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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?

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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.

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#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.

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EP #17 | C. S. Lewis Christian Socialism

Should Christians be socialist and was C.S. Lewis a socialist? What are the basic themes and commitments that are common to all forms of christianity?

Clive Staples Lewis was a British writer and theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University and Cambridge University He is best known for his works of fiction, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles and The Problem of Pain.

Dr. Stephen R.C. Hicks expands on many of the views, philosophy and influence of C.S. Lewis in this episodes of The Open College podcast.

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 EP#15  | Training, Not Educating Activists

Are reason and analysis under attack by scepticism? Why do post modernists focus on training and indoctrinating activist while ignoring some of the fundamental principals of education? If racial gender ethnic group conflict are the new principal of education what is the purpose of education?

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EP 13 | Postmodernism’s Moral Low Ground

Intellectual battles are the cognitive lifeblood of a healthy society. Life is complicated and the stakes are high, so thoughtful and passionate people have lots of arguments. Only by argument can we sort out the facts about complicated matters, however postmodernists seem not to fight by the same rules as the rest of society.

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EP #10 | Bhopal: Government Subsidized Chaos

Bhopal is a city in central India, and late in 1984 chemicals in large quantities spilled out of an industrial plant there, killing, maiming, and damaging tens of thousands of people.
The long-term estimated death toll from the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India is about 16,000 people, making it the worst human-caused environmental disaster in history.
In the high-tech society we strive to be, it is essential that we learn the causes of disasters so that we can correct our mistakes. Technology lessens many of life’s risks, but handled badly it can add other serious risks.

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