The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism was edited by the late Ronald Hamowy and published by Cato in 2008. It’s now online in a fully searchable format. I wrote the entry on “Enlightenment,” which draws on some material from Chapter One of Explaining Postmodernism.
The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism 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 »
A new printing of the expanded edition was published this month in a snazzy hardcover. Its theme: “The failure of epistemology made postmodernism possible. The failure of socialism made postmodernism necessary.” This is the fifteenth printing since its first publication in 2004. Samples from the scholarly reviewers of the first edition: “By the end of Explaining
New printing of *Explaining Postmodernism* — the fifteenth Read More »
Clashing protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia — far right, far left, and others. Street violence and declarations of emergency by the governing officials. How did we get to this? First, how postmodernism evolved through three phases from high theory to coercive activism: Second, other anti-liberal and anti-rational movements learn and adopt the same strategies to their
Charlottesville, Third- and Fourth-wave Postmodernism 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 »
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
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[Herder (1744-1802) was an early Counter-Enlightenment voice calling for group identity politics and value relativism, along with a rejection of cultural appropriation and an embrace of zero-sum cultural conflict. The following is excerpted from Explaining Postmodernism.] Herder on multicultural relativism Sometimes called the “German Rousseau,”[1] Johann Herder had studied philosophy and theology at Königsberg University. Kant was
Johann Herder as prophet of the contemporary university Read More »
Excerpt from Reflections on the Failure of Socialism (1955) By Max Forrester Eastman (1883-1969) People who read these reflections may wonder how I arrived at the understanding that socialism has failed. I am describing the whole experience in another book, but here a brief glance at the intellectual road I traveled may be helpful. It has
Max Eastman on abandoning socialism [text] Read More »
When I immigrated to the United States, the experience was not quite a nightmare but more like a series of bad dreams. I was from friendly Canada. I had a Ph.D. and a job offer from an American university. Yet the process—over several years—was a series of frustrations and indignities as I filled out dozens
The Limits of Open Immigration [Good Life series] Read More »
G. W. F. Hegel: “From the Kantian system and its completion I expect a revolution in Germany.” Johann Holderlin: “Kant is the Moses of our nation.” “Within a few years of the publication of his Critique of Pure Reason in 1781, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was recognized by his contemporaries as one of the seminal thinkers
Some post-Kantians on Kant, pro and con Read More »