Bryan Caplan's Blog, page 13

Knowledge, Reality, and Value: Huemer’s Response, Part 1

Here’s Mike Huemer’s first set of responses to me and you.

About Bryan’s Comments

Thanks to Bryan for his fair and helpful comments on part 1. There isn’t much that we disagree about. But here are some thoughts about Bryan’s comments.

1. Philosophical progress:

It’s fair to say that philosophy makes slower and less impressive progress than the natural sciences, or even economics. (But not less than the other humanities and social sciences.) And there are at least some 2,000-year-old issues that...

Deregulate Discrimination

Two months ago, I voiced one big criticism of Richard Hanania’s excellent piece on the curiously ubiquitous institutional influence of the left:

Hanania still fails to explain the sheer uniformity of left-wing cultural dominance.  Competition normally delivers more diversity than we’re getting.  And for that, I stand by my Explanation #5, which I flesh out greater detail here.

Explanation #5. Discrimination law covertly stymies the creation of right-wing firms.  Most obviously, any firm that ope...

Miguel Perez: A “Bad Student” Makes Good

Miguel Perez sent me this email, entitled “the curious case of my education.”  Reprinted with his permission.

Hi, I am sharing my case with you, because I feel it epitomizes some of your points against current education.

I was born in Spain, in 1988, went to public school and it was a disaster. I was diagnosed with severe ADHD, and was unable to finish middle school. I came to China, where I faked my high school diploma to get into college. I studied Chinese language and literature there, an...

Knowledge, Reality, and Value Book Club, Part 1

In the Preface for his new Knowledge, Reality, and Value, Mike Huemer engages in some humorous megalomania.  In response to the question, “Why read this book?,” Huemer states:

The author. I’m smart, I know a lot, and I’m not confused – which means you can probably learn a lot from this book. You probably won’t learn too many falsehoods, and you probably won’t run into too many passages that don’t make sense.

All accurate.  Huemer is very smart, does indeed know a lot, and is not confused.  And h...

Knowledge, Reality, and Value Book Club Starts Monday

My Book Club on ‘s new intro philosophy textbook launches Monday.  And I’m pleased to announce the Huemer himself will be joining the discussion.

After I write the first post, you can direct your comments to either of us.  I’ll be responding later in the week.  Huemer will respond separately.

While the book is 346 pages long, it’s so readable that you can easily be done Monday if you start now!

The post Knowledge, Reality, and Value Book Club Starts Monday appeared first on Econlib.

Bad Religion vs. Labor Econ

For my 50th birthday, the noble Jason Brennan gave me Do What You Want: The Story of Bad Religion, signed by the whole band.  I love their music.  I listen to it all the time.  Greg Graffin, the lead singer, clearly has excellent knowledge of natural science.  Yet Bad Religion’s lyrics are sadly infused with economic illiteracy, one cliche of populist green leftism after another.  Listen to “10 in 2010,” “Modern Man,” or “Department of False Hope.”  It’s tempting to read “American Jesus” as an o...

Social Desirability Bias in Three Speeches

I just rewatched Election for the first time in twenty years, and it was even better than I remembered.  And this time around, I had better conceptual tools to understand it.  Most notably, the movie features three election speeches that elegantly exemplify Social Desirability Bias – and its absence.

First, the front-runner, Tracy Flick, delivers a classic firehose of SDB:

Poet Henry David Thoreau once wrote, “I cannot make my days longer, so I strive to make them better.”

With this election, we...

The UK’s Office of Free Speech

Last January, my anonymous professor friend at the University of Texas proposed the creation of an Office of Free Speech:

[E]very university should have an “Office of Free Speech” where faculty can lodge complaints when their academic freedom or free speech rights are violated, or when policies are put in place to limit the possibilities for intellectual diversity.  This office must have adequate funding to complete independent investigations of such allegations, and it should report directly to...

Crusades and You

Every five years or so, the United States has a major societal-wide crusade.  Sometimes there’s a shocking event.  Other times, there’s an ongoing evil.  Either way, all Americans are supposed to join forces and take decisive action to win the crusade.  And even if you can’t personally do anything, you’re supposed to get very angry.

You’re supposed to be very angry about the problem.

You’re supposed to be very angry about anyone who stands between us and victory.

You’re supposed to angrily suppo...

Knowledge, Reality, and Value Book Club

I’m launching a book club on Michael Huemer’s new introductory philosophy textbook, entitled Knowledge, Reality, and Value: A Mostly Common Sense Guide to Philosophy. I’ve already blogged a few highlights, but now that I’m done, I’m ready to declare this yet another fantastic work by my favorite philosopher.

To keep the club interesting, I’ll focus almost exclusively on my disagreements with Huemer.  I’ll post the first segment on Part I on Monday, May 31, and respond to reader comments on Thur...