Art – Page 14 – Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.

Ayn Rand, “The Objectivist Ethics” [Atlas Intellectuals]

Leave a Comment / Atlas Intellectuals, Education, Ethics, Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology / Fermin Elizalde

In this unit of our course on Objectivity we feature Ayn Rand’s Objectivist Ethics. Rand was world-famous as the author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged when a collection of essays entitled The Virtue of Selfishness was published in 1964. In the opening essay, Rand presents a sustained argument for her ethic of rational self-interest. The full course on Objectivity: https://www.atlassociety.org/course/objectivity. […]

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“Individualism in Art” — Wittkower essay

Leave a Comment / Art, History / Stephen Hicks

A few excerpts from Rudolf Wittkower‘s important essay “Individualism in Art,” published in Journal of the History of Ideas 22 (1961), 291-302. From guild monopolies to individual entrepreneurism: “It would seem that with the breaking of the guild monopoly in the course of the XVth century the artist’s attitude to his work changed. Instead of

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How Great Artists become Great: Mozart version

1 Comment / Music / Stephen Hicks

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born into a highly musical family. His father was was a skilled violinist and his older sister played the clavier excellently, so from his infancy he was surrounded by music. Yet, as he wrote in a letter to a friend, that was supplemented by deep study. “it is a mistake to

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Professor Long’s course on Nietzsche and Modern Literature

Leave a Comment / History of Philosophy, Literature / Stephen Hicks

For those interested in Friedrich Nietzsche and his connections to Thomas Mann, André Gide, D. H. Lawrence, Ayn Rand: Auburn University professor Roderick Long’s course on Nietzsche and Modern Literature is online with a treasure trove of readings, pictures, and musical clips. Related: My table with sources on Nietzsche and Rand: 124 Similarities and Differences.

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The political purpose of art — Mao version

Leave a Comment / Art, Politics / Stephen Hicks

On why much art must be destroyed, while some can be allowed to survive: Our purpose is “to ensure that literature and art fit well into the whole revolutionary machine as a component part, that they operate as powerful weapons for uniting and educating the people and for attacking and destroying the enemy, and that

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The mean streets and the complete man

Leave a Comment / Ethics, Literature / Stephen Hicks

The modern hero.

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“A difference with Jordan Peterson on Enlightenment foundations” [Five-minute excerpt]

Leave a Comment / Art, Fruits of the Enlightenment, History of Philosophy, Religion / Stephen Hicks

How different are Stephen Hicks’s and Jordan Peterson’s views on the origins of the Enlightenment? Was Christianity essential or a hindrance?

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The Friendly Neighborhood Libertarian interview

Leave a Comment / Art, Philosophy / Stephen Hicks

Link at the UConn site. “Isadore Johnson is a junior economics and political science major at the University of Connecticut. He’s the co-founder of UConn’s chapter of Young Americans For Liberty, is a local coordinator for Students for Liberty, and writes for various news outlets in his spare time when he’s not climbing. “Isadore interviews

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