History of Philosophy

On Education | Immanuel Kant | Philosophers, Explained by Professor Stephen Hicks

Leave a Comment / History of Philosophy, Philosophy /

Episodes: The full playlist. Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, USA, and has had visiting positions at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., the University of Kasimir the Great in Poland, Oxford University’s Harris Manchester College in England, and Jagiellonian University in Poland.

On Education | Immanuel Kant | Philosophers, Explained by Professor Stephen Hicks Read More »

In class: Reason, according to Socrates

1 Comment / History of Philosophy, Philosophy /

At the beginning of Crito, Socrates is in prison awaiting execution, having been found guilty of impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens. His good friend Crito arrives, having worked out an escape opportunity for Socrates. Crito rushes through a few reasons why Socrates should escape immediately. Socrates then suggests that the issue is more

In class: Reason, according to Socrates Read More »

Jean-Paul Sartre and “Existence precedes essence”

Leave a Comment / History of Philosophy, Metaphysics /

Stephen Hicks discusses Jean-Paul Sartre’s famous phrase “existence precedes essence” and its implications for the Existentialist view of human nature. This is from Part 11 of his Philosophy of Education course. (See also my episode on Sartre’s essay “Existentialism Is a Humanism’ in the Philosophers, Explained series.)

Jean-Paul Sartre and “Existence precedes essence” Read More »

Why did Bertrand Russell blame German fascism on German philosophy?

8 Comments / History of Philosophy, Philosophy, Politics /

Reprising this from Thomas Akehurst’s Philosophy Now essay on why Bertrand Russell blamed German fascism on German philosophy: “What is less well known is that in the 1930s and 1940s Russell’s attention turned to the idea that the origins of Nazism were primarily philosophical.” Russelll, according to Akehurst, mentioned several German philosophers by name, among

Why did Bertrand Russell blame German fascism on German philosophy? Read More »

When philosophers boycotted Nietzsche at Basel

Leave a Comment / History of Philosophy, Objectivism, Philosophy /

This New York Times extended article (behind paywall) on Rand’s influence includes some snark from philosophers over whether she really was a philosopher. Oh, come on. It reminds me of Friedrich Nietzsche’s reception by the philosophers at the University of Basel (I haven’t come across their names in the history books) when Nietzsche assumed his

When philosophers boycotted Nietzsche at Basel Read More »

W. K. Clifford on philosophical writing style

Leave a Comment / Ethics, History of Philosophy, Religion /

Reprising this classic from the Department of Collegial Zingers: here is W. K. Clifford on an intellectual acquaintance: “He is writing a book on metaphysics, and is really cut out for it; the clearness with which he thinks he understands things and his total inability to express what little he knows will make his fortune

W. K. Clifford on philosophical writing style Read More »

In Praise of Abraham and Faith | Søren Kierkegaard | *Philosophers, Explained* | Professor Stephen Hicks

Leave a Comment / History of Philosophy, Philosophy /

Who are the great philosophers, and what makes them great? Episodes: The full playlist. Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, USA, and has had visiting positions at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., the University of Kasimir the Great in Poland, Oxford University’s Harris Manchester College in England, and Jagiellonian

In Praise of Abraham and Faith | Søren Kierkegaard | *Philosophers, Explained* | Professor Stephen Hicks Read More »

Mussolini and Kant on war and the sacrifice of individuals

8 Comments / Ethics, History of Philosophy /

In his 1932 The Doctrine of Fascism, Benito Mussolini quotes approvingly historian Ernst Renan for his “pre-fascist intuitions”: “The maxim that society exists only for the well-being and freedom of the individuals composing it does not seem to be in conformity with nature’s plans, which care only for the species and seem ready to sacrifice

Mussolini and Kant on war and the sacrifice of individuals Read More »