Following up on posts on Marxism and its fellow travelers (Engels, Mao, Guzmán, Hobsbawm), a question about whether Marxism’s brutal history is a built-in consequence of its principles or an accidental by-product of well-intentioned theory. So a series of quotations (with sources) from some principal figures: Marx in 1848: “there is only one way in […]
Marxists and Violence — quotations, podcast, and video Read More »
“Deconstruction never had meaning or interest, at least in my eyes, than as a radicalization, that is to say, also within the tradition of a certain Marxism in a certain spirit of Marxism.” Source: Jacques Derrida, Specters of Marx. Routledge, 1994. Related: On the fuller context of Derrida’s provocative claim: Related: On Derrida’s place in
Derrida: Deconstruction is “within the tradition of a certain Marxism.” Read More »
Will the real Communists please identify yourselves? One reads of … * Communism as atheist scientific materialism. “The iron laws of historical development.” * Communism as fanatical religion: “The exploited shall inherit the Earth!” * Communism as angry envy-psychology: “Kill the rich!” My podcast at Open College: Related: “The Crisis of Socialism,” Chapter 5 of
The 3 Marxisms — as ‘scientific’, ‘religious’, ‘psychology’ Read More »
From The Gay Science (1.3): “What distinguishes the common nature is that it unflinchingly keeps sight of its advantage, and that this thought of purpose and advantage is even stronger than its strongest drives; not to allow these drives to lead it astray to perform inexpeditious acts — that is its wisdom and self-esteem. In
Creative geniuses as selfish — Nietzsche version Read More »
By Professor Stephen R.C. Hicks, Rockford University, USA. Lecture 7: What did the great Idealist philosophers believe and how did they apply it to education? The associated reading excerpts are here: Plato (https://www.stephenhicks.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/plato_republic-poe.pdf) and Kant (https://www.stephenhicks.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/kant_immanuel-poe.pdf). Previous lectures in the series: Part One: Introduction: What is the purpose of education, and what is philosophy’s relevance?
Idealism and Education: Plato and Kant [Lecture 7 of Philosophy of Education course] Read More »
“We naturally, even from our cradles, love liberty.” Lecture One: What Is the Meaning of Life? Themes: Traditional Hierarchy? Liberty and/or Equality. Six Deep Questions about Ethics. What is ‘Modern’? Texts: Locke, Essay concerning Human Understanding. Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality About the Instructor Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy
He did say: “The majority of men … are not capable of thinking, but only of believing, and … are not accessible to reason, but only to authority” (Parerga and Paralipomena, 1851) [Alternative translation here: “For the average man has no critical power of his own, and is absolutely incapable of appreciating the difficulty of
In this eight-lecture course, Professor Hicks takes us on a journey through the evolution of modern moral philosophy, from the Enlightenment to the 21st century. Major thinkers covered include: John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Arthur Schopenhauer, Søren Kierkegaard, Auguste Comte, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ruth Benedict, A.J. Ayer, and Philippa Foot. For each,
SYLLABUS for my Philosophy of Ethics (Modern) course [Peterson Academy] Read More »