Philosophy – Page 207 – Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.

Capitalism versus the Philosophers: An Interview with Stephen Hicks

This interview was published at FEE in abridged form as Capitalism versus the Philosophers: An Interview with Stephen Hicks. Abstract: A market-friendly philosopher takes on postmodernists, Ayn Rand, Michel Foucault, and Fifty Shades of Grey. Here is the unabridged version, which is also posted at interviewer Grégoire Canlorbe’s site. Interview with philosopher Stephen Hicks Hicks is

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Don’t cite white males in research

3 Comments / Culture, Ethics / Stephen Hicks

According to this essay, published in Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography. Ordinarily we cite to give credit for scholarly accomplishment and to aid other scholars in their research. But some things are more important than justice and knowledge!!

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Igor Stravinsky’s first impression of the United States

Leave a Comment / Philosophy / Stephen Hicks

From his autobiography, about his first trip to America in 1925: “Without stopping to describe my visual impressions on landing in New York — skyscrapers, traffic, lights, Negroes, cinemas, theatres, in fact all that rouses the curiosity of foreigners, and very rightly so — I want to begin by bearing witness as a musician to

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Johann Herder as prophet of the contemporary university

3 Comments / History of Philosophy, Philosophy of History / Stephen Hicks

[Herder (1744-1802) was an early Counter-Enlightenment voice calling for group identity politics and value relativism, along with a rejection of cultural appropriation and an embrace of zero-sum cultural conflict. The following is excerpted from Explaining Postmodernism.] Herder on multicultural relativism Sometimes called the “German Rousseau,”[1] Johann Herder had studied philosophy and theology at Königsberg University. Kant was

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Einstein and Schopenhauer

25 Comments / Philosophy / Stephen Hicks

I did not know this: In Einstein’s study in Berlin in the 1920s, three portraits hung on the wall: Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell, and Arthur Schopenhauer. I learned that from Don Howard’s fascinating “A Peek behind the Veil of Maya” (pdf). Schopenhauer’s pessimism was extreme. Reality, he wrote in The World as Will and

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Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration’s 50th anniversary

1 Comment / Philosophy / Stephen Hicks

Letter to Roger Weightman, on the planned celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence Monticello June 24. 26 Respected Sir The kind invitation I receive from you on the part of the citizens of the city of Washington, to be present with them at their celebration of the 50th. anniversary of American

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Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy — updated article on Rand

2 Comments / Philosophy / Stephen Hicks

My article “Ayn Alissa Rand (1905-1982)” was first published in the IEP in 2001. The original article focused on Rand’s life and times and some issues in her ethics. This update expands that treatment slightly, mentions a broader range of criticisms, and adds to the bibliography some of the scholarship since then. The encyclopedia is

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Is Newton’s Principia a rape manual?

16 Comments / Philosophy, Science / Stephen Hicks

From the “Did he/she really say that?” file. Here is adversarial-feminist philosopher Sandra Harding on Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica: “why is it not as illuminating and honest to refer to Newton’s laws as ‘Newton’s rape manual’ as it is to call them ‘Newton’s mechanics’?”[1] How did she get there? Well, Francis Bacon did say that

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