EP #40 | Defending Explaining Post Modernism: Cuck & Multiversity
Two intelligent, non-professional responses to my book explaining postmodernism. A study in contrast. Content, method, and civility.
Read MoreInterview with Jordan Peterson
EP #37 | Thomas Kuhn’s De-Structuring Science
Thomas Kuhn was professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, a classic in the history and philosophy of science. Still relevant to our philosophical and cultural debates over science, for Kuhn challenges claims that science is or can be an objective process based upon observational facts that makes progress toward truth.
Read More
EP #35 | Arguing Religion
We have all heard that in polite company we should not discuss sex, politics, business, or religion. Those topics are too troublesome, so we should stick to safer topics?
To be human is to grapple with the big questions and the crucial values of life. We must decide and we all need to make up our minds what our lives will be about.
Read More
EP #34 | Eight Socialists Define Socialism
Who are the most important socialist intellectuals and politicians in history? We here offer quotations from eight prominent socialists, representing a wide geographical and temporal range. The quotations illustrate the author’s motivation for advocating socialism, the actions necessary to bring about socialism, and/or the expected results of socialism. What common characteristics best define socialism?
Read More
EP #32 | Bootleggers and Baptists or Snowflakes
A generation ago the slogan of campus activist was, speak truth to power. Why has there been such a dramatic change in just one generation?
Read More
EP #31 | Hazony Attacks the Enlightenment
On December 30th 2019, the YouTube channel Prager University released a video narrated by bible scholar and political theorist Yoram Hazony discussing the Enlightenment. Hazony makes eight major claims about the Enlightenment and while there are some thoughtful arguments against the Enlightenment, Hazony has not made them. In this episode of Open College, Dr. Hicks points out the flaws in Hazony’s augments and shows why this video is an example of special-pleading history.
Read More
EP #30 | The Real Scrooge
We all know the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge. Or do we? At least 20 movie versions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol have been produced, along with innumerable stage plays and live reading. Who was Ebenezer Scrooge? Was his character the Villain according to Socialism, the Homo Economicus and Savvy Investor, the hero of the Anti-Over-Commercialized-Christmas crowd?
Read More
#29 War on Socialism
William James was a leading American philosopher who lived at the turn of the 20th century. In his essay the Moral Equivalent of War, James describes himself as a socialist and pacifist and is very disgusted with the human history of war and is looking for a solution. This essay, while thoughtful and well argued is to my mind, highly objectionable. Here is why.
Read More
#27 Money You Should Love
Money is one of the greatest inventions ever, just as books are one of the greatest inventions ever and for the same reasons. Books are collections of abstract symbols that represent abstract ideas. Writing enhances our thinking through portability, storage, precision and universality. Books enable everyone to communicate with one another. All of these points about books hold precisely for money.
Read More
#25 Thales’ Revolution
The standard claim is that philosophy begins with Thales. Why did philosophy come into being in a clusters of cities on the coasts of Asia minor? Ascribed to Thales by Aristotle: “The first principle and basic nature of all things is water, ”and “All things are full of gods.” Why do historians of philosophy get worked up over these lines?
To see their significance, let’s set a context by going back to the worldview of the awesomely great Homer. So brush up on The Iliad, which I want to use as our pre-philosophy-worldview contrast object.
Recent Comments