From the Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno’s 1913 The Tragic Sense of Life, on how Kant first destroys rational belief in the existence of God but then resurrects that belief on moral grounds. Or: how Kant’s head says No to God but his heart says Yes. Or: how mortal man cannot find God but the […]
Unamuno on Kant on God in the first two Critiques Read More »
Medieval medical know-how: “John of Gaddesden (1280-1349), physician to Edward II and compiler of the encyclopaedic Rosa anglica medicinae [The English Rose of Medicine], recommended reciting the gospel over an epileptic patient while bedecking him with peony and chrysanthemum amulets or the hair of a white dog” (From Roy Porter’s excellent The Greatest Benefit to
Curing epilepsy — peonies, the gospel, and hair of the dog Read More »
Professor Piotr Kostyło of University of Casimir the Great reviewed the Polish edition of Nietzsche and the Nazis. Here’s an English translation of Kostyło’s review: “Do We Know What We Advocate? Stephen Hicks’s Defence of Individualism” [pdf]. The original Polish: “Czy wiemy, za czym cie opowiedamy? Stephena Hickss obrana indywidualizmu”. The review was published in
Kostyło’s review of *Nietzsche and the Nazis* Read More »
The interview is In English, with Swedish overlay: modernity anti-modernity, rationality and illogic, freedom for all and cynical power games. I was interviewed by the smart and well-prepared Dr. Richard Sörman for the RIKS channel on the occasion of a Swedish printing of Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (English text here,
RIKS interview of Stephen Hicks, Stockholm, Sweden Read More »
Then: image is from Buenos Aires a few years ago, when Javier Milei (economist, Argentina), Axel Kaiser (economist, Chile), and I gave talks at an event. Both Kaiser and Milei gave great talks, in my judgment, Milei adding his trademark dramatic flair. Now: My Twitter/X Spaces discussion from a couple of weeks ago, when economist
Milei’s Argentina: Stephen Hicks and Richard Salsman discuss Read More »
There is wisdom in shoes: “Once I was sad because I had no shoes. Then I met a man who had no feet.” Your problems are not as bad as they could be. “Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes.” Knowing the other’s context puts you in a better position to
An observation by Bertrand de Jouvenel on begrudging others’ riches. The question he takes up is this: Why are the great incomes of movie stars and singers not routinely attacked while the great incomes of CEOs and entrepreneurs are? “The film star or the crooner is not grudged the income that is grudged to the
Jouvenel on begrudging other people’s wealth Read More »
See this movie. Owl and the Sparrow, set in the new Vietnam, is about Thuy, a 10-year old girl. Her parents have died, so she is being raised by her harsh uncle and working in his factory. One day, after she makes a minor mistake, her uncle unloads on her, telling her she is deficient,
*Owl and the Sparrow* movie recommendation Read More »