

por Stephen Hicks  [This is a Spanish translation of “Our Che Guevara Problem”, first published in English at EveryJoe and then translated into Portuguese at Portal Libertarianismo.] Es muy probable que alguien que conozcas tenga una camiseta del Che. Versiones románticas del rostro barbudo de Ernesto Guevara Lynch son muy populares en los campus universitarios y

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Quando o altruísmo torna-se patológico [Portuguese translation]

[This is a Portuguese translation of “When Altruism Becomes Pathological”, originally published in English at EveryJoe.] Quem é mais propenso a trapacear — praticantes de esportes individuais ou de esportes coletivos? Um experimento fascinante realizado pelo professor Sharon K. Stoll, publicado no Chronicle of Higher Education, compara atletas de esportes individuais como golfe ou tênis simples

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Cómo domesticar terroristas religiosos [Spanish translation]

por Stephen Hicks [This is a Spanish translation of “How to Tame Religious Terrorists”, originally published in English at EveryJoe and translated into Portuguese here.] Derrotar a un enemigo, como al politizado Islam, implica una batalla en varios frentes: policial, militar, diplomático, cultural y filosófico. Toda pelea es provocada por desacuerdos locales de corto plazo. Pero

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