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.
Ele é autor de A Arte da Raciocínio: Leituras para Análise Lógica (W. W. Norton & Co., 1998), Explicando o pós-modernismo: Cepticismo e Socialismo de Rousseau a Foucault (Scholargy, 2004), Nietzsche e os nazis (Ockham's Razor, 2010), Vida empresarial (CEEF, 2016), Liberalismo Pro e Con (Connor Court, 2020), Arte: Moderno, Pós-moderno e Mais Além (com Michael Newberry, 2021) e Oito Filosofias da Educação (2022). Publicou em Business Ethics Quarterly, Review of Metaphysics, e The Wall Street Journal. Os seus escritos foram traduzidos em 20 línguas.
Tem sido Professor Visitante de Ética Empresarial na Universidade de Georgetown em Washington, D.C., Visiting Fellow no Centro de Filosofia e Política Social em Bowling Green, Ohio, Professor Visitante na Universidade de Kasimir the Great, Polónia, Visiting Fellow no Harris Manchester College da Universidade de Oxford, Inglaterra, e Professor Visitante na Universidade Jagiellonian, Polónia.
Os seus diplomas de licenciatura e mestrado são da Universidade de Guelph, Canadá. O seu doutoramento em Filosofia é da Universidade de Indiana, Bloomington, EUA.
Em 2010, ganhou o Prémio de Excelência em Ensino da sua universidade.
A sua série de podcasts Open College é publicada pela Possibly Correct Productions, Toronto. As suas palestras e entrevistas em vídeo estão online no CEE Video Channel, e o seu website é 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:
Também vários artigos, seleccionados pelo provável interesse do público objectivista: