Philosophy

by Elliot Temple

Other Websites:

Fallible Ideas Curiosity Blog Elliot Temple
Rational Essays Free Liberalism Learn Objectivism Reason & Morality Yes or No Philosophy The Beginning of Infinity

Test

h1

hi. this is a test file.

h2

blockquote with italic and bold and a link

h3

italic and bold and bolditalic. what about underscores and super^script?

h4

let’s link curi blog and Fallible Ideas

h5
  • an
  • unordered
  • list
h6
  1. an
  2. ordered
  3. list

hr next:

now nested quote!?

three levels

two levels

one level

plain text

block quote

with two paragraphs (space on paragraph break line)

second block quote

no space on the paragraph break

third block quote to test margins btwn blockquotes

more text

Solutions To Your Problems

All problems can be solved by knowing how. I tell you how.

I figure out your problems and their solutions. I help you learn anything you’d like to learn.

The most important philosophy is about reason: how to think and how to learn. Because reason applies to all topics, I can help with virtually anything (just ask). I have a track record of successfully applying philosophy to solve problems outside of philosophy.

Reason is needed in every field. If you think the wrong way, you’ll make mistakes, no matter how much you study your field. And a specialist who doesn’t know the best methods of learning can easily spend five years learning what could have been learned in one year. Philosophy is the most important field because it’s necessary for every other field. So people should stop paying lip service to “critical thinking” and neglecting philosophy. One consequence is I’ve often used philosophy knowledge to find mistakes in academic papers and specialist books.

As fallible human beings, we all make mistakes. Mistakes cost time and money. Mistakes lead to failures, fights and regrets. And you’re not aware of over half the mistakes you make! Philosophy is the field which covers the topic of mistakes. It’s a huge risk not to use the latest and most advanced knowledge about reducing, identifying and fixing mistakes. But you don’t have to learn all about philosophy yourself. I can apply my expertise to your situation.

You may know that I participate in free, public discussions and I post free writing online because I enjoy it. Paid consulting is different. It means I do only my best work and personalize it for you. And I organize it more than blog posts and discussions. Plus, consulting offers privacy for your personal issues.

Do you have difficulty applying philosophy concepts to your personal problems? Are you stuck in your own unique way? Would you benefit from a different style of help than my normal writing? Is your life passing you by and you need an energetic wakeup call? Do you waste your time and don’t do the things you think you want to do? Personalization can help you. Normally I write for my benefit; you’ll find custom work for your benefit is more helpful.

Your life could be better. I can help. Email me at elliot@fallibleideas.com

Who Am I?

I’m Elliot Temple. I love thinking and have sought out and studied great philosophy. I’ve especially studied the philosophy of ideas (epistemology), moral philosophy and liberalism. I have broad interests including economics, science, relationships and education. Thinkers I’ve studied extra extensively include Ayn Rand, Karl Popper, William Godwin, Edmund Burke, Thomas Szasz, Ludwig von Mises, Xenophanes, Ann Coulter, David Horowitz and Richard Feynman.

I learned a great deal from over 5,000 hours of discussions with physicist, philosopher and author David Deutsch. He was the leading Popperian philosopher at the time.

I’ve written over 50,000 discussion contributions. (Watch me write!) I’ve already considered many obscure issues. You’ll be surprised by what I’m familiar with.

Many philosophers try to impress people by writing confusing ideas. I’ve worked to discuss in a clear, simple way. Good ideas make sense. Don’t buy into the myth that some genius philosophers can understand super advanced ideas which are beyond you.

I apply philosophy concepts to learn new things quickly and effectively. Learning things well is what I like to do. I do professional computer programming. I ranked top 10 nationally, and first in California, in scholastic chess tournaments. I’ve been world class at several computer games and my guides have two million views. I have expert knowledge in parenting/education, physics, economics, evolution, psychiatry, social dynamics, relationships, business, politics, and some parts of history.

My Fallible Ideas philosophy offers unique value that isn’t available anywhere else. I think and write fast. I can explain anything in a way that you can understand. I have tons of energy and can always brainstorm plenty of criticisms and ways for you to make progress. Nothing offends me and I have extreme patience. Rates are low (compared to expertise and value) because the world doesn’t want to think (low demand).

