Question: Could you say that this country was based on the work of slaves, and that it gave us an advantage over other countries?
Answer: Slavery was a huge disadvantage. It held us back, especially in the South. Obviously, slavery is a huge disadvantage to the slaves, who are part of the country, and they're then forced to live stunted lives, but also pretty much everyone else. Slavery is a dead-weight loss, both morally and economically. It caused huge social friction between North and South, between slaves and non-slaves, people who were for abolition and people who were not, as well as being economically underperforming.
The important thing to note historically is that those countries that rejected slavery and worked hard to abolish it; those are the countries that became rich first and then fastest.
Stephen R. C. Hicks is a Senior Scholar for The Atlas Society and Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University. He is also the Director of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship at Rockford University.
Es autor de El arte de razonar: Lecturas para el análisis lógico (W. W. Norton & Co., 1998), Explaining Postmodernism: Escepticismo y socialismo de Rousseau a Foucault (Scholargy, 2004), Nietzsche y los nazis (La navaja de Ockham, 2010), La vida empresarial (CEEF, 2016), Liberalism Pro and Con (Connor Court, 2020), Arte: Modern, Postmodern, and Beyond (con Michael Newberry, 2021) y Eight Philosophies of Education (2022). Ha publicado en Business Ethics Quarterly, Review of Metaphysics y The Wall Street Journal. Sus escritos se han traducido a 20 idiomas.
Ha sido Profesor Visitante de Ética Empresarial en la Universidad de Georgetown en Washington, D.C., Profesor Visitante en el Social Philosophy & Policy Center de Bowling Green, Ohio, Profesor Visitante en la Universidad de Kasimir el Grande, Polonia, Profesor Visitante en el Harris Manchester College de la Universidad de Oxford, Inglaterra, y Profesor Visitante en la Universidad Jagiellonian, Polonia.
Es licenciado y máster por la Universidad de Guelph (Canadá). Se doctoró en Filosofía por la Universidad de Indiana, Bloomington (EE.UU.).
En 2010 ganó el Premio a la Excelencia Docente de su universidad.
Su serie de podcasts Open College está publicada por Possibly Correct Productions, Toronto. Sus conferencias y entrevistas en vídeo están en línea en CEE Video Channel, y su sitio web es StephenHicks.org.
Instagram Takeover Questions:
Every week we solicit questions from our 100K followers on Instagram (a social media platform popular with young people. Once a month we feature Stephen Hicks' answers to select questions, transcripts below:
También varios artículos, seleccionados por su probable interés para el público objetivista: