Thursday 1 July 2010

The Importance Of Epistemology

"They think nothing can be good unless it's demonstrated to you that in the particular case it achieves a good object... I think in most instances it's a deeply ingrained intellectual attitude which forces them to disapprove of something which seems to them [un]intelligible and to prefer something which is visibly directed to a good purpose."
F.A. Hayek in conversation with Robert Bork on whether resistance to economic freedom is due to intellectual error or in Bork's words "something more sinister", November 4th 1978.
"But common sense is not enough where theoretical knowledge is required: it can make simple, concrete-bound connections -- it cannot integrate complex issues, or deal with wide abstractions, or forecast the future."
Ayn Rand in her essay "Don't Let It Go", from the anthology, "Philosophy: Who Needs It", but which I found at this post by Billy Beck.

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