Philosophy

Another datum on how postmodernism’s political reflexes are authoritarian — despite its high-theory-ambiguity stance — and that the theory provides rhetorical cover for politicization. Ken Wilber (via Joshua Zader): ‘”The end of any serious deconstructionist movement came with the Paul de Man debacle. On the morning of December 1, 1987, the New York Times reported

I’ll be speaking at the Movimento Brasil Livre conference in São Paulo at 4 p.m. My topic is “Postmodernism’s Influence on the Contemporary Left”: What is postmodernism, and why is it so prevalent? How has it evolved and devolved over the last generation — especially among left intellectual and activist movements? Here’s some background on

Episode 2 in my Open College with Dr. Stephen Hicks podcast series. Audio link: iTunes Soundcloud Stitcher Topics and times: History // Three options: coincidence, unintended consequences, intended // Quoting Marx, Engels, Lenin, Dzerzhinsky, Trotsky, Hobsbawm // Environmental determinism in Marxism // Plasticity of human nature in Marxism // Economic circumstances as fundamental social-environmental forces //

Reposting for weekend listeners, the first episode of my Open College with Dr. Stephen Hicks podcast series. Audio links: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/open-college-podcast/id1438324613 Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/opencollegepodcast/open-college-1-free-speech Topics and Times: What a meaningful life requires: [00:00 — 03:31] Far left and far right on metaphysics, human nature, and ethics [03:31 — 10:35] Walt Whitman quotation [09:28 — 10:35] Why the authoritarian left [10:35