We’re adding another Q&A session at thinkspot, due to the number of very good questions I’ve been receiving. July 4’s Q&A will focus on the questions about Nietzsche and Rand. (The ones so far are listed below.) July 11’s Q&A will be an open session focusing on the questions about statues, violence from Right and […]
Two Q&A sessions at thinkspot Read More »
We’re now posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the third: OC3:
Conservatives Are Not Free-market Capitalists [Open College transcript] Read More »
We’re now posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the second: OC2: Violent Politics — The Lesson of Marxist Philosophy “For Marxism, the democratic process is a pointless sham.” Audio versions of the podcast are available free at my website, YouTube, Bitchute, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud. To cover additional production costs, the
Violent Politics — The Lesson of Marxist Philosophy [Open College transcript] Read More »
Foucault’s grandchildren. The Enlightenment created a magnificent civilization, yet three generations of postmodernism have bred a sub-culture of deniers—of facts, objectivity, truth, justice, and progress—and who combine that with vicious rhetoric and physical violence. Such activists’ enemy is reality, so they want and need to shut down anyone who persistently raises facts. Psychologically, such activists
Foucault’s grandchildren Read More »
We’re now posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the first: OC1: Free Speech: Why the Philosophy Matters: “To say that Free Speech *Is* Free Thought *Is* Free Action is a rhetorical overstatement, but its purpose is to emphasize the integration of thought, speech, and action. …” Audio versions of
Free Speech: Why the *Philosophy* Matters [OC transcription] Read More »
A long form conversation with host Daxton Page. Topics: The lesson of the high-school group project. The Nazis and Nietzsche. Freud, Marx, and the Critical Theory of Marcuse. Kant and postmodernism. Was Kant an Enlightenment thinker? The importance of Rousseau. Individualism and Collectivism. My current book project. Is philosophy practical?
The Daxton Page conversation: Kant, Rousseau, Postmodernism Read More »
Excellent essay by Professor C. Bradley Thompson diagnosing prominent strains of the weird left and the sometimes-weirder right, both deeply anti-liberal, anti-Enlightenment, and anti-American-founding. Link. the principles and institutions of the American Founding are now under assault from the nattering nabobs of both the progressive Left and the reactionary Right. These two ideological antipodes share
Pajama-boy Nietzscheans — Thompson essay Read More »
While in Argentina I gave a lecture on how deeply philosophical 20th-century art was and did some interviews on the Enlightenment, philosophy, postmodernism, and socialism. The interviews are forthcoming. The video of the lecture at ESEADE University is below and at YouTube. Professor Ivan Carrino’s introduction is in Spanish and my talk is in English.
Why Art Became Ugly — Buenos Aires video Read More »
The graph is at Facebook, based on Gapminder data. Let us give thanks to science, technology, reason, freedom, entrepreneurship, humanism, and the belief in progress — i.e., the Enlightenment vision made real. Here also is a longer-timeline static chart. Click to enlarge. Source.
Child mortality’s wonderful decline: 13-second graph Read More »
My discussion with Glenn Beck ranged over capitalism and socialism, the ethics needed for a free society, Greek virtues, intolerance and indoctrination in education, Ayn Rand’s egoism and her view of charity, whether a meaningful life requires transcending failure, the differences between Antifa and Nazi Brownshirts, whether the National Socialist really were socialist, postmodernism, whether
Conversation with Glenn Beck [transcript] Read More »