In 1770, tensions were high between the American colonists and their British rulers. Anxious soldiers confronting an angry mob precipitated the Boston Massacre. Eight soldiers were then put on trial for murder. The lawyer John Adams was a strong American patriot, yet he took on the defense of the British soldiers. His purpose was explicitly […]
Revolutionary justice: French versus American style Read More »
Crossing Martin off my next party-invitation list. “As many paces as the man takes in his dance, so many steps he takes toward Hell.” Quoted here. I like to contrast Luther with John Locke who, in his thoughts on education, mentions dancing first as an essential element of a child’s formal instruction. My explication is
Martin Luther on Dancing Read More »
In our ongoing contest to find the longest sentence in Philosophy, careful reader Matthias Brinkmann alerts me to a new candidate — this 286-worder from Kant’s Practical Philosophy: “Now, if ends must first be given to us, in relation to which alone the concept of perfection (whether internal in ourselves or external in God) can
Philosophy’s longest sentences — Kant upgrade Read More »
Professor Stephen Hicks Philosophy 103 Topic 1: Philosophy and Self-Education “Arachne and Athena.” [Optional: Stephen Hicks on “The Story of Arachne and Athena” | Greek Mythology | Philosophers Explained series] “Top Regrets of the Dying.” Stephen Hicks, “What Entrepreneurs Can Teach Us All About Life” (The Wall Street Journal, 2016). Topic 2: Philosophy and War William
Introduction to Philosophy Read More »
Stuart Mark Feldman’s The Future in Our Hands By Michael Newberry Stuart Mark Feldman’s sculpture group, The Future in Our Hands (1992, Reservoir Park, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) is four life-size bronze statues placed around a large outdoor fountain. There are two males and two females, life-sized, each playing with a child. (To my knowledge, this is the
Newberry reviews Feldman sculpture *The Future in Our Hands* Read More »
What happens when you mix politics, bathrooms, and sexuality? Let the joking begin. A politician walks into a transgender bar. [Fill in the blank here.] Afterwards, he tries to explain: “I really only wanted to use the bathroom.” Ha ha. But the serious business is the busybody politicians in North Carolina and Tennessee who have
Whose Bathroom Is It, Anyway? [Good Life series] Read More »
This interview was published at FEE in abridged form as Capitalism versus the Philosophers: An Interview with Stephen Hicks. Abstract: A market-friendly philosopher takes on postmodernists, Ayn Rand, Michel Foucault, and Fifty Shades of Grey. Here is the unabridged version, which is also posted at interviewer Grégoire Canlorbe’s site. Interview with philosopher Stephen Hicks Hicks is
Capitalism versus the Philosophers: An Interview with Stephen Hicks Read More »
Syllabus. Exam Schedule. To start: Stephen Hicks, “What Entrepreneurs Can Teach Us All About Life.” Published in The Wall Street Journal (2016). Topic One Is life meaningful or meaningless? The Meaning of Life—Selected Quotations from Psalms, Shakespeare, Brooke, Marvell, Thoreau, and others. Albert Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus” (1942). Optional: Stephen Hicks, “Would Immortality Be Worth
Ethics — Course Topics Read More »
Kevin Currie-Knight pointed me to this Atlantic article by Susan Engel, in which Engel notes: “Many teachers are pressured to treat pleasure and joy as the enemies of competence and responsibility.” That perverse duality pervades so much of education historically and today. I’m reminded of John Locke’s hopeful musing in the 1690s on how best
Joy in education — Susan Engel asks why it’s missing Read More »
[In the 1920s, Professor Alfredo Rocco became Minister of Justice in Italy under Benito Mussolini. This essay was originally published in 1925, and this translation1 by Dino Bigongiari (Columbia University) was published in 1926. It is here also in PDF format. More Texts in Philosophy at my site.] The Political Doctrine of Fascism By Alfredo Rocco Fascism
Rocco’s *The Political Doctrine of Fascism* [text] Read More »