Rate

I work in 2-hour time blocks. That lets me produce substantial work in an uninterrupted sitting.

My rate is $400 for a block.

Sometimes I give discounts for projects I like (e.g. working with a child) or big projects. There’s no harm in asking. Or make me an offer if you want to negotiate. I also do fixed bids.

To hire me, email elliot@fallibleideas.com

I always appreciate project inquiries. I often point people in the right direction even if we don’t do a paid project. You won’t waste my time.

References

I’ve hired Elliot on several occasions to look into philosophical issues for me. Elliot is not afraid to tell people the truth, rather than what they want to hear or what other people want them to hear. – Josh Jordan, software developer

Elliot’s advice has helped me tons. He’s really good at thinking and arguing. A bargain at any price. He’s like an Ayn Rand Enhanced Edition. – Justin Mallone, philosopher and lawyer

Elliot saved my life and my kids’ lives. – Rami Rustom, business owner

Elliot helped me turn good and get away from evil. And he helped me quit lying. – Lulu Rustom

Elliot has a lot of philosophical knowledge. He is skilled at argument and at problem solving. He is the best person you could go to for philosophy consulting. – Alan Forrester, philosopher and physicist

I hired Elliot to help with some career decisions. I think he understood my problem and situation well, and he delivered a document with relevant suggestions. – Anonymous

Details

I decide whether I want to do a project. I turn down projects contrary to my values, e.g. writing pro-socialism arguments.

I sell solutions, not time. If I spend extra time writing an explanation, you don’t pay extra. Two hours is to give a sense of what to expect from one block of work.

I work with ideas. Writing is the overall best format for dealing with ideas, so I most often write solutions. I can also create videos, slideshow presentations, diagrams, etc.

I work online. I communicate with email, instant messages and calls.

You can tell me what you want. Or I can work with you to figure out what you need.

It works better if you put effort into this. For example, if you send me a long document, organize it with sections and footnotes, and do an editing pass.

Limited Time or Money

Improving your life in a big way will require lots of time or money from you. If you’re busy, I can work around that. Or I can help guide you to make progress on your own time in order to minimize the price. I can also refer you to a great but cheaper philosophy consultant.

If you don’t have much time or money, here’s some free advice: multitask reading audiobooks and text-to-speech books while doing other activities like driving, walking, shopping, cooking, being bored at work or school, exercising, or waiting. Good authors to read are me, Ayn Rand, David Deutsch, Karl Popper or something which fits you. Because books sell to a large audience, you can get hundreds of hours of work from very smart people for a few bucks.

I also run the free Fallible Ideas Discussion Forum.

Difficult Projects

The hardest clients to work with successfully are passive and dishonest people. Passive people say they like a solution or idea, and don’t have any questions or objections, but then don’t act on it. Dishonest people hide their problems and opinions. Most people are passive and dishonest, and also dishonestly believe they aren’t. The degree of the problem varies. I am experienced with these problems and have developed expertise at dealing with them. I can help you figure out what you don’t like about something you’re not doing and figure out how to make it work for you. But in order to succeed, clients must also put effort into taking actions and being honest.

Projects can fail if you refuse to think about it and ignore my advice. If you need it, I can be firm, controlling, and tell you what to do. But I won’t use psychological manipulation to get you to do stuff. I’m not here to “make” you do things. If you want to be manipulated with conventional memes, look elsewhere.

My philosophy knowledge lets me understand some things about you that you don’t know. Some of the insights will be negative. If you’re hostile to finding out about problems, and want to shoot the messenger, that will get in the way of learning and problem solving.

Example Projects

Hire me for one of these projects! elliot@fallibleideas.com

How Do I Know I’m Right?

How do I know capitalism is right and socialism is wrong? How do I know that induction is a mistake, contrary to Bayesian philosophy? How do I know that punishing children isn’t educational?

I’ve done all the usual things. I’ve read about rival ideas. I’ve critically considered my ideas. I’ve researched biases. I’ve asked people to explain why I’m mistaken. I’ve sought out discussions with smart people, critics, experts, etc. That’s not enough. Many people have done that.

What I’ve done differently is put my ideas in public and then address every single criticism from every critic who is willing to discuss. I’ve answered all comers for over 15 years. If any of my ideas are mistaken, either no one knows it, neither of us has managed to find the other, or they aren’t willing to share their knowledge.

