Psychology – Page 2 – Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.

Ayn Rand, “The Objectivist Ethics” [Atlas Intellectuals]

Leave a Comment / Atlas Intellectuals, Education, Ethics, Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology / Fermin Elizalde

In this unit of our course on Objectivity we feature Ayn Rand’s Objectivist Ethics. Rand was world-famous as the author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged when a collection of essays entitled The Virtue of Selfishness was published in 1964. In the opening essay, Rand presents a sustained argument for her ethic of rational self-interest. The full course on Objectivity: https://www.atlassociety.org/course/objectivity. […]

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Resentment psychology and “Madame Guillotine”

Leave a Comment / Psychology / Stephen Hicks

Via Roderick Long, here are the opening lines from “Madame Guillotine” (from the Scarlet Pimpernel musical): I know the gutter, and I know the stink of the street;kicked like a dog, I have spat out the bile of defeat.All you beauties who towered above me,you who gave me the smack of your rod –now I

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Online trolls’ rhetoric, Sartre’s anticipation

1 Comment / Psychology / Stephen Hicks

Anti-Semites, postmodernists, and alt-rightists as peas in a pod.

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How great artists become great: Karajan version

Leave a Comment / Art, Psychology / Stephen Hicks

According to his biographer: Karajan seems to have spent the greater part of his like seeking the one thing he believed would make him completely happy: absolute mastery over his own destiny. Richard Osborne, Herbert von Karajan: A Life in Music, Northeastern University Press, 1998, p. 33 Related: How other great artists became great:Igor Stravinsky

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Is Envy Worse in a Free Society? [Open College transcript]

Leave a Comment / Ethics, Psychology / Stephen Hicks

We’re posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the eleventh: OC11: Is Envy Worse in a Free Society? “Is a free and open society more susceptible to the dangers of envy? It’s an interesting question because most often the envy charge is used against socialism, or any kind of outcome-egalitarian

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Who controls your mind? Decision and habit

Leave a Comment / Psychology / Stephen Hicks

Wise words from actress Alyson Hannigan: “I was in a real negative headspace for a long time. I remember the moment I became an optimist. I was walking across campus, and somebody passed me by. In my head, I insulted that person. I stopped myself and thought, ‘Why would I think something negative about a

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The new street-populists: Ignorance plus Faith-conditioning plus Moralistic fervor plus Mob psychology.

8 Comments / Politics, Psychology / Stephen Hicks

Not just one thing explains the new wave of street-populism. Five constituent types, with different levels of understanding and commitment: 1. The mass of protesters: Especially the younger: conditioned by semi- and mis-education, though sometimes with a partial understanding of a real problem. Their moral beliefs stand as unquestionable dogmas of faith in their minds.

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SJW suppression psychology — why the viciousness?

1 Comment / Psychology / Stephen Hicks

A common pattern–on widespread display in our generation: “People who are trying to prevent members of society from speaking the truth will often punish minor criticisms … simply to send the message to the rest of society that no dissent will be tolerated and no attempt to form an opposing group — even one that

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