My Explaining Postmodernism was recently published in Hebrew translation, which led to this interview with Israeli scientist Roi Yozevitch. We focus on the inroads that political correctness and postmodernism are making are making into science. Dr. Roi Yozevitch, “Free Speech and PC in Academia, Science and Society. A conversation with Professor Stephen Hicks.”
Israel’s Roi Yozevitch interview on science and postmodernism Read More »
We’re now posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the fifteenth: We’ve all run into teachers who think like this: There is One Truth and I am in possession of it. So important is it that students must believe it and it alone. Alternative ideas are a waste of time
Why Postmoderns Train—Not Educate—Activists [Open College transcript] Read More »
One datum. Here is Michel Foucault explaining why the proletariat engage in class warfare: “The proletariat doesn’t wage war against the ruling class because it considers such a war to be just. The proletariat makes war with the ruling class because … it wants to take power.” The Chomsky-Foucault Debate: On Human Nature That’s from
Foucault and whether postmodernism is neo-Marxist Read More »
1. Why does reason even matter? 2. What’s important about the Enlightenment? 3. Kant’s “Copernican Revolution” — a counter-Enlightenment subjectivism? 4. Canada and the USA as importers of ideas from Europe? 5. Common themes in Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche? 6. Subjective passionism contra liberal democracy? 7. Which groups will dominate in the conflict? 8. Why are
Canada Strong and Free Network interview — Troy Lanigan Read More »
Liberal education under threat. Guided by moderator Ravi Lakhani (London, UK) , Professor Louis Marinoff (New York, USA) and I had a lively exchange diagnosing and offering solutions to the attacks. The description: “Historically, universities are bastions of academic freedom. They are melting pots where ideas battle for supremacy. With the rise of cancel-culture and
On civil war in the universities — Marinoff and Hicks Read More »
Alex Levy is a smart young philosopher in Mexico associated with Cuidad de Los Ideas. Our long-form conversation published this month: Apple, YouTube, Spotify. HIGHLIGHTS (1:40) What does philosophy mean to you? (4:15) How do you approach philosophy and big thinkers with big ideas? (6:35) W.T. Jones – A History of Western Philosophy (8:24) Do
With Alex Levy (Mexico) on deep philosophy: Through Conversations Read More »
I’ll be co-speaking with philosopher Lou Marinoff at this London-based virtual event hosted by Vichaar Manthan. Thursday at 1 pm Central. Description: Historically, universities are bastions of academia. They are melting pots where ideas battle for supremacy. With the rise of cancel-culture and no-platforming, are we creating a generation unwilling to face uncomfortable truths? The
Is higher education dead — or merely wounded? Read More »
A strong claim from historian of science Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: “Every civilization of which we have records has possessed a technology, an art, a religion, a political system, laws, and so on. In many cases those facets of civilization have been as developed as our own. But only the civilizations that
Science’s dependence on philosophy — Kuhn, Toulmin, Heidegger, and the pomo Read More »