I posted a comment about British culture, saying that it’s 80% based on Greco-Roman values – in response to a line from Nigel Farage saying “everything in our country and culture is based on Judeo-Christian values.” I got pushback. Even from Britons. So let’s plunge into a spot of cultural anthropology and history: One knows […]
Let me now teach the British what their culture is Read More »
In this invited lecture, Dr. Hicks surveys key educational ideas from pre-modern times, the modern era, and our post-modern times. Ancient education often stressed discipline, obedience and rule following, while modern thinkers such as Galileo, Locke, and Montaigne stressed independent judgment and the power of reason. He then examines a series postmodern (and fellow-traveler) thinkers
John Gray’s anti-Enlightenment [Stephen Hicks’s Pope Lecture] Read More »
Following up on “The constant decline of civilization?” — a series of quotations from across the centuries of intellectuals from Plato to Wordsworth to T.S. Eliot bemoaning the sorry state of their generation’s intellectual and moral life. Here, from a review of Mark Lilla’s The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics and Richard Wolin’s Heidegger’s Children:
Are we declining from our decline? Read More »
Update: Here’s a recording of the program: https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1YqKDggpBewxV?t=22cr0LD1hY9KAKBqVae_ag&s=08 Tomorrow: My webinar evaluating Javier Milei’s presidency at six months.
Evaluating Javier Milei’s presidency at six months Read More »
In his essay “To Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch,” Kant wrote that “the spirit of commerce, which is incompatible with war, sooner or later gains the upper hand in every state.” Yet Kant was not a friend of the spirit of commerce, which he associated with the Jews, whom he despised as “immoral and vile”
Is commerce rendering war obsolete? Read More »
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are on a camping trip. In the middle of the night Holmes wakes up and gives Watson a nudge. “Watson,” he says, “look up in the sky and tell me what you see.” “I see millions of stars, Holmes,” says Watson. “And what do you conclude from that, Watson?” Watson
Philosophy humor — Logical inference Read More »
A man wins $100,000 in Las Vegas and, not wanting anyone to know about it, he takes it home and buries it in his backyard. The next morning he goes out back and finds only an empty hole. He sees footprints leading to the house next door, which belongs to a deaf-mute, so he asks
Philosophy humor — Ethics and honesty Read More »
Three women are in a locker room dressing to play racquetball when a man runs through wearing nothing but a bag over his head. The first woman looks at his penis and says, “Well, it’s not my husband.” The second woman says, “No, it isn’t.” The third woman says, “He’s not even a member of
Philosophy humor — Knowledge and esse est percipi Read More »