Ethics

Two more virtues: independence and courage

In the light of Asch’s conformity experiments and Milgram’s obedience experiments, Stephen Hicks discusses their implications for educating students to think for themselves. This is from Part 3 of Professor Hicks’s Philosophy of Education course. 1 clip: Previous: Milgram’s obedience experiments. Next: The value of reason. Return to the Philosophy of Education page. Return to […]

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APEE talk on the mixed economy

At the APEE conference next month in Las Vegas, I will be presenting “The Evolution of the Mixed Economy – A Schematic Approach.” My talk integrates themes from several major thinkers from whom I have learned a great deal: Adam Smith, Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, James Buchanan, and Gordon Tullock.

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Gail Wynand’s power strategy (Part 1)

Like Peter Keating, Gail Wynand pursues a use-and-be-used career strategy. Wynand uses strong-arm tactics when necessary in building up his newspaper’s market; he manipulates his employees with money to break their integrity; he fires those like Dominique who refuse to bend; and he lets the lowest-common-denominator of public taste dictate the content of the newspaper

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On Judaism and Christianity: opposite or identical?

[This is Section 32 of Nietzsche and the Nazis.] 32. On Judaism and Christianity: opposite or identical? One more key difference between Nietzsche and the Nazis is important, and that is their views on Christianity. Nietzsche consistently states that Judaism and Christianity are allies, both stemming from the same source, both advocating a religious ethic

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Reading group on Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments

My colleagues in the Department of Philosophy, Shawn Klein and Matthew Flamm, will be leading a reading group on Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Adam Smith is best known as an economist and a critic of mercantilism and as an early advocate of market economies. Less well known is Smith the moral philosopher.

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