Stephen Hicks on Postmodernism Part 2

Postmodernism became the leading intellectual movement in the late twentieth century. It has replaced modernism, the philosophy of the Enlightenment. For modernism’s principles of objective reality, reason, and individualism, it has substituted its own precepts of relative feeling, social construction, and groupism. This substitution has now spread to major cultural institutions such as education, journalism, and the law, where it manifests itself as race and gender politics, advocacy journalism, political correctness, multiculturalism, and the rejection of science and technology.

At the 1998 Summer Seminar of the Institute for Objectivist Studies (now called The Atlas Society), Dr. Hicks offered a systematic analysis and dissection of the Postmodernist movement and outlined the core Objectivist tenets needed to rejuvenate the Enlightenment spirit.

ABOUT STEPHEN HICKS:
Stephen Hicks is a Canadian-American philosopher who teaches at Rockford University, where he also directs the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship. Hicks earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Guelph, Canada, and his Ph.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington. His doctoral thesis was a defense of foundationalism.

Hicks is the author of two books and a documentary. "Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault." He argues that postmodernism is best understood as a rhetorical strategy of intellectuals and academics on the far-Left of the political spectrum to the failure of socialism and communism.

His documentary and book "Nietzsche and the Nazis" is an examination of the ideological and philosophical roots of National Socialism, particularly how Friedrich Nietzsche's ideas were used, and in some cases misused, by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis to justify their beliefs and practices. This was released in 2006 as a video documentary and then in 2010 as a book.

Additionally, Hicks has published articles and essays on a range of subjects, including free speech in academia, the history and development of modern art, Ayn Rand's Objectivism, business ethics, and the philosophy of education, including a series of YouTube lectures.

Hicks is also the co-editor, with David Kelley, of a critical thinking textbook, "The Art of Reasoning: Readings for Logical Analysis."

[NotesForSpaceCadets]

YouTube should have guided me here years ago. Excellent lecture.

[donaldthomann]

Such an enlightening lecture. This connected a lot of dots and answered so many questions I've had for about 2 years, now.

[Belleville]

This was in 1998 ?!?!
It's gotten WORSE !!!!
WORSE !!!!

[jimgoodwin]

This is very interesting in light of the recent videos published by Jordan Peterson. Peterson has delved into the psychology of the postmodernist movement. There is very good support for Dr. Hick's psychological hypotheses in Peterson's lectures. And I believe there are even some psychological studies being conducted by his graduate students on the subject.

[coleride]

also to the question of studying the pathology of postmodern intellectuals, the economist Thomas Sowell covers this well

[KatherineAnderson-lmbw]

Building wealth involves developing good habits like regularly putting money away in intervals for solid investments. Instead of trying to predict and prognosticate the stability of the market and precisely when the change is going to happen, a better strategy is simply having a portfolio that’s well prepared for any eventually, that’s how some folks' been averaging 150K every 7week these past 4months according to Bloomberg.

[paulsusac]

Dear Dr. Hicks,

I greatly enjoyed this lecture series. I have been working on a PhD in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, and I have been frustrated by the postmodernism of this program. I think that a lot of the denial of science on the left is also about a sort of privileging of faith as a social norm in the humanities. My impression is that this emerged in part because of the political cover academia has needed in the face of Christian ideology here in the west. This in part explains the weird bedfellows we see in Islam and Feminism – both take cover under the privileged status of faith-based belief.

Anyway, my dissertation is on the topic of the psychology of dogmatism. VERY briefly, what I have found is that people make moral claims as well as identity claims around truth claims, which we use to form pseudo-tribal identities around ideological “belonging.” From here we make a judgement that it is unacceptable for us to be mistaken in our belief, if my beliefs are wrong, it becomes a crisis of identity, as well as a moral and social crisis, for me, since my identity is tied into my social support system by this pseudo-tribal identity. To put it succinctly:

I become dogmatic when I decide that it is unacceptable for me to be mistaken.

Conversely:

When I make the unacceptable acceptable, then I am free to choose.

[paulharris]

I cannot say enough good about Stephen Hicks. I am glad his students at Rockford have him in their lives!

[Ares-dnqp]

I’ve just watched this is 2024 and it’s scary how accurate Hicks was. It’s far, far, far worse.

[Leisurelee]

"and in a climate of subjectivism, some irrational movement will arise to take advantage of it"
Hoooo boyo, that prescience...

[Spectre]

How long is a generation? This was made 22 years ago, and he predicted postmodernism would be gone in a generation. I doubt he'd make that same prediction in today's atmosphere.

[UnslavedPodcast]

their personal failings are as Rand said, a lack of a psycho-epistemology, no valuation of reason, reality or existence.

[almcdonald]

It occurs to me that whilst Kant may have kickstarted the epistemological subjectivity movement his categorical imperative explicitly refutes the primacy of feelings, putting duty over unreliable compassion

[oldgrumpus]

"Opportunities to confront postmodernism and to advance Enlightenment values are limitless."

Very prescient.

[mugushi]

To the audience members question at 1:11:30 (about postmodernism's influence in the arts). I am a painter who has spent a great deal of time in shared art spaces, surrounded by artists of all kinds. The connective thread amongst these people is predominantly confusion and nailism.

[abtrehearn]

So far, what I hear is nebulous nonsense. Subjectivism and relativism look like sophistry to me. So do absolutism and dogmatism. There is nothing constructive or in any way useful about post modernism that I see thus far. False dichotomies abound.

[winupdate]

The one thing I don’t understand is where the fuck are the accompanying slides and video??? Come on. Something as important as this audio only is ridiculous

[kingclover]

His explanation for why postmodernism came about is what I always suspected and was always the bad feeling I got when thinking about it, but I just didn't know enough so I could connect all these things the way he did in this lecture. But now I know a lot more than I did, so I don't have to just rely on my negative emotions about it.

[utubedarko]

Oh boy, did he get that last one wrong (unfortunately) - postmodernism is alive and well.

[kerrinnaude]

From 16:30 - 18:50 there are many parallels with narcissism/gasligting vs codependent.