My philosophical positions have survived criticism from everyone willing to offer criticism. That’s pretty good! None of the alternative ideas can say that.

Few of the alternatives even pretend to have a public forum for open, critical discussion. When they have a forum at all, the moderators typically block posters who dissent too much.

I know this because I’ve gone and tried every public English language online discussion forum I could find which claimed to offer serious, intellectual discussion. And they all fail to live up to basic standards like allowing pro-Critical-Rationalism or pro-Objectivism ideas to be discussed to a conclusion.

Discussion forums I’ve evaluated include: Less Wrong, Quora, Hacker News, The Harry Binswanger Letter, Gerontology Research Group Forum, Ann Coulter Official Chat, The Well, Physics Forums, Open Oxford, various reddits, various Facebook groups, various email groups, various stack exchanges, various philosophy forums, Objectivist Answers, The Forum for Ayn Rand Fans, Sense of Life Objectivists, Objectivist Living, Rebirth of Reason, and Objectivism Online. I’ve also evaluated blogs and individuals for potential discussion, such as: Mark Cuban, physicist blogger Scott Aaronson, blog Ayn Rand Contra Human Nature, Popperian author Ray Scott Percival, Popperian author Joanna Swann, tech writer Ben Thompson, Objectivist author George H. Smith, author Robert Zubrin, Center for Industrial Progress founder Alex Epstein, and Objectivist author Leonard Peikoff.

When I talk with people who disagree with me, I routinely ask them certain questions: Are they willing to discuss the issue to a conclusion? Do they consider themselves a serious thinker who has studied the matter and knows what he’s talking about? Do they know any serious intellectual who agrees with them and will discuss it to a conclusion? Do they know of any high quality discussion forum with smart people who would be willing to discuss it? Do they know of any forum where I can go ask challenging questions about their position and get answers? The answers to my questions are predictable: “no” or silence.

This is the clearest difference between me and my rivals. My ideas are open to public criticism supported by a discussion forum which allows free speech. I pursue discussions to a conclusion to actually resolve issues. And I think even a single flaw must be addressed or it refutes an idea. I don’t ignore some problems with my ideas and claim problems are “outweighed” by some merit.

Impressed? Skeptical? Tell me: elliot@fallibleideas.com

A Couple Things I Wrote

Hire me: elliot@fallibleideas.com

Return to the Fallible Ideas home page with essays.

What Books Should You Read?

If you care about reason, truth, or your life, you should read the books of humanity’s smartest thinkers. But which ones? People get frustrated because many “great books” they’re told to read are actually bad. Other “great books” have historical importance but are surpassed by modern books. Reasonable people often give up and conclude that intellectual books are boring, impractical and false.

I’ve read extensively to find out which books offer the most value to learn from today. And I’ve debated extensively to find out which ideas are true or false. While you’ll have to judge for yourself, I can point you in the right direction.

If you want to understand the world, you’re better off reading these books than going to university.

Note: It’s very easy to misunderstand books you read. And a misunderstanding on page 2 can lead to a further misunderstanding on page 5 which causes another misunderstanding on page 8. You should expect to form over 100 misunderstandings per book-about-ideas you read alone. To do better, discuss books as you read them (don’t wait until the end of the book). Join the Fallible Ideas discussion group and share what you’re learning. The helpful membership has people who already understand these books and can offer corrections.

I made a video introducing the reading list:

Green text indicates a link. Click on a book to get it.

Index

Tier 1

If you haven’t read these, you aren’t in a position to have productive, intellectual discussions. You need to be familiar with humanity’s best ideas if you want to have educated views or contribute anything. Without putting some effort into learning about reason, you shouldn’t expect to be good at it.

Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand (1905-1982) (summary) was the greatest philosopher. Her philosophy is called Objectivism. Her specialties include reason, morality, liberalism (freedom and capitalism), individualism, self-interest, productivity, objectivity, art, and writing. She explained the power of ideas.

Rand explained great ideas and also criticized bad ideas such as socialism, environmentalism, pragmatism, altruism, mysticism, collectivism, skepticism (denial humans can know things), and idealism (denial the world is real). You are making many of these mistakes without realizing it.

You should read all of Rand’s books. Below I highlight her very best work.

