Current infant mortality rates are about half of one percent, and it is awful for parents who lose a child. But in the 1700s, before the achievements of the Enlightenment were widespread, infant mortality rates were over 50%. I came across this in Robert K. Massie’s Catherine the Great: Peter the Great (1682-1725) and his […]
More appalling infant mortality numbers, then and now Read More »
I will be giving these public lectures in Poland in December: “Does Dugin Really Have a Political ‘Fourth Way’?” Location: Gdánsk, Museum of the Second World War. Date: December 16. “Mind-shift for 21st-Century Education: Entrepreneurism.” Location: Polish Educational Research Association. Date: December 13. “Entrepreneurial Thinking in Life for Students: How Can Educators Cultivate It?” University
Four Public Lectures in Poland by Professor Stephen Hicks Read More »
Foucault’s response to an interview question: “Heidegger has always been for me the essential philosopher. I started by reading Hegel, then Marx, and I began to read Heidegger in 1951 or 1952; then in 1952 or 1953, I no longer remember, I read Nietzsche. I still have the notes I took while reading Heidegger –
Is Foucault a Neo-Marxist? Heidegger as the “essential” philosopher Read More »
Reprising this charming anecdote about his commitment to music, as reported by cellist Yulian Poplavsky, who knew Tchaikovsky at the time: The event was a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Spanish Capriccio, which was to be conducted by the composer himself in a concert for the Russian Musical Society. The great Tchaikovsky was in attendance for the
Tchaikovsky’s musical magnanimity Read More »
A good example in The Wall Street Journal, reporting on a study published in Lancet: Climate Change Saves More Lives Than You’d ThinkEight times as many people die from cold as heat, and the fix for both is access to cheap fuel.
Cost-benefit thinking and climate change Read More »
Experienced consultant John Davis on how to have productive discussions. A snippet: * Stick to the subject.* Don’t interrupt.* One person talking at a time.* No ad hominem.* No name calling.* Eliminate gutter talk* Avoid logical fallacies.* Know the underlying premises of your positions.* Identify the underlying premises of the others’ positions.* Argue from basic
How to have a successful discussion [from John’s Views for a Better World] Read More »
On the priority of character: “Wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to the State” (Apology, 30b). On the dangers of democracy: “No man on earth who conscientiously opposes you or any other organized democracy, and flatly prevents a great many wrongs and illegalities
In class: Socrates in Plato’s *Apology* Read More »
Related: My contrasting episodes on Karl Marx and Ayn Rand. In the *Philosophers, Explained* series. Marx on abolishing private property: Rand on individual rights:
Is socialism closer to monarchy than capitalism is? Read More »