Higher education can be a path to a successful life. Yet many successful people did not graduate from college — and many unsuccessful people have impressive degrees. So who should go to college? And who should pay for it? Let’s start by imagining an average student who wants to go to college but has no […]
Free College Tuition Is a Moral Issue [Good Life series] Read More »
Socialists standardly blame capitalist exploitation for the miseries of the poor. But then we consider Cuba’s dismal economic performance, which most blame on dictator Castro’s socialism. Not true!, say socialist defenders of Castro. Instead, we should blame it on the Americans and their decades-long economic boycott. So — just so that we’re all clear about
Cuba and the American economic boycott Read More »
It apparently needs to be repeated repeatedly. Moreover, I am not myself a conservative. I am a liberal in the classical sense or, in the terminology that has become common in the USA, a libertarian in philosophy. And neither were Hayek and Rand. Further: Why do so many conservatives oppose free markets? Source: Milton Friedman,
Milton Friedman was not a conservative Read More »
Grégoire Canlorbe interviews Howard Bloom, who argues that Islamic religion is inherently violent. Gatestone Institute. Mustafa Akyol argues, by contrast, that politics has poisoned Islam. The New York Times. Virginia Murr provides an overview essay on the major theologian of Islamism, Sayyid Qutb. Rockford University. Ayaan Hirsi Ali argues that Islam needs a Reformation. The
Islam politicized — round-up of readings Read More »
Interview conducted at Rockford University by Stephen Hicks and sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship. Part I Hicks: I’m Stephen Hicks. My guest today is Phyllis Johnson, who spoke in the Business and Economics Ethics class today on the theme of Coffee, Entrepreneurship, and Women in Africa. Ms. Johnson is the founder and
Coffee entrepreneur Phyllis Johnson — video interview transcript Read More »
Bulletin: Sex and Economics — A Modest Proposal Fellow citizens: Our nation’s sex life is in peril. Surveys show widespread sexual discontent. Market failure is everywhere. Many males complain of not getting enough sex and many females object to constant male looks and advances. Other males are dissatisfied with the options available in their local
Bulletin from the Office of the Reproducer-General Read More »
[Text is below or in PDF.] The Grand Inquisitor By Fyodor Dostoyevsky [From The Brothers Karamazov (1880, II.v.5). Translated from the Russian by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. In this novel, Ivan and Alyosha are brothers; Ivan questions the possibility of a personal, benevolent God, and Alyosha is a novice monk. Aside from this background knowledge, the
Dostoyevsky’s “Grand Inquisitor” scene [text] Read More »
Consider the death of a right-wing dictator. Chile’s brutal Augusto Pinochet died in 2006: “In 2011, the Chilean government officially recognized 36,948 survivors of torture and political imprisonment, as well as 3,095 people killed or disappeared at the hands of the military government.” I was no fan of then-president George W. Bush. Yet his White
Two dictators’ deaths — responses from Bush, Trump, and Trudeau Read More »
1. The modern economic debate: Should free-markets or socialism replace feudalism? [Late 1700s to early 1800s] 2. Free-market-ish experiments run in many countries (USA, New Zealand, etc.) — all generally successful [1800s and 1900s] 3. Socialist experiments run in many countries (Soviet Union, China, etc.) — all failures. [1900s] 4. At the same time, Third
Eight steps to Trump Economics Read More »
Interview conducted at Rockford University by Stephen Hicks and sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship. Part I Hicks: I’m Stephen Hicks, executive director of CEE, and our guest today is Dr. William Kline, an expert on David Hume, the 18th-century Scottish Enlightenment philosopher. He spoke today at Rockford University in the Ethical Theory
Dr. William Kline on David Hume — video interview transcript Read More »