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.
1
4
(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.
3
5
Replying to
Will you write on the problems of pragmatism? Curious on your thoughts on the differences between personal pragmatism and state pragmatism.
1
Also, judging the success of pragmatism over the long term in light of Goodhart's law ("When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."), the Principal Agent problem, and standard criticisms of utilitarianism seems subjective.
1
Replying to
That's the problem with the way I've set up the blog — I don't allow myself to write on things that aren't actionable/useful. The problems with state pragmatism (which really means Singaporean pragmatism, for no other state I know practices it) would be too esoteric for most.
Replying to
Ha, that's true. I've had many long, fruitless, circular debates about LKY vs more market force governance with singaporean friends. Which is why I was curious about your take.
1