Philosophy

Explaining ‘Woke’ activism’s origin in two charts

Chart 1, showing faculty political views are mostly left or far left (using ‘Democrat’ and ‘Republican’ as proxy for ‘more left’ and ‘more right’). E.g., Sociology has 43 Democrats for every Republican, and Religion departments have 70 Democrats for every Republican. Chart 2, from Higher Education Research Institute‘s survey of faculty: 80% of faculty say […]

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“You can’t sabotage your own soul in order to fit in.” Savvy Street interview on Rand, Kant, & Real-World Ethics (w/ transcript)

Hosts Vinay Kolhatkar and Roger Bissell ask guest Stephen Hicks: Transcript: Ayn Rand, Immanuel Kant, and Real-World Ethics The Savvy Street Show Hosts: Vinay Kolhatkar and Roger Bissell. Guest: Stephen Hicks. Date of recording: November 6, 2024 For those who prefer to watch the video, it is here. The transcript at the Savvy Street site.

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Audacious historical cause-and-effect claims

In an 1846 review of Grote’s History of Greece, John Stuart Mill makes this claim: “The Battle of Marathon, even as an event in British history, is more important than the Battle of Hastings.” My first reaction to Mill’s sentence was agreement. My second reaction was to the audacity of the claim and to wonder

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Jordan Peterson interviews Stephen Hicks: How to disagree, challenge, and revise [Excerpt]

First, here’s the full interview, with timestamps for sub-topics, filmed in Arizona in November 2024: In the following excerpt, Dr. Peterson sketches a hypothesis, Dr. Hicks objects to it, Dr. Peterson then rephrases, and Dr. Hicks suggests an alternative formulation. An example of how disagreement can be constructive when truth-seeking is one’s mutual goal: Related:

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Higher education: Self-development, Career preparation, or Social Activism as Priority Goal?

This documents a huge shift in one generation. HERI is the Higher Education Research Institute. It asks faculty what their top educational goals are. Candidates: Individual self-development, becoming a well-rounded person, learning to think and judge for oneself, career preparation, becoming a social-change agent, and so on. In 1990, only about 20% of faculty said

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Jordan Peterson interviews Stephen Hicks — Reality & the Philosophical Framing of the Truth 

(0:39) Intro (2:19) Lecturing for Peterson Academy (two course published, three in post-postproduction) (5:16) The giants in philosophy who shook the earth — learn why (10:54) The practical case for philosophy (14:24) Narrative, weighting facts, and how various philosophies reconcile perception versus reality (25:24) Epistemology (the theory of knowledge), how you know that you really

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