Atlas Shrugged

This novel is about how ideas affect a country. It has major lessons for politics, economics, and how to live your life. It’s the best book ever written.

The Fountainhead

This novel is about having your own individual self. Don’t let memes and other people’s judgements rule your life. Have integrity, don’t compromise. If you think that sounds easy, I can guarantee that you’re failing at it, and you desperately need this book. If you think it sounds hard, good, now read the most helpful book about it.

The Virtue of Selfishness

Chapter: The Ethics of Emergencies

Rand explains how to deal with emergency situations, and why they shouldn’t be central to moral philosophy.

Chapter: The “Conflicts” of Men’s Interests

There are no conflicts of interest among rational men. This means you never have to fight with people. No one ever has to lose for you to succeed.

Chapter: Doesn’t Life Require Compromise?

Compromising is dangerous. Rand explains when not to compromise, and why.

Chapter: How Does One Lead a Rational Life in an Irrational Society?

Pronouncing moral judgment is key to maintaining one’s integrity in an irrational society (including every society today). In summary: “Judge, and be prepared to be judged.”

Philosophy: Who Needs It

Chapter: Philosophy: Who Needs It

Everyone needs philosophy. Everyone has philosophical ideas. Your only choice is whether you consciously consider and choose your philosophy, or you passively and uncritically pick up ideas from your culture.

Chapter: An Untitled Letter

Rand does a close reading of a New York Times article and their book review of A Theory of Justice by John Rawls. Rand reveals techniques being used to spread irrational ideas and traces them back to Kant.

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

Chapter: The Anatomy of Compromise

Compromising on principles helps evil and irrationality. Rand summarizes with three rules, which the chapter explains:

  1. In any conflict between two men (or two groups) who hold the same basic principles, it is the more consistent one who wins.
  2. In any collaboration between two men (or two groups) who hold different basic principles, it is the more evil or irrational one who wins.
  3. When opposite basic principles are clearly and openly defined, it works to the advantage of the rational side; when they are not clearly defined, but are hidden or evaded, it works to the advantage of the irrational side.

The Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution

Chapter: The “Inexplicable Personal Alchemy”

Young, “independent minds” are “perishing in silence, unknown and unnoticed”. They are destroyed by a “cult of irrationality” including our “academic and cultural Establishment”. Rand discusses the grave problem.

The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought

Chapter: How to Read (and Not to Write)

Rand does a close reading of a New York Times editorial, and highlights some typical anti-reason writing. Learning how to read closely is one of the best skills you could develop.

David Deutsch

David Deutsch (1953-present) is physicist and philosopher. His books contain concise explanations of Popperian epistemology. He improved on Popper and is a better writer, so read Deutsch before Popper. I recommend reading FoR before BoI. The main chapters discussing Popperian philosophy are FoR ch. 1, 3, 7-8 and BoI ch. 1-4, 10, 13. All the ideas fit together, so I recommend everything (except the time travel and singularity parts in FoR).

The Fabric of Reality

Deutsch’s first book connects four major topics: the philosophy of knowledge, evolution, the theory of computation, and quantum physics. Learn about how to think rationally, while also finding out about parallel universes, virtual reality, life, universality, and how to know what’s real (and how to refute solipsism). Deutsch explains that all our ideas can be mistaken – even mathematical “proofs” – and how to handle that.

The Beginning of Infinity

Deutsch writes about reason and where it can lead: unbounded progress. He covers topics like science, universality, artificial intelligence, beauty, and voting systems. But what’s most important is the underlying philosophy and the explanations of how knowledge is and isn’t created. Deutsch also presents his breakthrough idea about rational and anti-rational memes.

Karl Popper

Karl Popper (1902-1994) (summary) was a philosopher of knowledge and science. He also did great work on ancient Greece and mixed work on political philosophy.

Popper made a huge philosophical breakthrough. The philosophy of knowledge (epistemology) was stuck since Aristotle. Popper identified, and corrected, the major errors which were leading everyone to dead ends for over 2000 years.

The errors include induction (the myth that we learn by extrapolating general patterns from observations), justificationism (including the claim that ideas can be supported by arguments and evidence), strong empiricism, and the skepticism/infallibility false dichotomy (Popper offers a third way: fallible knowledge).

