Search Results for: Great Artists

Stephen Hicks interview on Kant and Modern Art — transcript of the Norway interview

Immanuel Kant is arguably the most influential philosopher in the last two centuries. But how could the strict Kant have anything to do with the often-nihilistic modernist and postmodernist art worlds? In this interview conducted by artist and art critic Jan-Ove Tuv, philosopher Stephen Hicks discuss Kant’s general philosophy and his philosophy of art. Transcription […]

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Mao: “Death has benefits; fertilizer is created.”

In 1958, speaking of Chinese socialism’s decade of failed production quotas and the nastiness of its power-struggle schisms, Mao Zedong said this: “Death has benefits; fertilizer is created.” Switching to the second-person voice, Mao then said that you should embrace this: “You must be mentally prepared.” And then combining an inevitability claim with an end-justifies-the-means

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Plato, censorship, and “the ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry” excerpt from *The Republic*

Plato on Censorship and “the Ancient Quarrel between Philosophy and Poetry” Excerpt from Book 10 of The Republic. Written 360 B.C.E. [Socrates and Glaucon in conversation]  [Speakers: Socrates and Glaucon in conversation] [Socrates:] Of the many excellences which I perceive in the order of our State, there is none which upon reflection pleases me better

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“Individualism in Art” — Wittkower essay

A few excerpts from Rudolf Wittkower‘s important essay “Individualism in Art,” published in Journal of the History of Ideas 22 (1961), 291-302. From guild monopolies to individual entrepreneurism: “It would seem that with the breaking of the guild monopoly in the course of the XVth century the artist’s attitude to his work changed. Instead of

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Ten topics in applied Objectivism — interviewed by Mark Michael Lewis [Transcript]

Interviewer Mark Michael Lewis and I had an extended conversation about philosophy and its applications to education, business ethics, postmodernism, and entrepreneurship. A video of this interview is available at YouTube. Here is the transcript: Mark Lewis: Welcome to a new edition of Becoming an Ayn Rand Hero, where we use the ideas of Ayn Rand

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Spanish Libertarian interview on pomo, Jordan Peterson, and red-pilling SJWs [transcript]

Ignasi Boltó, a.k.a. the Spanish Libertarian, asked me eleven questions for his YouTube channel. Here is the transcript: Ignasi Bolto: Hello, friends from the internet. It’s Ignasi from Spanish Libertarian. Today we’re making another interview in English. I know most of you usually speak in Spanish, but we also like to give content in other language. Also,

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On Loving and Hating the American Founding

Like larger-than-life artists, athletes, scientists, movie stars, and entrepreneurs, the United States of America generates polarized love-hate responses. The U.S. was born committed to making a new nation based consciously on moral ideals rather than the happenstance of historical evolution: Individuals’ lives are their own to live. They are free to choose their own goals

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Nietzsche and Rand: 124 Similarities and Differences

This is a work in progress. Corrections and additions welcome. The long comparison table below is also here in PDF format. Nietzsche and Rand: A Comparison of Positions on 124 Issues Stephen R.C. Hicks, Philosophy, Rockford University Updated June 2020 Summary 124 issues tabulated below with quotations and sources. Agreements between Nietzsche and Rand: 21

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