My response to the claim "Objectivity is a myth and we all just assert our subjective wills." At the 32-minute mark here: piped.video/WUk5vhY_GBQ?is=W6mU…

Hannah Arendt in 1967: “Factual truth, if it happens to oppose a given group’s profit or pleasure, is greeted today with greater hostility than ever before.” [Insert sarcastic remark about how we've improved over the past 60 years] (Source: Arendt’s “Truth and Politics” essay, in *Between Past and Future*).

Canada is 16th, while Australia is 20th and New Zealand is 24th. Europe has 14 of the top 25 innovation economies. Switzerland is 1st for the sixteenth consecutive year. Full report here, including top innovation clusters: wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wi…

Supposing that God exists, would he punish disbelievers? John Quincy Adams says that a good God would not: “Any human creature, who seeks the general welfare of the Society he belongs to, does all the good, and as little harm, as is possible, and adheres to what he has been taught from his Infancy to be his duty, can never be exposed to the resentment of a good and wise god, whatever the mode of his worship may be.” (Source: JQA's personal diary entry of November 27, 1785, written when he was 18 years old)

"Quickfire" answers to controversial questions, at the Galt's Gulch conference in San Diego. I respond to this question: "What is privilege, and should people feel guilty about it?" piped.video/watch?v=WUk5vhY_…. At the 4:43 mark.

The new censors are the same as the old censors. Here is Pope Alexander VI in 1501 on the dangers of Gutenberg’s printing press: “The art of printing can be of great service in so far as it furthers the circulation of useful and tested books; but it can bring about serious evils if it is permitted to widen the influence of pernicious works. It will, therefore, be necessary to maintain full control over the printers so that they may be prevented from bringing into print writings which are antagonistic to the Catholic faith, or which are likely to cause trouble to believers.” The new Internet/social media censors make the same claim, substituting their own ideologies for Catholicism. Source: Papal bull Inter Multiplices (June 1, 1501).

Contemporary feminism is a many-splintered movement with some ongoing healthy strands but many dysfunctional variants. A new book by C.S. Beerger applies Nietzsche's moral-psychological diagnoses to the victim-feminist variant. amazon.com/dp/B0HGPBVT8Z

Good piece on the evolution of cooperation: skeptic.com/article/an-evolu… (Via @Marian_L_Tupy)

Thanks @SRCHicks — EP60 is worth the listen if you’ve ever watched “helping” turn into a moral weapon. Open College | Pathological Varieties of Altruism YouTube: piped.video/watch?v=gzMFdDfI… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7F1…

Labeling matters for clear thinking. Angela Merkel is not a "hyper-liberal." 1. She was leader of the Christian Democratic Union, which believes that Christianity must be society's dominant set of social values. Over 80% of the party's members are practicing Catholics (~50%) and Protestants (~33%). 2. Her party governed in coalition with the Social Democratic Party, which began within the Marxist movement and strives to realize socialism via democracy rather than violence. On the immigration issue, in particular: 1a. Recall the long strand within Christianity that emphasizes giving away one's wealth to the poor, forgiving those who harm you, turning the other cheek, and so on. 2a. Remember the welfare state's entrenchment and expansion until the government is seen as the near-unlimited funder of everything in society. Those two strands come together pragmatically in Merkel's politics and explain much more of, e.g., the immigration issue roiling Germany, than does something called "hyper-liberalism."

Cambridge University offers world a seminar on "Responsibility Avoidance Tactics in the Modern Era."

Philosophy accessories.

Open College with Dr. Stephen Hicks | EP60 | Pathological Varieties of Altruism Pathological varieties of altruism — Hicks on when helping” turns toxic. piped.video/watch?v=gzMFdDfI…

In Madrid at UFM, responding to questions about my new book, and with translator Professor Gustavo Morales Alonso and Jacobo Martín Cerezo.

¡Y tuvimos la suerte de hablar con el en #TLD1 ! Lo que nos dijo sigue tan de actualidad… por eso mismo ‘Tras la identidadm’ es el debate de los próximos 30 años. TLD. @SRCHicks. “Una coalición contra Occidente” traslaidentidad.substack.com….

Let us strive to elevate our locutionary acts.

In connection with my new book, I'll be giving talks at two universities in Madrid this week. More info here: hhttps://www.stephenhicks.org/2026/09/20/two-talks-in-madrid-spain-this-week/

I'll be in Madrid on Tuesday for this new-book event open to the public.

One of these is from a Left/Woke activist source, and one of these is from a Right/Conservative activist source. Both opposed to Liberal/Individualist responsibility ethic.

Very pleased with the strong response to this free, sample lecture from my Philosophy of Politics course: "In The Philosophy of Politics Part 1, a nine-hour course, Dr. Stephen Hicks takes us through the development of political philosophy from the late 18th to the early 20th century, focusing on key thinkers and movements that shaped the modern world. We examine the conservative response to the French Revolution, the rise of German idealism and Marxism, the defense of liberalism in Victorian England, and the emergence of pragmatism in America. The course concludes with an analysis of the philosophical foundations of fascism and Nazism and the competing economic theories that arose in response to the Great Depression." piped.video/QrNBaLFUXQM?is=sg-n…