Science – Page 6 – Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.

Behaviorist philosophy: Psychology and the progression of the sciences

Leave a Comment / Human Nature, Science / Stephen Hicks

Stephen Hicks discusses behaviorist psychology in the context of the progressive development of the sciences in the modern world. This is from Part 10 of his Philosophy of Education course. 1 clip: Previous: [Part 9: Pragmatism] Pragmatic education. Next: 20th century psychology: Freud, Behaviorism, Cognitivism. Return to the Philosophy of Education page. Return to the […]

Behaviorist philosophy: Psychology and the progression of the sciences Read More »

Choose your hero–Semmelweis or Abraham?

Ethics, Philosophy, Religion, Science / Stephen Hicks

Stephen Hicks here contrasts Semmelweis and Abraham as cognitive and moral role models. This is from Part 3 of Professor Hicks’s Philosophy of Education course. 1 clip: Previous: Kierkegaard’s lesson: Abraham as a model of faith. Next: [Part 4: Human Nature] Five issues in human nature. Return to the Philosophy of Education page. Return to

Choose your hero–Semmelweis or Abraham? Read More »

Phase One: Copernicus, Bruno, and Galileo

Leave a Comment / Philosophy, Religion, Science / Stephen Hicks

Here Stephen Hicks discusses the early modern conflict between science and religion over cosmology. This is from Part 3 of Professor Hicks’s Philosophy of Education course, in which he introduces epistemology, its competing theories, and their role in education. Clips 1-3: Previous: The value of reason. Next: Phase Two: The rise of natural theology. Return

Phase One: Copernicus, Bruno, and Galileo Read More »

Eugenics [Section 16 of Nietzsche and the Nazis]

4 Comments / Ethics, History, Medicine, Philosophy, Philosophy of History, Politics, Science / Stephen Hicks

[This is Section 16 of Nietzsche and the Nazis.] 16. Eugenics Nazi education and censorship attempted to control people’s minds. The Nazis also controlled the bodies of their citizens as much as possible. Milder controls involved new public-health measures such as an aggressive campaign against smoking: the Nazis banned smoking in certain public places, ran

Eugenics [Section 16 of Nietzsche and the Nazis] Read More »

Anatomy and philosophy

4 Comments / Epistemology, Medicine, Philosophy, Science / Stephen Hicks

Following up on The Knife Man and John Hunter, the great 18th-century anatomist and surgeon. In Hunter’s era surgery was brutal, in large part due to surgeons’ ignorance of anatomy, and in that earlier post I wondered why there was still such ignorance given that the 1700s were two centuries after Andreas Vesalius and a

Anatomy and philosophy Read More »

Scientific fraud and politics

16 Comments / Epistemology, Politics, Science / Stephen Hicks

When I teach Philosophy of Science, one of the books I use is Martin Gardner’s excellent Great Essays in Science, with selections from Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan, and other greats. The course has a unit on scientific fraud, including examples of the destructive effects of the politicization of science. Gardner’s anthology includes two

Scientific fraud and politics Read More »

William Kamkwamba

Entrepreneurship, Fruits of the Enlightenment, Science, Technology / Stephen Hicks

The boy who harnessed the wind — a 14-year old who decides to design and build a windmill to bring electricity to his remote village in Malawi. A deeply human story of initiative, ingenuity, and independence. And here is the book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, at Amazon.

William Kamkwamba Read More »

High technology — very, very high

2 Comments / Fruits of the Enlightenment, Science, Technology / Stephen Hicks

I just sent my first email from 36,000 feet, flying somewhere over Iowa or maybe Nebraska now. Which means we should all watch that excellent Louis CK video again: We live in a time of wonders.

High technology — very, very high Read More »