Close readings and commentaries on the major thinkers. Follow at the CEE Video Channel: The 30 in the first series include: Full Series playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-kR5Ove3tI&list=PLurzsfhvI4oq3fnsjxS3j9fmlYlZQOMVl
*Philosophers, Explained* by Professor Stephen Hicks Read More »
One-minute introduction to the series: Full Series playlist. Philosophers in the first series: Immanuel Kant Plato Galileo Galilei Ayn Rand Jean-Jacques Rousseau René Descartes Jean-Paul Sartre Socrates Martin Heidegger Thomas Aquinas Arachne and Athena Aristotle Albert Camus Friedrich Nietzsche John Dewey Sigmund Freud G.W.F. Hegel William James Søren Kierkegaard John Locke Karl Marx John Stuart
Trailer for *Philosophers, Explained* Read More »
In Chapter 5 of Postmodern Fables (University of Minnesota Press, 1997), Jean-François Lyotard writes this about the Iraqi dictatorship: “Saddam Hussein is a product of Western departments of state and big companies, just as Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco were born of the ‘peace’ imposed on their countries by the victors of the Great War. Saddam
Lyotard channeling Lenin Read More »
“Only through the group, I realised — through sharing the suffering of the group — could the body reach that height of existence that the individual alone could never attain. And for the body to reach that level at which the divine might be glimpsed, a dissolution of individuality was necessary. The tragic quality of
Yukio Mishima’s sacrificial collectivism, nationalist version Read More »
Duda Teixeira, Crusoé magazine Interview with Stephen R. C. Hicks, Professor of Philosophy, Rockford University, USA Link to Portuguese edition; English follows. 1. Is there a Putinistic ideology? Or is it just a messy gathering of thoughts? Stephen Hicks: Putin’s expressed ideas do form a more or less coherent set of principles and plans, though
Six questions on Putin: Short interview for Crusoé magazine, Brazil Read More »
Alexander Dugin is the most well-known philosopher in Russia. New to my Texts in Philosophy page, for use in my courses, is this translation of Dugin’s 1997 article “Fascism—Borderless and Red”. His influence upon Vladimir Putin and Putin’s inner circle is real but its degree is debated by experts on current Russian politics. Dugin was
Alexander Dugin is a straight-up Fascist Read More »
How can activists so frequently say “There’s no real truth and values are subjective” in one breath but then act physically — and sometimes violently — to impose their agenda absolutely? An explanatory quotation from exactly one hundred years ago: “Everything I have said and done in these last years is relativism by intuition. If
Absolutist activism, skeptical relativism — or both? Read More »
The cartoon is politically correct. Benito Mussolini on his political roots: “It was inevitable that I should become a Socialist ultra, a Blanquist, indeed a communist. I carried about a medallion with Marx’s head on it in my pocket.” (Source: 1932 interview with biographer Emil Ludwig.) And then Mussolini’s predictions for the future: “it may
The first Fascist on the Left, socialism, and authoritarianism Read More »
With history is repeating itself these months, a quotation from 1921: “Everything I have said and done in these last years is relativism by intuition. If relativism signifies contempt for fixed categories and those who claim to be the bearers of objective immortal truth … then there is nothing more relativistic than Fascist attitudes and
Fascist and/or Antifa? A famous activist from 99 years ago Read More »
Sometimes it seems a mystery why the postmodern Left seems to be so fascist in practice — while billing itself as anti-fascist. Consider this quotation from a leading activist of the 1920s. I’ll reveal his name afterwards: “Everything I have said and done in these last years is relativism by intuition. If relativism signifies contempt
Why the pomo left seems … well … so fascist Read More »