Popper’s solution is that fallible knowledge is created by trial and error. This is evolution, literally, in the form of guesses and criticism. Thinking involves replicating ideas with variations, and criticism performs selection.

The quality of Popper’s writing varies for two main reasons. First, he made such a huge breakthrough that he was unable to understand all of it immediately. His later work explains it better, and he didn’t finish considering all the implications during his lifetime. Second, Popper made mistakes, especially in political philosophy.

So I don’t recommend reading Popper’s books cover to cover. Instead, I present the specific chapters to read. His other writing contains tons of value, but it’s harder to learn from.

Popper’s Best

Realism and the Aim of Science

Part 1, Chapter 1, Sections 1-4

Popper addresses the problem of induction. He explains that we can sort out good and bad scientific theories just by criticizing the bad ones. We don’t need, and can’t have, an additional process to support or justify good theories.

Objective Knowledge

Chapter: Conjectural Knowledge: My Solution to the Problem of Induction

Popper summarizes his epistemology and philosophy of science. He refutes induction (including the myth that people use inductive thinking even though it doesn’t rationally work) and explains the growth of scientific knowledge.

Chapter 2, Section 34: Summary: A Critical Philosophy of Common Sense

The chart concisely clarifies how Popper differs from other philosophers. The rest of the chapter is good but difficult, so save it for later.

Appendix: The Bucket and the Searchlight

The bucket theory of knowledge says people are passively filled up with information like sense perceptions. Popper advocates the searchlight view: people must actively make choices about what to pay attention to, and seek out solutions to problems in a goal-directed search.

Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge

Introduction: On the Sources of Knowledge and of Ignorance

Truth is never obvious. You can’t understand the world just by looking at it. You have to make guesses about the truth and criticize them. And ideas must be judged by their content not their source. Instead of trying to get knowledge from good sources, Popper emphasizes the question, “How can we hope to detect and eliminate error?”

Chapter: Back to the Presocratics

Popper connects his ideas to the early Greeks. Topics include fallibility and criticism. Popper is the best commentator on the Presocratics because he’s not in the tradition of Plato or Aristotle, and neither were they. (This chapter is also in The World of Parmenides.)

The Philosophy of Karl Popper, Volume 2

This is a two-book set (here’s volume 1) in which Popper replies to critics. 33 philosophers wrote essays. Popper’s replies are in part 3 which is in the second volume.

Part 3, Chapter 3, Sections 13-14: My Solution of Hume’s Problem of Induction, The Psychological and Pragmatic Problems of Induction

Popper explains his solution to the problem of induction, which he calls the problem of human knowledge. Induction is logically invalid and unjustified. And it’s a myth that anyone has ever thought inductively. Induction isn’t necessary or even useful to rescue or defend. People’s actual thinking works in a different way.

The World of Parmenides: Essays on the Presocratic Enlightenment

Introduction: Aristotle’s invention of induction and the eclipse of Presocratic cosmology

Popper discusses knowledge. Excerpt:

This is the main reason why I do not like Aristotle: what to Plato is a scientific hypothesis becomes with Aristotle epistēmē, demonstrable knowledge. And for most epistemologists of the West, it has remained so ever since.

The Myth of the Framework

Chapter: The Myth of the Framework

Discussing disagreements between people with very different perspectives can be productive and is important.

Popper’s Second Best

All Life Is Problem Solving

Chapter: On the Theory of Democracy

Democracy is way to remove bad leaders and policies. But thinking of democracy as “rule by the people” is authoritarian. Popper also criticizes proportional representation.

The World of Parmenides: Essays on the Presocratic Enlightenment

Chapter: The Unknown Xenophanes

Popper looks at what problems historical thinkers were trying to solve, and what solutions would have made sense to people at the time. He focuses on good explanations instead of literal translations. Popper’s analysis of Xenophanes illustrates his historical method and discusses some of his own views.

Chapter 2, Addendum 2: Some Principles For A New Professional Ethics Based On Xenophanes’ Theory Of Truth

There are no valid intellectual authorities. It’s impossible to avoid all mistakes, but we should constantly make a large effort avoid and fix mistakes. A self-critical attitude is crucial, and criticism from others is necessary too.

