Historically, “right wing” and “left wing” came into use in late 18th-century France, designating seating positions in the Assembly during the early stage of the Revolution. Birds of a feather flocked together. The “right wing” was animated in its opposition to the Enlightenment, whose philosophes had risen to prominence and were poised to transform society […]
What is “Right Wing”? Read More »
In his 1835 work on Religion and Philosophy in Germany, Heinrich Heine makes this strong claim about Immanuel Kant’s philosophy. While many have characterized Kant as fundamentally a man of reason and a paragon of the Enlightenment, Heine suggests otherwise: “But though Immanuel Kant, the arch-destroyer in the realm of thought, far surpassed in terrorism
Heine on Kant as the Robespierre of philosophy Read More »
Maria Clara Vieira, Editor, Gazeta de Povo, March 2022Interview of Stephen R. C. Hicks To see the interview in Portuguese, please go to this link: Gazeta do Povo. “The fight with Wokism will get ugly, but rationality will prevail” Stephen Hicks 1) In conservative and “classic liberal” environments in Brazil, there is great concern with
Interview for Gazeta de Povo, Brazil, on culture wars versus optimism about the future Read More »
Postmodernism Part 1 by Stephen Hicks. This is the original 1998 lecture that led to the now-classic Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault. Professor Hicks argues that first-generation postmodernism is best understood as a rhetorical strategy of intellectuals and academics on the far-Left of the political spectrum to the failure of socialism.
Hicks on First-Generation Postmodernism [In Case You Missed It] Read More »
How much progress have humans made, and why is the good news so little known? CEO Jennifer Grossman in conversation with philosopher Stephen Hicks and Marian Tupy, editor of HumanProgress.org and senior policy analyst at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. Related: Did Coffee Give Us The Enlightenment? (Open College).
Human Progress: Stephen Hicks & social scientist Marian Tupy [In Case You Missed It] Read More »
For ease of browsing and navigation, this audio edition read by author Stephen R.C. Hicks now has timestamps for each chapter and section: 00:00:00 EXPLAINING POSTMODERNISM 00:00:25 CHAPTER ONE: What Postmodernism Is 00:02:22 The postmodern vanguard: Foucault, Lyotard, Derrida, Rorty 00:09:22 Modern and postmodern 00:12:22 Modernism and the Enlightenment 00:22:50 Postmodernism versus the Enlightenment 00:25:06
Audiobook with timestamping now (Explaining Postmodernism) Read More »
A plug for what I found to be a useful discussion of this philosopher. Linking again as Kant and his complicated relationship to the Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment are again being hotly contested. “Immanuel Kant is a famously difficult philosopher, but also undeniably an important one. It isn’t hard to argue that he belongs somewhere in
Cato series on Kant and the Classical Liberal Tradition Read More »
I was interviewed by Carter of Unsafe Spaces. Our theme was “The Seeds of Woke Culture.” Timestamps: 00:00 The Rise of Woke Culture 01:24 Introduction of Stephen Hicks 02:22 Describing woke culture 09:50 Assumptions of liberal culture 13:40 Let’s look at the Enlightenment 18:58 The Counter-Enlightenment and Rousseau 26:08 Immanuel Kant. Enlightenment Thinker? 31:00 Divorce
Dangerous Thoughts podcast: interviewed by Carter Read More »
I was jointly interviewed by two smart younger guys, Truman of Return to Reason and Kevin of Engineering Politics: What are the major differences between Karl Marx’s socialism and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s socialism? Is Rousseau really more important than Marx in today’s culture wars? What does being an adult mean, now that we’re so rich and
Marx now matters less than Rousseau Read More »
Some sources of Wokism are psychological and some are intellectual, from groundwork laid by generations of thinkers. Carter and guest Stephen Hicks take up these questions: What is cancel culture — in contrast to liberal culture? What is the Enlightenment? Why does Rousseau matter? Was Kant’s “Copernican Revolution” part of the Enlightenment or the Counter-Enlightenment?
Dangerous Thoughts — on Critical Theory and the origins of Woke Read More »