“[I]t is a disgrace to grow old through sheer carelessness before seeing what manner of man you may become by developing your bodily strength and beauty to their highest limit.” (Socrates, according to Xenophon, Memorabilia, 3.12) The statue is Myron’s Discobulus.
Socrates on physical fitness and beauty Read More »
The Forum’s impressive roster of past speakers includes Henry Hazlitt, Milton Friedman, William F. Buckley, Ronald Coase, Murray Rothbard, Thomas Sowell, Christina Hoff Sommers, and many others. I am honored to be included this year. My question will be: The economic, political, and historical evidence for the superiority of free societies is substantial — yet
Public lecture: Wisconsin Forum, Feb. 17 Read More »
The Sprouts animation series now has over 400,000 views at YouTube. An excellent graphic introduction to Nietzsche’s critique of traditional morality.
Nietzsche on the Sprouts channel Read More »
Thanks to Jon Hersey’s article, I became aware of Julia Galef’s The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t (2021). Based on Hersey’s overview and this chart, Galef’s book looks very good for those interested in cognitive improvement:
Hersey, Galef, and the Scout Mindset Read More »
What is the Liberal Education ideal, and how does Postmodernism reject it root and branch? “Postmodern Critique of Liberal Education” is Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.’s, invited talk for the Clemson University Pope Lecture Series. Related: Professor Stephen Hicks’s full Education Theory / Philosophy of Education course series at YouTube.
Postmodern Critique of Liberal Education | Pope Lecture Read More »
Happiness Heat Index of the World: Related: Professor Tara Smith’s fine essay, “Money Can Buy Happiness,” linked here.
On the correlation of wealth, freedom, and happiness Read More »
A plug for what I found to be a useful discussion of this philosopher. Linking again as Kant and his complicated relationship to the Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment are again being hotly contested. “Immanuel Kant is a famously difficult philosopher, but also undeniably an important one. It isn’t hard to argue that he belongs somewhere in
Cato series on Kant and the Classical Liberal Tradition Read More »
The connections between philosophy theory and political practice are often long-term. Here are three juxtapositions of quotations from philosopher Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and philosopher Gentile and politician Mussolini in the 1930s. On what’s good for the species versus what’s good for the individual: Kant,: “For all of that, this path that for the
3 paired Kant and Mussolini quotes on individuals, reason, war Read More »