Question: Would you say that European liberalism failed to provide an alternative to tradition and religion, and that created demand for ugly substitutes like woke?
Answer: That’s an interesting question. I would say first, I’m not convinced that most traditions and most religions have done a very good job except in limited ways in providing meaning and significance for people’s lives. So, one of the great achievements of modern liberalism is giving people the freedom and resources to start putting together meaningful lives for themselves.
Now, it is true that there are a number of people in broadly liberal society who are failing terribly at doing so, and I would say that that is coming, not from liberalism, but rather from counter-liberal, counter-Enlightenment philosophies that have become successful in the modern world. And these have been successful at undercutting, not only traditions and not only modern liberalism, but undercutting people’s capacities; intellectual, morally, psychologically, to put together meaningful lives for their own. That’s where the 'woke' come from.
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: