We’re posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the thirteenth: OC13: Postmodernism’s Moral *Low* Ground. “Our classic rules are as follows: Approach discussion with a spirit of benevolence, give people the initial benefit of the doubt, make one’s goal the mutual advancement of understanding, hear out both or all sides […]
Postmodernism’s Moral *Low* Ground [Open College transcript] Read More »
At the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, my article “Why Postmoderns Train—Not Educate—Activists.” Teasers: Who said this? We cannot escape our ethnocentric predicament. We must, in practice, privilege our own group. And this? You don’t want to build up your opponent’s arguments; you want to squelch them. This? Renounce all philosophical speculation and
Why Postmoderns Train—Not Educate—Activists Read More »
[A translation into Portuguese (by Matheus Pacini) of my “Postmodernism’s Moral Low Ground”, first published in The Spectator (Australia).] Estamos lutando contra os pós-modernistas com uma mão amarrada nas costas? Batalhas intelectuais são a força vital de uma sociedade saudável. A vida é complicada e de alto risco, logo, pessoas racionais têm muito a debater. O
A inferioridade moral do Pós-modernismo Read More »
Juxtaposing quotations from Michel Foucault (d. 1984) and Friedrich Nietzsche (d. 1900). First, here is Foucault: “All knowledge rests upon injustice; there is no right, not even in the act of knowing, to truth or a foundation for truth; and the instinct for knowledge is malicious (something murderous, opposed to the happiness of mankind).”[1] Friedrich
Foucault as Nietzschean: on knowledge as injustice Read More »
Michel Foucault said: “All my analyses are against the idea of universal necessities in human existence.” And philosopher Todd May summarizes Foucault’s conclusion this way: “It is meaningless to speak in the name of—or against—Reason, Truth, or Knowledge.” For more on Foucault’s contributions to postmodernism, see p. 11 of my Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism from Rousseau
Michel Foucault in *Explaining Postmodernism* Read More »
[Re-posted from TRI.] A protester was shot at the University of Washington during a clash between rival factions — one faction physically blocking an audience from hearing a speech, the other faction seeking to hear a rabble-rousing orator. The orator was Milo Yiannopoulos, a leading spokesman for the alt-right movement, a revitalized and muscularized version of nationalist
Political protest in a “post-fact era” 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
Capitalism versus the Philosophers: An Interview with Stephen Hicks Read More »
On Monday, May 2, the Foundation for Economic Education will publish an abridged version of Grégoire Canlorbe’s interview with me. Title: 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. I’ll post the link upon publication.
Grégoire Canlorbe’s FEE interview with me Read More »