Bertrand Russell – Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.

Why did Bertrand Russell blame German fascism on German philosophy?

8 Comments / History of Philosophy, Philosophy, Politics / Stephen Hicks

Reprising this from Thomas Akehurst’s Philosophy Now essay on why Bertrand Russell blamed German fascism on German philosophy: “What is less well known is that in the 1930s and 1940s Russell’s attention turned to the idea that the origins of Nazism were primarily philosophical.” Russelll, according to Akehurst, mentioned several German philosophers by name, among […]

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Bertrand Russell’s pacifism in the face of Nazism

15 Comments / Politics / Stephen Hicks

Reprising this anecdote about philosopher Bertrand Russell’s opinion that the world would be better off with a Nazi victory. As reported by Richard Jencks, who was one of Russell’s students at UCLA in 1940: “The British philosopher Bertrand Russell, who had been jailed in World War I for his pacifism by a government of which

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Best history of philosophy? My recommendation

4 Comments / Philosophy / Stephen Hicks

W. T. Jones’s A History of Western Philosophy is excellent on all the major philosophers and integrates them well into historical context. He’s also a clear writer, which can be rare in philosophy. Also, one does not have to read the philosophers in historical order, as the presentations are self-contained and/or context-established along the way.

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Bertrand Russell’s impression of Vladimir Lenin in 1920

Leave a Comment / Philosophy / Stephen Hicks

Two minutes: Related: “Bertrand Russell’s pacifism in the face of Nazism.” “Why did Bertrand Russell blame German fascism on German philosophy?”

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Nuestro problema con el Che Guevara

1 Comment / Español, Philosophy, Politics / Stephen Hicks

por Stephen Hicks [This is a Spanish translation of “Our Che Guevara Problem”, first published in English at EveryJoe and then translated into Portuguese at Portal Libertarianismo.] Es muy probable que alguien que conozcas tenga una camiseta del Che. Versiones románticas del rostro barbudo de Ernesto Guevara Lynch son muy populares en los campus universitarios y

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Are Philosophers Stupid about Politics? [The Good Life]

1 Comment / Philosophy, Politics, The Good Life / Stephen Hicks

[First published at EveryJoe.com.] Full disclosure at the outset: I’m a philosopher, and this new series of columns on The Good Life will often be about human nature, knowledge, the meaning of life, and of course politics. So let me start by indicating some of my colleagues’ opinions about politics. A favorite party game for

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Bertrand Russell’s “How I Write” — text

2 Comments / Literature / Stephen Hicks

How I Write by Bertrand Russell I cannot pretend to know how writing ought to be done, or what a wise critic would advise me to do with a view to improving my own writing. The most that I can do is to relate some things about my own attempts. Until I was twenty-one, I

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Facial hair and philosophers

6 Comments / History, History of Philosophy, Humor / Stephen Hicks

“In Athens haircuts and hairstyles had social and political implications. Aristocratic horsemen still wore long braids and gold hairpins. The common man (and the politicians who spoke for him) preferred a short cut, though not quite a crew cut. The customer sat on a low stool, his body draped in a sheet to catch the shorn locks. The barber then cropped and curled the hair, anointed the head with scented oil, and trimmed the beard to a neat point. (At Athens any man with a long unkempt bead ran the risk of being mistaken for a philosopher).”

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