Two recent articles on Stoicism, one by philosopher Aaron Smith and a self-described “grumble” response by philosopher Roderick Long. Both focus on Stoicism but with some attention given to its differences and similarities with Objectivism. To that pair of discussions I add this short collection of quotations I use as a guide when I lecture […]
Stoicism: Smith, Long, and some quotations Read More »
Friedrich Engels arguing that communism is the logical consequence of German philosophy, starting with Kant’s revolution and progressing through Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel: “The Germans are a philosophical nation, and will not, cannot abandon Communism, as soon as it is founded upon sound philosophical principles: chiefly if it is derived as an unavoidable conclusion from
Engels on communism’s connection to German philosophy Read More »
The next three episodes are recorded and now into production: OC 19. Sex Dolls—Why Not? OC 20. Censor the Hitlers of the World? OC 21. Did Coffee Make the Enlightenment? Related: The complete series of Open College with Stephen Hicks podcasts.
Open College — the next three episodes Read More »
Hong Kong’s economic transformation: 1960: Average per capita income in Hong Kong was 28 percent of Great Britain’s. 1996: Average per capita income in Hong Kong was 137 percent of Great Britain’s. Most of us want to know the magic formula that takes people from poverty to wealth. So a one-question quiz: Guess what happened
Ignoring Hong Kong Read More »
A strange coincidence of timing: Today I recorded an episode of Open College on why even dangerous ideas should not be banned, on the ground that free societies need to understand them so as to combat them. Also today, my documentary on Nietzsche and the Nazis was suppressed at YouTube (at Craig Lennon Danielson’s site).
My video banned by YouTube (N-word alert) Read More »
Summary: Oberlin College students (and some administrators) behaved badly. The local business they targeted responded with a lawsuit for damages. The court agrees, ordering Oberlin to pay $11 million. The down-the-road response? Colleges everywhere will take note, and worried number-cruncher administrators will urge further restrictions on campus speech and action. So: (1) Bad ideology on
Activism backlash at Oberlin College will lead to more speech restrictions Read More »
Socialism and the surveillance state, Lenin’s 1917 version: “Only socialism will be the beginning of a rapid, genuine, truly mass forward movement, embracing first the majority, and then the whole of the population, in all spheres of public and private life. … [Then] the escape from this popular accounting and control will inevitably become so
Socialism and the surveillance state, Lenin’s 1917 version Read More »
A new episode of my podcast series, produced by Possibly Correct out of Toronto. Audio: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Topics and times: The decline of slavery as a moral achievement // History: Slavery practiced everywhere before modernity // The internal African slave society and trades // The Atlantic trade and where the slaves went // Early
The Stain of Slavery [Open College] Read More »