There is wisdom in shoes: “Once I was sad because I had no shoes. Then I met a man who had no feet.” Your problems are not as bad as they could be. “Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes.” Knowing the other’s context puts you in a better position to […]
An observation by Bertrand de Jouvenel on begrudging others’ riches. The question he takes up is this: Why are the great incomes of movie stars and singers not routinely attacked while the great incomes of CEOs and entrepreneurs are? “The film star or the crooner is not grudged the income that is grudged to the
Jouvenel on begrudging other people’s wealth Read More »
I watched Zorba the Greek (1965), which I hadn’t seen since my teen years. My five-sentence summary: I’m incompetent and repressed. You’re incompetent and outgoing.We’re surrounded by viciously ignorant villagers.But that’s okay! Let’s dance! Related: 1955 movie Marty.
*Zorba the Greek* (my mini-review) Read More »
My line-up for the year: December-January: Poland. Visiting professor at Kasimir the Great University. Eleven lectures on entrepreneurial education. Lecture in Gdansk at World War II Museum on Dugin’s neo-fascism. February: Sweden. Ax:Son Foundation. Talk on “Woke and Postmodernism,” for forthcoming 2024 volume. February: Chicago, Illinois. Reliance College talk on transforming education entrepreneurially. March: Logan,
2023 speaking schedule Read More »
A fun anecdote from the history of medicine. (Fun in hindsight, though not necessarily fun for those who lived through the medical history.) The late-medieval Iatrochemists believed that progress could be made by uniting medicine with alchemy. Their intellectual leader was Paracelsus (1493-1541), a Swiss physician whose goal was to reform medical chemistry by rejecting
Iatrochemists: why iron salts cure anemia Read More »
Why accurate translation and skilled editing are important: Bloodletting was a common practice in medieval medicine and did not die out until the nineteenth century. The practice was encouraged by the belief that the excellent Greek physicians Hippocrates and Galen practiced it. Most phelobotomists followed the Persian genius Avicenna‘s editions of the Greek texts, which
The great Renaissance medical bloodletting controversy Read More »
What explains the appealing transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge? The many interpretations of Scrooge // Robin Hood analogy // Scrooge as villain of Socialism // as anti-Christian // as Savvy Investor // as Environmentalist // as Malthusian // as anti-Commercialization // Scrooge’s Aristotelian hero’s journey By Stephen R. C. Hicks We all know the tale of
The Meaning of Life and Scrooge’s Hero Journey Read More »
An old favorite, discovered in my graduate school days, Anacreon (570–488 BCE) is one of the great poets of drinking parties, the many varieties of love, and the sweetness of life in the shadow of death. Infatuation from a distance: O sweet boy like a girl,I see you though you will not look my way.You
Anacreon and Simonides Read More »
I re-read some of Sidney Hook’s autobiographical Out of Step. I disagree with Hook about most things philosophical — he was a pragmatist and a Marxist of varying sorts — but I do respect that Hook was one of the first to reject and criticize the lockstep Party-mentality and slavish following of all things Soviet
Sidney Hook on growing up poor in New York Read More »
In Education and the State Edited by Professor Katarzyna Wronska (Poland) and Professor Julian Stern (UK) London: Routledge Publishers, 2024 Mind-shift for 21st-Century Education: Entrepreneurism Stephen R.C. Hicks, Department of Philosophy, Rockford University, USA Abstract How do we educate students for jobs that do not exist yet? Education is preparation for life, and one’s work
Forthcoming chapter: “Mind-shift for 21st-Century Education: Entrepreneurism” Read More »