Stephen Hicks

Why did the editor of *British Journal of Aesthetics* say Kant is key to Modernist Art?

Kant is “rightly regarded as the founder of modern aesthetics.” That is Harold Osborne, longtime editor of the scholarly British Journal of Aesthetics. Osborne further claims that Kant’s “theory is the most important anticipation of the modern aesthetic outlook in any philosopher before the twentieth century”. While it’s initially shocking to think that the priggish and […]

Why did the editor of *British Journal of Aesthetics* say Kant is key to Modernist Art? Read More »

Now is the winter of our content — but not for these philosophers

When little Sigmund saw his mother kissing Santa Claus: “I saw Mommy kissing Santa ClausUnderneath the mistletoe last night.It surely was a dream,I thought, brought on by curdled cream.Now therapy is called forPsy-cho-a-nal-y-ti-cly. (With apologies to the Jackson Five.) Related: My annually reposted “Scrooge’s Hero’s Journey.”

Now is the winter of our content — but not for these philosophers Read More »

The Meaning of Life and Scrooge’s Hero Journey

What explains the appealing transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge? My annual reposting, in audio and text form below. The many interpretations of Scrooge // Robin Hood analogy // Scrooge as villain of Socialism // as anti-Christian // as Savvy Investor // as Environmentalist // as Malthusian // as anti-Commercialization // Scrooge’s Aristotelian hero’s journey By Stephen

The Meaning of Life and Scrooge’s Hero Journey Read More »

AWAKENING FROM THE DOGMATIC SLUMBER: IMMANUEL KANT. Lecture 6 of Modern Philosophy [Peterson Academy course]

“I have therefore found it necessary to deny knowledge to make room for faith.” Lecture Six: Awakening from the Dogmatic Slumber. Immanuel Kant Themes: The sorry fate of metaphysics. Limits to reason. Phenomenal versus Noumenal realities. Saving religion and saving science? Duty ethics. Hume. Rousseau. King Frederick William II. Locke. Sulzer. Texts: Kant: Critique of

AWAKENING FROM THE DOGMATIC SLUMBER: IMMANUEL KANT. Lecture 6 of Modern Philosophy [Peterson Academy course] Read More »

“Educating for Entrepreneurship” — published in English and in Polish

[The English text below was also translated into Polish and published in the education journal Przegląd Pedagogiczny.] Educating for Entrepreneurship Stephen R.C. HicksDepartment of Philosophy and Center for Ethics and EntrepreneurshipRockford UniversityRockford, Illinois, USA Introduction: Japanese visitors to American schools Recently a team of Japanese investigators come to the United States to study its school

“Educating for Entrepreneurship” — published in English and in Polish Read More »

*Ayn Rand and Contemporary Business Ethics* — e-book version

My essay on “Ayn Rand and Contemporary Business Ethics” is available in e-book format. The essay has gotten very good mileage, so to speak, since being first published in The Journal of Accounting, Ethics & Public Policy. It has been translated into German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Korean, and in English it is available at the

*Ayn Rand and Contemporary Business Ethics* — e-book version Read More »