#80 Stephen Hicks: Nietzsche, the Nazis, and the Postmodernists
Dr. Stephen Hicks teaches at Rockford University, where he also directs the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship. He is the author of books like Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault, and Nietzsche and the Nazis. Additionally, he has published articles and essays on a range of subjects, including entrepreneurism, 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.
Dr. Hicks is a return guest on the show. Please go check out our first conversation, “Postmodernism: From Rousseau to the Present”: https://youtu.be/rBTPMBKCZLs
In this episode, we focus on Nietzsche’s philosophy, and some of Dr. Hicks’ views about it, as exposed in his book, “Nietzsche and the Nazis”. As the title of the book implies, we talk about how Nietzsche might have influenced the German National-Socialist political ideology, and, toward the end, we also get a little bit into the connections between Nazism and Postmodernism, and how Nietzsche was one of the major influences in both these political opposite ideologies. Specific topics include Nietzsche’s reactionary views against the values of the Enlightenment, namely rationality and objectivity, individualism, progress, and science as whole.
Time Links:
Nietzsche’s take on Rationality and Objectivity
Was he an individualist?
What about progress, democracy, human rights?
About science and values
Did Nietzsche influence Nazism? Was he anti-Semitic?
Did his sister, Elisabeth, really distorted his views in The Will to Power?
In what specific ways did Nietzsche influence Nazism?
The interesting ideological parallels between Nazism and Postmodernism
Follow Dr. Hicks’ work:
His Website: http://www.stephenhicks.org/
His book, Nietzsche and the Nazis: https://tinyurl.com/y8y2vyhf
Also, Explaining Postmodernism: https://tinyurl.com/yarexghn
And follow him on Twitter: @SRCHicks
And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stephen.R.C.Hicks