Philosophy

The Richest Man in the World’s Healthcare [new “The Good Life” column]

The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “You might not think of yourself as wealthy. Let me prove that you are. “In 1836, the richest man in the world was Nathan Rothschild. He was 58 years old and, according to a medical check-up at the beginning of the year, in good condition for a […]

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When Can Professors Have Sex with Their Students? [new “The Good Life” column]

The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “Two sex scandals in philosophy departments have, well, scandalized the academic world recently. “One at the University of Miami in Florida led to the resignation of professor Colin McGinn. The other, at the University of Colorado, Boulder resulted in the removal of the department chair, Graeme Forbes.

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Zientkowski’s foreword to *Nietzsche and the Nazis*

Dr. Przemysław Zientkowski’s foreword to the Polish edition of my Nietzsche and the Nazis, translated into English. A PDF version is here, and the HTML version follows. Foreword to the Polish edition of Stephen Hicks’s Nietzsche and the Nazis By Przemysław Zientkowski, Ph.D. History teaches us that in politics—in order to reinforce the message, achieve

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Two high-profile plagiarism cases — and two questions

Chris Hedges and Slavoj Žižek. First question: If you’re a leftist, is plagiarism a bad thing? Left philosophy tends to argue that “knowledge” is a social product, that individuals are products of social circumstances, what’s yours is mine, and so on. Second question: WTF? These are both smart guys. They know they can think for

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Kostyło on postmodern dialectic of social care

A fascinating article by a Polish philosopher, Professor Piotr Kostyło of the University of Casimir the Great. (Courtesy of the publisher, here is a PDF of Kostyło’s article.) Kostyło notes that this generation of postmodern thinkers seems to have turned against state-provided welfare programs. The usual left-right debate over welfare is between those who argue

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Who should pay for my contraceptives? Three positions

A modest goal in this post: to clarify the moral and political options. First, whose moral responsibility is it? That is, who, as a matter of choice, should assume this responsibility? Position 1: It is my responsibility to provide them for myself. (Individualism) Position 2: My employer should be responsible for providing them. (Workplace Paternalism)

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