Stephen Hicks

Paperback edition of Explaining Postmodernism new for 2023

I’m pleased that the book is still in print after so many years, and especially pleased with this new paperback printing. Explaining Postmodernism is a philosophical intellectual history of the roots of postmodernism. Its one-sentence thesis is: The failure of epistemology made postmodernism possible; the failure of socialism made postmodernism necessary. Here are links to […]

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Pol Pot’s Cambodia and Pinochet’s Chile: (Im)Morally Equivalent?

1. A short follow-up on moral equivalencing. Yesterday I posted this about the killing fields in Cambodia under Marxist communism. Immediately I got huffy responses like “But what about Pinochet in Chile?!” And “Don’t forget the US also supported right-wing dictator Pinochet.” 2. Pinochet was a bad guy. No question. Yet numbers and context matter.

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Contemptible European Philosophy — exam questions

[Humor alert: When I last taught Contemporary European Philosophy, I offered this alternative final exam.] Contemptible European Philosophy Dr. ShicksAlternative (Reality) Exam 1. Identify the correct choice. Jean-Paul Sartre was a(n):a) Existentialist.b) Essentialist.c) Excellent way to put yourself to sleep.d) Guy who knew how to have his way with the ladies. 2. “Why does the

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“Kant at the Masked Ball” — article published

My article on the deep controversies over Kant, “Kant at the Masked Ball,” is now out in the academic journal Reason Papers. Thanks to editor Carrie-Ann Biondi, Ph.D., for her intelligent and efficient production of the issue. Here’s my opening: “1. Which of the Two Kants?We should grapple with the fact that two opposing traditions

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Private coins and the Industrial Revolution

Reprising this post from when I enjoyed George Selgin’s Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage, 1775-1821 (University of Michigan Press, 2008). Come the Industrial Revolution, the number of wage earners rose dramatically, increasing dramatically the need for small denomination coins to pay them and for them to

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