During a fun (and long) question-and-answer session after a lecture at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania — some of us were still going strong after three hours — I was asked my view on the origins of the Enlightenment. The first questioner noted that Jordan Peterson had spoken at Lafayette the year before and had argued […]
A difference with Jordan Peterson on Enlightenment foundations Read More »
My six-event tour ended with the huge, sold-out MBL conference in São Paulo. Amazing energy and enthusiasm among the young Brazilians at this pregnant transition time in their history. I spoke for an hour on postmodernism and the Left, following Janaína Paschoal, leader of the impeachment proceedings against the corrupt Dilma Rousseff, and followed by
Hasta luego, Argentina and Brazil Read More »
Audio links: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Topics: The drama of The Will to Power // My earlier position // What was Nietzsche’s sister’s actual involvement? // The book’s connection to the Nazis // The themes from The Will to Power Transcription: Forthcoming Sources: Robert Matthews, “‘Madness’ of Nietzsche was cancer not syphilis,” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3313279/Madness-of-Nietzsche-was-cancer-not-syphilis.html. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, Walter Kaufmann and R.
Nietzsche’s Sister and *The Will to Power* [Open College series] Read More »
I’m speaking at the Movimento Brasil Livre conference in São Paulo at 4 p.m. The click-to-enlarge image of the schedule is at right. My topic is “Postmodernism’s Influence on the Contemporary Left”: What is postmodernism, and why is it so prevalent? How has it evolved and devolved over the last generation — especially among left
Tomorrow in Brazil: On Postmodernism and the Left Read More »
Another datum on how postmodernism’s political reflexes are authoritarian — despite its high-theory-ambiguity stance — and that the theory provides rhetorical cover for politicization. Ken Wilber (via Joshua Zader): ‘”The end of any serious deconstructionist movement came with the Paul de Man debacle. On the morning of December 1, 1987, the New York Times reported
Ken Wilber on the postmodern Paul de Man debacle Read More »
Audio links: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Topics: The “Dark” Ages or The “Brilliant” Ages? // Chronology // Was there a Dark Age? // Why did the activity pick up after the year 1000? // Roger Bacon and Thomas Aquinas // Why is the debate significant today? // The verdict on Christianity // The verdict on modernity and the Enlightenment // Why
Conservatives: Get Over the Dark Ages [Open College series] Read More »
I’ll be speaking at the Movimento Brasil Livre conference in São Paulo at 4 p.m. My topic is “Postmodernism’s Influence on the Contemporary Left”: What is postmodernism, and why is it so prevalent? How has it evolved and devolved over the last generation — especially among left intellectual and activist movements? Here’s some background on
Lecture in São Paulo, Brazil, November 24 Read More »
Episode 4 in my Open College with Dr. Stephen Hicks podcast series. Audio links: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Topics: Our contemporary pessimists and cynics // Gray, Rorty, and Foucault // The Enlightenment and its promises // How to assess the Enlightenment era // Data // Postmodernism // Real concerns and trade-offs versus pessimism Transcription: Forthcoming Sources: Michel
“The Dim Ruins of the Enlightenment” [Open College series] Read More »