Years ago, I took a single class on epistemology (the study of truth). I remember thinking it was the most important class I took at uni. The lessons have stuck.
This week's post is about the four theories of truth, and how you may use it to think better:
Conversation
What has been most interesting for me, writing this, was the observation that pragmatism is still relatively underused as a method of reasoning.
And also — ironically — while the philosophy of pragmatism emerged in the US, it was Singapore who perfected it.
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(Or rather Singapore who lived longest with it).
Consequently, Singaporean thinkers are the ones who are most familiar with its problems.
I don't spend much time in my piece on the problems of pragmatism, but I think I wouldn't have known about them without living in SG.
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Replying to
i always think of the example of pushing birth control when your beliefs call for celibacy as being a good example of "pragmatic"
what class of examples are bad uses of pragmatism as a guide?
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Thanos is a *perfect* example of pragmatism!
It's difficult to capture all the ways Singaporean pragmatism has caused problems, but the gist of it is, it becomes an excuse not to dream.
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Whereas in its original form (and this is still the case), it was a method of evaluating every idea that might prove useful, regardless of origin. Free market? State control? Who cares? Does it work for the given goals, in that given situation? If so, test it, then do it.