Chapter: Concluding Remarks On Support And Countersupport

Popper gives a disproof of induction with difficult math. He also discusses the general issue and Socrates and Aristotle.

The Myth of the Framework

Chapter: The Rationality of Scientific Revolutions

Science is an evolutionary process which creates knowledge by variation and selection. Evolution selects genes that create copies. Scientific knowledge is better because ideas are selected by whether they solve problems.

In Search of a Better World

Chapter: On the So-called Sources of Knowledge

No source of knowledge should be treated as an authority. They provide ideas that should be judged by whether the ideas solve problems.

Objective Knowledge

Chapter: Epistemology Without a Knowing Subject

Knowledge can exist outside of minds, e.g. in books.

Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge

Chapter: Science: Conjectures and Refutations

Popper discusses his epistemology.

Chapter: The Nature of Philosophical Problems and their Roots in Science

There are real philosophical problems which arise from problems outside philosophy.

Chapter: Three Views Concerning Human Knowledge

Popper criticizes different ways of understanding human knowledge (essentialism and instrumentalism) and explains how reason works.

Chapter: Towards a Rational Theory of Tradition

Traditions are a starting point that can be improved by pointing out problems and suggesting solutions.

Chapter: Utopia and Violence

Popper contrasts reason with violence, and argues against utopian thinking.

The Philosophy of Karl Popper, Volume 2

Part 3, Chapter 1, Section 2: The Popper Legend

People have spread myths about Popper’s views. Popper corrects some misunderstandings.

Tier 2

These books would reshape the world if people understood them.

Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) was a liberal (pro-freedom, pro-capitalism) Austrian economist. He is the greatest economist we’ve ever had, and he wrote amazing political philosophy. Read his books (mises.org, Amazon) starting with his best books (listed below).

What if you’re not very interested in politics and economics? Economics is for everyone, similar to science. Not everyone needs to be an expert on science or economics. But basic familiarity with the scientific mindset and methods is good for everyone. It gives you a valuable perspective on the world. Scientific thinking helps you avoid superstition, and have some rough idea of what’s going on with all the advanced technologies in the world. And learning about science lets you find out about evolution, find out the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, learn what a star is, understand the concept of microscopic bacteria, and realize that many facts about the universe are counter-intuitive. It’s also good to have heard of randomized double-blind trials, placebos, sources of error, and rejecting any hypothesis which contradicts experiment. It’s worthwhile understand that a lot of hard, precise work goes into figuring out science, which is worthy of respect, and that you shouldn’t contradict science lightly.

The value of knowing how economists think is similar to the value of knowing how scientists think. It gives you a new perspective on the world. You can see how to rationally analyze the consequences of actions (instead of relying on good intentions). You can learn about sunk costs, comparative advantage, specialization, division of labor, the broken window fallacy (behind which are selective attention and the seen and unseeen), negotiation, insurance, pricing and investing. You can understand what money is, how capitalism, trade and business work, and the mindset behind how to rationally analyze these matters. And economics enables thinking well about incentives, risk, and purchasing decisions.

Liberalism: In the Classical Tradition

This short book is a great explanation of liberal thinking.

Human Action

Mises’ masterpiece extensively covers basic and advanced economics. That doesn’t just mean money and business, it includes rigorous study of all human action.

The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality

This short book discusses why people dislike capitalism.

Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis

If you want to understand what’s wrong with socialism – including why it’s literally impossible for it to work economically – read this.

William Godwin

William Godwin (1756-1836) (summary) is the best thinker you’ve never heard of. Only two thinkers from before 1900 are still important reading today in order to learn good ideas (rather than for historical interest). Everything else has been written better by a more recent author like Rand, Mises or Popper. Godwin is still relevant because he was over 200 years ahead of his time! Though, unfortunately, Godwin’s old writing style can be difficult reading.

Godwin was a classical liberal writer with insight into government and society. And he was extraordinarily rational in his pursuit of truth. He remains one of the only liberals to actually believe that liberal principles should be applied to all human beings – even children. (John Locke, for a contrasting example, thought “liberty … can do no good to children”.)

Godwin understood that using aggressive force is irrational. He pointed out that people use persuasion when they can, and resort to force when their arguments are inadequate.

