Stephen Hicks introduces the philosophy of Existentialism by means of Friedrich Nietzsche’s claim that God is dead, reflection on the rise of science and the decline of religion in the modern world, and the early-twentieth-century lived experience of world war, Depression, and the Holocaust. This is from Part 11 of his Philosophy of Education course. […]
Baader-Meinhof was a far Left terrorist group, and one of the most violent, killing dozens and maiming more during the 1970s. Its “official” name was Rote Armee Fraktion (“Red Army Faction”). The logo shows a nice big socialist red star with a Heckler Koch submachine gun. The group’s two most prominent members were Andreas Baader
Marxism = Nazism (another datum) Read More »
[This is Section 36 of Nietzsche and the Nazis.] 36. Instinct, passion, and anti-reason Hitler was fond of saying, in private, “What luck that men do not think.” Another significant point of agreement exists between Nietzsche and the Nazis: Both agree that the great conflicts will not be solved rationally, through the processes of discussion,
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[This is Section 32 of Nietzsche and the Nazis.] 32. On Judaism and Christianity: opposite or identical? One more key difference between Nietzsche and the Nazis is important, and that is their views on Christianity. Nietzsche consistently states that Judaism and Christianity are allies, both stemming from the same source, both advocating a religious ethic
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[This is Section 30 of Nietzsche and the Nazis.] 30. On anti-Semitism: valid or disgusting? The most repulsive sign of Germany’s decline, Nietzsche writes—and this may be initially surprising—is its hatred of the Jews, its virulent and almost-irrational anti-Semitism. Nietzsche, we know, has said some harsh things about the Jews—but again, that is a set
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[This excerpt is from Chapter 2 of Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault] Metaphysical solutions to Kant: from Hegel to Nietzsche Georg W. F. Hegel’s philosophy is another fundamentally Counter-Enlightenment attack on reason and individualism. His philosophy is a partially secularized version of traditional Judeo-Christian cosmology. While Kant’s concerns centered upon epistemology,
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[This excerpt is from Chapter 3 of Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault] Heidegger’s synthesis of the Continental tradition Martin Heidegger took Hegelian philosophy and gave it a personal, phenomenological twist. Heidegger is notorious for the obscurity of his prose and for his actions and inactions on behalf of the National Socialists
Heidegger and postmodernism [EP] Read More »
The Non-fiction “Ayn Rand.” The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2001. Ayn Rand was a major intellectual of the twentieth century. Born in Russia in 1905 and educated there, she immigrated to the United States after graduating from university. Upon becoming proficient in English and establishing herself as a writer of fiction, she became well-known as a
My publications and posts on major figures and movements in the history of ideas. Jump to: Before Philosophy * Thales * Socrates * Plato * Aristotle * The Stoics * Augustine * Aquinas * The Renaissance * The Reformation * Bacon * Descartes * Spinoza * Locke * The Enlightenment * Hume * Smith *
Intellectual History Read More »
Chapter Two of my book is now available online. This chapter traces the decline of epistemology from Kant’s “Copernican Revolution” to the dominance in the nineteenth-century of speculation and irrationalism, setting the stage for the collapse of reason in the twentieth century, which is the subject of Chapter Three.
The Counter-Enlightenment Attack on Reason Read More »