I initially wrote “Would Immortality Be Worth It?” for my Introduction to Philosophy course. It’s a thought-experiment essay for a unit on The Meaning of Life towards the end of the semester. The essay was then published in Objectivity (1:4, 1992, 81-96) and is now online here in PDF format. The issue is this: When […]
Is Immortality Worth It? — 25 years later Read More »
Jean-Jacques Rousseau said: “While the state can compel no one to believe it can banish not for impiety, but as an antisocial being, incapable of truly loving the laws and justice, and of sacrificing, if needed, his life to his duty. If, after having publicly recognized these dogmas, a person acts as if he does
Jean-Jacques Rousseau on compulsory religious behavior [from Explaining Postmodernism] Read More »
[The following is a Polish translation of my “What Entrepreneurship Can Teach Us All About Life”. Here are links to translations into Spanish and Portuguese. Tekst ukazał się w The Wall Street Journal, 2 maja 2016. PDF.] Stephen R. C. Hicks Często myślimy o przedsiębiorcach jak o przerysowanych postaciach. Podejmują duże ryzyko. Tworzą własne zasady.
Czego przedsiębiorczość może nas nauczyć o życiu? [Polish translation] Read More »
At the end of this post, a reader identifies me as a pile of human excrement who attacks the rich and advocates the elimination of the middle class. Here’s the comment: You attack the one percenters and the leader of the huge corporations as the problem. Please tell me why almost all one percenters and
My “Marxist lunacy” on display once again Read More »
For use in my courses, additions to my Texts in Philosophy page. Justice Brennan, excerpt from Furman v. Georgia 408 U. S. 238 (1972), and Justice Stewart, excerpt from Gregg v. Georgia (1976). Stephen Hicks, “Ethics for a Democratic Republic” (2015). Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals (1785). Stanley Milgram, excerpt from Obedience to
Texts in Philosophy — mid-2017 additions Read More »
Two from Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile’s The Doctrine of Fascism (1932): “Fascism sees in the world not only those superficial, material aspects in which man appears as an individual, standing by himself, self-centered, subject to natural law, which instinctively urges him toward a life of selfish momentary pleasure; it sees not only the individual
Fascism — three quotations from the source Read More »
[In the 1920s, Professor Alfredo Rocco became Minister of Justice in Italy under Benito Mussolini. This essay was originally published in 1925, and this translation1 by Dino Bigongiari (Columbia University) was published in 1926. It is here also in PDF format. More Texts in Philosophy at my site.] The Political Doctrine of Fascism By Alfredo Rocco Fascism
Rocco’s *The Political Doctrine of Fascism* [text] Read More »
Educating a child is a hugely philosophical project. How does one become a fully-functional adult with a zest for all that life has to offer—and acquire the knowledge, skills, and habits to pursue it? Homework, traditionally conceived, is not part of the answer. And when we consider the sadly large number of young people who
Against Homework [Good Life series] Read More »