An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice

Godwin’s best book masterfully applies rational thinking to broad political philosophy issues. This is the best book from the Enlightenment. For example, Godwin solved the nature/nurture problem in one chapter, with correct arguments, before science had much to say on the matter. (Most people today either consider the problem unsolved or have the wrong answer. The correct answer is nurture, not major influences from both.)

The Enquirer: Reflections on Education, Manners and Literature

These essays cover various topics. In particular, Godwin is the only thinker to have good ideas about parenting and education before David Deutsch developed Taking Children Seriously in the 1990s. (Parenting is the topic people are worst at because it’s most important to the spread of ideas. That means parenting anti-rational memes faced the strongest selection pressure and became the most advanced.)

Godwin wrote lots of books, but only some of them have modern relevance. Avoid secondary sources because they’re frequently wrong (including editors’ introductions to primary source books).

Tier 3

These top thinkers are better than more famous names.

Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke (1729-1795) (summary) is the only other pre-1900 thinker who isn’t obsolete today. He was a liberal reformer who changed the world. Burke’s biggest achievements were peace between Britain and America after the War of Independence (which his King opposed), and persuading people to oppose the French Revolution.

Burke is difficult to learn from because he was a politician rather than a philosophical writer. You have to figure out the thinking methods he was using. You also have to deal with an old writing style. If you can understand Burke, you can learn a lot about liberalism, tradition, reform and rhetoric.

The Great Melody

This is a Burke biography. I rarely recommend secondary source books about anything. I read two dozen books about Burke and all the rest were bad. But The Great Melody is so good that you should read it first!

Reflections on the Revolution in France

Burke’s best known book warned the world against the French Revolution. The philosophical themes deal with tradition, reason and reform. The French Revolutionaries thought they were representatives of reason, but Burke explains how they were dangerously mistaken.

Burke’s Speech on Conciliation with America and Burke’s Speech on American Taxation

You’ll read passages from Burke’s speeches in The Great Melody. These two are particularly good. There’s more Burke writing online.

Thomas Szasz

Thomas Szasz (1920-2012) (manifesto, summary, essay) advocated liberty and criticized psychiatry. He explained that people’s life problems aren’t a medical issue.

Psychiatry hurts people and deprives them of liberty. That’s its purpose. We live in a pretty tolerant, liberal, open society where people sometimes want to be intolerant, restrict liberty, and control others. Psychiatry provides this service while lying about its nature to make it socially acceptable.

Psychiatry also interferes with the legal process. It imprisons people in “mental hospitals” without trials, and it excuses criminals with the “insanity defense”.

Cruel Compassion: Psychiatric Control of Society’s Unwanted

Psychiatry violates liberty to control people who are unwanted by themselves or others. Psychiatry especially serves the government and the powerful.

Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

Psychiatry developed to control deviants, not help its “patients”.

The Medicalization of Everyday Life

Seeking the prestige and authority of science, psychiatry falsely claims many life problems are medical issues.

The Meaning of Mind: Language, Morality, and Neuroscience

Modern “neuroscience” is full of errors due to bad philosophy.

The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct

“Mental illness” is a category error. Bad ideas and misbehavior aren’t illnesses, that’s a metaphor at best. Calling someone mentally ill is a stigmatizing label masquerading as a medical “diagnosis”.

Fatal Freedom: The Ethics and Politics of Suicide

Typical views on suicide today contradict freedom.

Schizophrenia: The Sacred Symbol of Psychiatry

Schizophrenia is bullshit.

Coercion as Cure: A Critical History of Psychiatry

Psychiatrists hurt people and call it “treatment”.

Psychiatry: The Science of Lies

Psychiatry lies.

More Szasz Books

Szasz has over 30 books. They’re all great. Most of them are short, easy reads.

Tier 4

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that tier 4 is a low tier. These books are still way better than pretty much everything else.

Politics

The previous books are largely timeless. They deal with broad issues and principles like how to learn, how to think, how to live, how to organize society, and economics. Those will always be important subjects. (Psychiatry will hopefully be forgotten one day, but Szasz’s books also help you understand liberalism and rational thinking)

Many people are really interested in current politics. But to judge which side is right on which issue requires philosophy. The reason political debates are usually so fruitless is because none of the participants are good enough thinkers.

