Jean-Jacques Rousseau claimed: “Reason is what engenders egocentrism and reflection strengthens it. Reason is what turns man in upon himself. Reason is what separates him from all that troubles him and afflicts him. Philosophy is what isolates him and what moves him to say in secret, at the sight of a suffering man, ‘Perish if […]
Rousseau contra reason in *Explaining Postmodernism* Read More »
Sparked by some recent conversation, here again is a striking quotation from Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: “Every civilization of which we have records has possessed a technology, an art, a religion, a political system, laws, and so on. In many cases those facets of civilization have been as developed as our own.
Kuhn on the Greeks’ unique creation of scientific culture Read More »
In 1985, the historian of philosophy John Passmore claimed: “The Kantian revival is so widespread as scarcely to lend itself to illustration.” (p. 87) For more on the implications of Passmore’s strong claim and its implications for postmodernism, see p. 87 of my Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism from Rousseau to Foucault. Information about other editions and translations
John Passmore in *Explaining Postmodernism* — on Kant’s significance Read More »
The postmodern task, states Richard Rorty, is to figure out what to do “now that both the Age of Faith and the Enlightenment seem beyond recovery.” For more on the context of Rorty’s claim and his contributions to postmodernism, see p. 23 of my Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism from Rousseau to Foucault. Information about other editions
Richard Rorty in *Explaining Postmodernism Read More »
Counter-Enlightenment thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau claimed that in moral society, one “coalesces with all, in this each of us puts in common his person and his whole power under the supreme direction of society’s leaders.” And: A “citizen should render to the state all the services he can as soon as the sovereign demands them.” Further:
Professor Stephen Hicks’s public lecture, “Postmodernism and the Verdict of History,” University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, March 9, 2018.
My *Postmodernism and the Verdict of History* public lecture Read More »
I’m giving two talks in Rhode Island this week at Salve Regina University. Thanks to philosophy professor Khalil Habib for the invitation. One talk takes up leading postmodernist claims that “the Enlightenment Project has failed” (Rorty), that we are living amid its “dim ruins” (Gray), and that consequently our civilization’s “deepest strata” are shifting earthquake-like
SRU talk coming up: “Postmodernism and the Verdict of History” Read More »
[Thanks to the careful work of Paula Nedved (mter2013@gmail.com), below is a transcription (PDF here) of our video discussion diagnosing the roots of postmodernism. Dr. Peterson’s introduction: “On August 17, I spoke with Dr. Stephen Hicks, professor in the philosophy department at Rockford University. Dr. Hicks is the author of the influential and courageous 2004
Jordan Peterson and Stephen Hicks diagnose pomo [transcription] Read More »
A new printing of the expanded edition was published this month. With postmodern theory now exerting itself in authoritarian practice, especially on many campuses, the book’s theme is sadly increasingly relevant: “The failure of epistemology made postmodernism possible. The failure of socialism made postmodernism necessary.” This is the sixteenth printing since its first publication in
Our discussion is embedded below or at YouTube. Topics discussed: 1:00: The various uses of “postmodern” 3:30: The epistemology of reason in early modern philosophy 4:30: Pomo as a skepticism about reason by mid-1900s 5:00: Individualism in early modern philosophy 7:00: Pomo as a reaction to individualism 7:30: Social-psychological-linguistic determinisms of mid-1900s 10:10: Perception and
Tyler Ashby discussion: Pomo, Perception, and Reason Read More »