Epistemology

The Counter-Enlightenment Attack on Reason [EP audiobook]

12 Comments / Architecture, Economics, Epistemology, Film, History of Philosophy, Literature, Philosophy, Philosophy of History /

This is the second chapter of the audiobook version of Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault. Chapter Two: The Counter-Enlightenment Attack on Reason [mp3] [YouTube] [72 minutes] Enlightenment reason, liberalism, and science [mp3] [YouTube] The beginnings of the Counter-Enlightenment [mp3] [YouTube] Kant’s skeptical conclusion [mp3] [YouTube] Kant’s problematic from empiricism and rationalism […]

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Are Austrian economists anti-empirical?

1 Comment / Economics, Epistemology, Philosophy /

An instructive trio of essays by economists at Cato Unbound about Austrian economics’ reputation — especially Mises’s praxeological version — for being strongly a priori rationalist: Is Austrian economics anti-empiricist? Steve Horwitz says no. Bryan Caplan says yes. George Selgin also says yes. To Selgin’s series of quotations from Mises, I’d add this one from

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Francis Bacon’s “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed”

3 Comments / Epistemology, Metaphysics, Objectivism, Philosophy /

Stephen Hicks summarizes Ayn Rand’s metaphysics and epistemology with a quotation from Francis Bacon. This is from Part 12 of his Philosophy of Education course. Previous: Cognitive tabula rasa. Next: Human nature: mind/body integration, volition, reason and emotion, tabula rasa morally. Return to the Philosophy of Education page. Return to the StephenHicks.org main page.

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Two more virtues: independence and courage

Education, Epistemology, Ethics /

In the light of Asch’s conformity experiments and Milgram’s obedience experiments, Stephen Hicks discusses their implications for educating students to think for themselves. This is from Part 3 of Professor Hicks’s Philosophy of Education course. 1 clip: Previous: Milgram’s obedience experiments. Next: The value of reason. Return to the Philosophy of Education page. Return to

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