Stephen Hicks

Stephen Ronald Craig Hicks (born August 19, 1960) is a Canadian-American philosopher. He teaches at Rockford University, where he also directs the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship.

Career Hicks earned his Bachelor of Arts (Honours, 1981) and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Guelph, and his Doctor of Philosophy (1991) from Indiana University Bloomington. The title of his doctoral thesis was "Foundationalism and the Genesis of Justification". Hicks is the author of six books and a documentary. Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (Scholargy, 2004) argues that postmodernism is best understood as a rhetorical strategy of the academic left developed in reaction to the failure of socialism, communism, and liberalism.

Hicks 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. Hicks is also the co-editor, with David Kelley, of a critical thinking textbook, The Art of Reasoning: Readings for Logical Analysis (W. W. Norton & Co., second edition, 1998), Entrepreneurial Living with Jennifer Harrolle (CEEF, 2016), Liberalism Pro and Con (Connor Court, 2020), Art: Modern, Postmodern, and Beyond (with Michael Newberry, 2021) and Eight Philosophies of Education (with Andrew C. Colgan, forthcoming, 2023).

Explaining Postmodernism

Hicks is known for his book, Explaining Postmodernism. Hicks argues that postmodernism is

Professor Max Hocutt explains that Hick's book addresses two important questions: "why does postmodernist rhetoric display blatant disregard for accuracy and obvious contempt for civility?" and "why have 'postmodernist' intellectuals of the kind you find in English departments and Women's Studies programs, but not the Chemistry department, rejected Enlightenment belief in reason while embracing epistemological relativism and metaphysical nihilism instead?" Steven M. Sanders, professor emeritus of Philosophy at Bridgewater State College, writes:

Author and lecturer Matt McManus criticised Explaining Postmodernism as misrepresenting much of Western philosophy and being "full of misreadings, suppositions, rhetorical hyperbole and even flat out factual errors."

Nietzsche and the Nazis Hicks is known for his documentary and book, Nietzsche and the Nazis, which is an examination of the ideological and philosophical roots of Nazism, particularly how Friedrich Nietzsche's ideas were used and 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.

Books Liberalism Pro and Con : A Primer (2024) Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (2013) What Business Ethics Can Learn From Entrepreneurship (2011) Nietzsche and the Nazis: A Personal View (2010) Free Speech & Postmodernism (2010)