Philosophy

Intellect: Mind over Matter by Mortimer J. Adler, Collier Books, 1993.

The Quest for Cosmic Justice  by Thomas Sowell, Free Press, 1999.  Trilogy This book is an extension of his earlier books, A Conflict of Visions and The Vision of the Anointed . The first book discussed how an economic philosopher’s economic ideas depend on his view of human nature. The second book criticized those who are satisfied with merely appearing to have compassion for the poor, instead of objectively proving that they have compassion for the poor, by testing their s

The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy  by Thomas Sowell, Basic Books, 1995.  Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy The subtitle of this book is awesome. It implies that liberals, progressives and socialists are motivated by ego, not by compassion for the poor. For liberals, self-respect depends primarily on their political philosophy. They see themselves as a moral elite, surrounded by ignoramuses. They will resist any evidenc

A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles  by Thomas Sowell, Basic Books, 2007.  Social Visions Sowell sees differing political and economic philosophies as originating from differing visions of human nature. Sowell identifies two of these visions: the constrained vision and the unconstrained vision. Constrained by what? Well, constrained by reality and human nature. Sowell favors the constrained vision, and criticizes the unconstrained vision for its

Philosophy: Who Needs It  by Ayn Rand, Penguin, 1984. At the most general level, philosophical systems can be categorized into two groups: those that are based on the primacy of existence and those that are based on the primacy of consciousness. Aristotle and Ayn Rand favor the primacy of existence. The anti-conceptual mentality has several characteristics: (a) intellectual passivity with respect to forming concepts at higher levels of abstraction, (b) difficulty distinguishi

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature  by Steven Pinker, Viking, 2002.  In this book Steven Pinker demonstrates an unusual degree of clarity and subtlety of thought. Philosophy of Mind Steven Pinker compares three traditional theories of mind to what is known from current research in cognitive psychology. The three theories are: The Blank Slate: This theory was introduced by British philosopher John Locke. Locke believed that the child is born a blank slate, with

How We Know: Epistemology on an Objectivist Foundation  by Harry Binswanger. Independently published (2021)

The Book of Why  by Judea Pearl with Dana MacKenzie, Basic Books, 2018.  Correlation is Not Causation It is widely known that correlation is not causation. Correlation comes from observation. Much effort has gone into trying to figure some way to discover causation from analyzing observational data. Interventions and Counterfactuals The author says that in order to understand causation, observation and analyzing observational data is not enough. It is necessary to take two fu

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements  by Eric Hoffer, Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2010 (originally published 1951).  A Substitute for a Failed Personal Life The author proposes a theory of why some people join mass movements. Some people are dissatisfied with their personal lives. Hoffer describes them as believing that their self has become “spoiled”. Such people cannot find meaning and happiness in their personal lives, so they try to become par

Desires, Right and Wrong: The Ethics of Enough  by Mortimer J. Adler, Macmillan, 1991.  This book describes one part of the ethical...

Aristotle for Everybody: Difficult Thought Made Easy  by Mortimer J. Adler, Touchstone, 1997.  In plain language, this book presents the...