Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D., has been Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, Illinois; Visiting Professor of Business Ethics at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.; Visiting Professor at the University of Kasimir the Great, Poland; Visiting Fellow at Harris Manchester College of Oxford University; and Visiting Professor at the Jagiellonian University, Poland. In 2010, he won his university’s Excellence in Teaching Award.
The courses listed below: Modern Philosophy, Postmodern Philosophy, Philosophy of Politics: From the French Revolution to World War II, Philosophy of Politics: From the Cold War to After 9/11, Philosophy of Ethics, Philosophy of Education, Logic. Coming soon: Metaphysics and Epistemology, Business Leadership Ethics.
Modern Philosophy
An eight-lecture courseon the major philosophers and philosophies of the modern era, 1600-1900: Bacon, Descartes, Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Mill, Nietzsche.
Recorded in Miami. Published October 2024. Syllabus and Trailer. Direct link to Peterson Academy.
Postmodern Philosophy
In this eight-lecture course, Professor Hicks covers major philosophers and philosophies from 1900 to the present: Russell, Dewey, Freud, Heidegger, Camus, Sartre, Rand, Popper, Kuhn, Derrida, Foucault, Bell, MacKinnon.
Course page with Syllabus and Trailer. Recorded in Miami. Published September 2024. Direct link to Peterson Academy.
Philosophy of Ethics
An eight-lecture course on major philosophers and philosophies of ethics in the modern era: Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Comte, Mill, Nietzsche, Benedict, Ayer, Foot.
Trailer and Syllabus. Direct link to Peterson Academy. Recorded in Miami. Published February 2025.
Philosophy of Politics: From the French Revolution to World War II
In this eight-lecture course, Dr. Hicks covers major political philosophers from 1789 to 1945: Burke, Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, Mill, James & Dewey, Gentile & Mussolini, Heidegger, Keynes, Hayek.
“Isms” covered: Modern Conservatism, Egalitarianism, Nationalism, Communism & International Socialism, Classical Liberalism, Fascism, National Socialism, Interventionism, & Free Markets.
Recorded in Miami, August 2024. Published June 2025. Trailer and Syllabus. Direct link to Peterson Academy.
Philosophy of Politics: From the Cold War to After 9/11
An eight-lecture course on major political philosophers since the end of the World War II: Rand, Nozick, Rawls, Foucault, Marcuse, Buchanan, Qutb, Dugin, Scruton.
“Isms” covered include: Capitalism, Libertarianism, Liberalism, Postmodernism, Critical Theory, Public Choice, Islamism, Nationalism, Conservatism.
Syllabus and Trailer. Recorded in Miami, August 2024. Published July 2025. Direct link to Peterson Academy.
Philosophy of Education
An eight-lecture course on major philosophers and philosophies of education: Homeric epic to Aristotle, Plato to Augustine, the Renaissance ideal, Modern Liberal Education, Romanticism, the Prussian model, Progressivism, Montessori, and Entrepreneurism.
Syllabus and Trailer. Recorded in Phoenix, July 2025. Released in September 2025. Direct link to Peterson Academy.
Logic
An eight-lecture course on the importance & techniques of logic, as well as controversies in the philosophy of logic.
Syllabus and Trailer. Recorded in Phoenix, July 2025. Published in October 2025. Direct link to Peterson Academy.
Business Leadership Ethics
An eight-lecture course on the ethics of production, trade, and leadership. What core values does business pursue? What success virtues does it embody?
Recorded in Phoenix, November 2025 and published February 2026.
Syllabus and Trailer. Direct link to Peterson Academy.
Metaphysics & Epistemology
An eight-lecture course on fundamental questions and debates: Is reality causal or chaotic? How should we understand space and time? Does a God exist? Is knowledge based upon the senses—or innate beliefs, faith, or mystical insight? Is free will part of the cause-and-effect structure of the world—or an exception to causality?
Key philosophers include Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Kant, Heidegger, Rand, Sartre.
Recorded in Phoenix, October 2025. In post-production and to be released in 2026.
Direct link to Peterson Academy.
Supplemental Materials
The online Texts in Philosophy page. Return to the StephenHicks.org main page.