Franz Schubert, the great lyrical composer of the early 1800s, died at age 31. While his music is usually too melancholy for my taste, what a sadness. Franz was lucky to get that many years. Biographer Christoper Gibbs reports that Schubert’s parents had fourteen children and “nine of their fourteen children died in infancy.” (The […]
Thanksgiving reflection upon Schubert’s early death Read More »
Lecture Four: Why has moral philosophy become skeptical and sterile? In contrast, Ayn Rand rejects the is-ought dichotomy and argues that ethics is “an objective necessity” for volitional, rational beings. Philippa Foot, also updating Aristotle, states that “the grounding of a moral argument is ultimately in facts about human life.” Themes: Naturalism. Bio-centrism. Value and
Marcel Duchamp’s urinal was named most influential work of modern art, according to a vote by 500 critics. Duchamp called it Fountain. It was initially rejected for display at the Society of Independent Artists exhibit in 1917, whereupon Duchamp’s allies argued that it was a worthy work of art along four lines: “First, Fountain represented
Marcel Duchamp and Lillian Rearden Read More »
Some readers of Explaining Postmodernism object that I over-interpret Kant’s skepticism. Some prefer a gentler, more objectivity-friendly Kant. So while I quote Kant a lot in making the argument that Kant’s philosophy is radically subjectivist and the critical step down the road to postmodernism—not everyone is convinced. So I am grateful to Quee Nelson for
Was Kant really that skeptical? Read More »
Scruton: “Conservatism, as I describe it, involves the attempt to perpetuate a social organism, through times of unprecedented change.“ About the Course In this eight-lecture course, Professor Stephen R.C. Hicks takes us on a journey through the evolution of modern political philosophies from the tensions of Cold War to the turbulent post-9/11 era. Major thinkers
Suppose that God really is dead. Then, Sartre says “there is no human nature, because there is no God to have a conception of it.” Camus asks whether we are then like Sisyphus, “the absurd hero.” Themes: The decline of religion? The reality of war. Depression and the Depression. The pointlessness of existence? Existence precedes
Lecture Seven: Progressive Pragmatic Education From Dewey to Du Bois Themes: America’s rise. Woodrow Wilson as professor and president. Pragmatism. James and Dewey. Progressives. Deep democracy and Social Justice. Addams, Adams, and Du Bois. Examples from Sidney Hook. Teachers as agents of social transformation. Texts: John Dewey, Democracy in Education. Jane Addams, Democracy and Social
Strong words from Heine’s 1834 History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany: “The life-history of Immanuel Kant is difficult to write, for he had neither a life nor a history. He lived a mechanical, orderly, almost abstract, bachelor life, in a quiet little side-street of Königsberg, an old city near the north-east boundary of Germany.
Heine on Kant and Robespierre as terrorists Read More »