Clik here to view.
Certainty with a Capital C
One criticism I face fairly often is the assertion that I must be dishonest — I must be cherry-picking my evidence, or something — because the way I describe it, I’m always right while the people who...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Utilitarianism vs. Natural Rights
Most classical liberals use a combination of utilitarianism and natural rights in their philosophical framework. Some, like Jeremy Bentham, reject rights altogether in favor of a purely “greatest good...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Shut Off a Great Debate
Aaron Ross Powell has an excellent, thought-provoking post over at libertarianism.org on how many of classical liberalism’s opponents tend to argue against libertarian caricatures that have very...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Great Insults from History
Francis Bacon and Edward Coke were intellectual rivals. Bacon was a father of the scientific method, and a hero to top-down engineering types. Coke was more from the bottom-up evolutionary common law...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Limits of Human Understanding
The knowledge problem is more than a pet theory among economists. It is a biological fact: [T]he capacity of any explaining agent must limited to objects with a structure possessing a degree of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Lesson in Humility
An important bit of wisdom from p. 25 of Rolf Dobelli’s The Art of Thinking Clearly: There are about one million trained economists on the planet, and not one of them could accurately predict the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Origins of Envy
A bit of good advice from p. 259 of Rolf Dobelli’s delightful book The Art of Thinking Clearly: Like all emotions, envy has its origins in our evolutionary past. If the hominid from the cave next door...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ten Hard Questions for Libertarians
Over at the Bleeding Heart Libertarians blog, Jason Brennan has a brilliant bit of satire that reminds me of one of my favorite Voltaire quotations: “I have only ever addressed one prayer to God, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Debunking Cognitive Biases
My former professor Bryan Caplan stars in a series of short videos about four cognitive biases that explain why voters systematically vote for bad policies. You can read about them in detail in his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Trouble with the Median Voter, as Expressed by a Scientist
A memory from Carl Sagan’s childhood, which he shares on pages 133-34 in the book version of Cosmos: Even with an early bedtime, in winter you could sometimes see the stars. I would look at them,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Human Achievement of the Day: Guitars
When Human Achievement Hour rolls around each year, I make sure to do two things. One is to play an electric guitar. The other is to play an acoustic guitar. Guitars are simple things. Stretch some...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Interesting Take on Rousseau
From p. 262 of Matt Ridley’s excellent 1996 book The Origins of Virtue: [Margaret] Thatcher and her allies were articulating what is, in some ways, the most Rousseauian argument–that government does...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Forecasters in Proper Context
Whether it’s the local weatherman getting it wrong, or especially some economic shaman predicting the stock market’s next swing, forecasters have a record that doesn’t always outperform chance. This...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Regulatory Discretion: Both Good and Bad
From p. 137 of Cornell political scientist Theodore Lowi’s 1969 book The End of Liberalism: Ideology, Policy, and the Crisis of Public Authority: The move from concreteness to abstractness in the...
View ArticleRhetoric and Emotion
The beginning of Aristotle’s On Rhetoric has a lesson for staying informed despite today’s dominant political strategy: Appeals to the emotions warp the judgment. One of Aristotle’s main points is that...
View ArticleAristotle – The Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle – The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle’s major work on ethics. It was named for either Aristotle’s son or father, who were both named Nicomachus. Basically lecture notes from his classes, this...
View ArticleAristotle – The Politics
Aristotle – The Politics Another fundamental work in its discipline. Despite never having read it until now, it still felt like review. This may be because it has influenced every major work since....
View ArticleAristotle – On Rhetoric
Aristotle – On Rhetoric Rhetoric is a morally neutral tool that can equally be used for good or bad purposes. It is important to use it wisely and only towards good ends. Athens having no professional...
View ArticleAristotle – The Poetics
Aristotle – The Poetics A shorter work with useful insights for appreciating storytelling in general, and Greek drama and poetry in particular. Aristotle offers a key insight for making a character...
View ArticleSarah Bakewell – How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and...
Sarah Bakewell – How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer Despite the title, this delightful volume is no self-help book. It is mostly a biography of...
View Article
