Friedrich Nietzsche made this indictment and prediction about the effect of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy: “As soon as Kant would begin to exert a popular influence, we should find it reflected in the form of a gnawing and crumbling skepticism and relativism.” Strong language, and it goes against a popular interpretation of Kant as the savior […]
Why did Nietzsche say Kant leads to crumbling relativism? Read More »
I saw this license plate in Chicago: And apparently Rand and Hicks really do intersect in Chicago: I infer that the philosophy gods and the car guys are trying to tell me something. Related: My close reading of Rand’s classic essay, “Man’s Rights,” in the Philosophers, Explained series.
Where I should buy my next car? Read More »
The Sexual One Percent We have a fairness problem in the United States: The pleasures of sex are unequally distributed across the population. Data from scholarly publications reveal the following: * Artists self-report having sex 2.3 times as often as non-artists. * Gay males have significantly more sex than heterosexual males. * Regular church-goers, especially
The Sexual One Percent Read More »
Much modernist and postmodernist architecture is ghastly. So there’s a point about making comparisons with older architecture. But not this way: Are the buildings on the left average buildings from 200 years ago? Or are they the best of 200 years ago, such that they were preserved while the 99% of average and terrible buildings
False comparisons of old and new architecture Read More »
The sections on Arendt and her relationship with philosopher Heidegger appear at the 17:46 and 1:11:23 times in Jeffrey Van Davis’s documentary on Martin Heidegger’s life and thought. See also the episode on Martin Heidegger’s “What Is Metaphysics?”, in the *Philosophers, Explained* series:
Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger, in the “Only a God Can Save Us” documentary Read More »
Ayn Rand Center Europe invited me and and Craig Biddle to Serbia to debate whether Objectivism is an open or closed philosophy. I argued for open and Mr. Biddle argued for closed. A recording of the debate follows. Also following the video window (or in this PDF) is a transcription of my remarks for those
Open Objectivism or Closed? Transcription of my Belgrade debate presentation Read More »
The hard part about writing about education can be getting past all of the clichés. Excellence. Truth. Honor. Tradition. The Future. Yet those words do capture essential aspirations for education, especially for those of us at the kind of college Rockford is and can be. I want to focus here on excellence. All of my
Rockford University professor Stephen Hicks’s advice to new students Read More »
The flowing Niobe Chiaramonti. Two minutes with John Gillis on her art-historical significance. Related: Stephen Hicks’s publications and lectures on art.
The Niobe Chiaramonti sculpture [John Gillis on Great Art series] Read More »