With that said, here are the best current political authors:

David Horowitz

David Horowitz used to be a radical leftist in the 1960s, but he realized he was mistaken. He founded the Freedom Center. Their Frontpage Magazine is the best site for political articles.

Take No Prisoners: The Battle Plan for Defeating the Left

Politics isn’t a game. The government has power which affects people’s lives. Bad policies make and keep people poor, destroy jobs, deny medical treatments, prevent housing from being built, make goods and services more expensive, oppress people, and can even starve millions to death (if that sounds implausible to you, look up “Holodomor”).

Horowitz explains how to fight political battles and win.

The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party

Learn how left is organized and controlled. Learn its goals and methods. If you don’t know about Soros and Alinsky, you don’t understand today’s U.S. politics.

Party of Defeat

The Democrats voted for the Iraq war, then mere months later they betrayed their country and began a campaign to lose the war.

Horowitz wrote lots of books. They’re all similar quality, so read the topics that interest you most.

Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter comments on politics. She writes a weekly column and is frequently on TV. Her well-researched books are her best work.

Adios, America: The Left’s Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole

Trump won the 2016 U.S. presidential election by repeating a few ideas about immigration from this book, which he asked for an advance copy of. Trump said Mexico doesn’t send us their best people and some immigrants commit crimes like rape. This stunned everyone so much that they didn’t notice Tump is a moderate. So far (June 2017) Trump hasn’t fulfilled his promises to build a border wall and get immigration under control. This book explains why he should.

Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama

You’ve probably heard the opposite a million times, but actually the “liberal” and “progressive” left is full of racists. Doubtful? Read the book.

All of Coulter’s books are about equally good so read the topics you prefer.

Other Topics

Feynman’s Stories: Richard Feynman was a brilliant physicist with broad interests. He appreciated Popper and had wise philosophical ideas. These books share entertaining stories from his life. If you consider what they mean instead of just having fun, you can learn a lot. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feymnan! and What Do You Care What Other People Think?.

Capitalism: Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics. George Reisman was a student of Mises and Rand. This economics treatise equals Mises in quality, and does a wonderful job including Objectivist ideas.

Objectivism: Understanding Objectivism is the best book about Objectivism that isn’t by Ayn Rand. (It’s more helpful than Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand.) Understanding Objectivism is based on recorded lectures by Leonard Peikoff. You can buy audio recordings of many other lectures by Peikoff, e.g. he covers the history of philosophy.

Israel: Caroline Glick (articles) writes about US and Israeli politics. Her book, The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East, explains why the “two state solution” to the Israeli/“Palestinian” conflict is bad and what to do instead.

War: Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History has an Objectivist author. It covers seven major parts of military history and uses them to illustrate important political philosophy principles.

??: Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is wide-ranging. It’s a curiosity that offers insight into abstract topics like math, mind, meaning, programming, logic, art, music and patterns.

History of Capitalism: The Myth of the Robber Barons differentiates market entrepreneurs and political entrepreneurs while dispelling myths about the history of U.S. capitalism.

Evolution: Have you read and discussed David Deutsch’s books, but don’t understand evolution well? And read my writing about evolution, including searching the discussion group archives for multiple groups and asking questions? That’s OK, evolution is hard. Read The Selfish Gene.

Economics Introduction: Economics in One Lesson is the best way to get started understanding economics. (Don’t worry, no math.)

Physics: Feynman Lectures on Physics and QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter.

Computation: Feynman Lectures On Computation. Feynman discusses computers at a low level and connects computing concepts to physical hardware. He also covers some important computing theories. This book isn’t for learning to program.

Programming: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs is the best book for understanding programming conceptually. If you want to be a good programmer, read this. If you want to learn basic programming and make an app quickly, look elsewhere.

Additional Resources

I made a free video presentation giving introductory info about the reading list.

Watch on YouTube: Elliot presents the reading list

I recorded two three-hour conversational discussions commenting on the reading list. They’ll help you get interested, provide context and summary information about the books, provide advice on reading and learning, explain a few philosophy ideas, and share some stories and tangents.

Buy: Alan Forrester Discussion

Buy: Justin Mallone Discussion

Use this free Reading List Spreadsheet to see all the books at once and track which you’ve read. (Click the wrench icon on the top right to download a copy.)

Email me questions or comments: elliot@fallibleideas.com

Read More