Ep 261: Objective Morality II

In this book, Thomas Sowell critiques the social policies of the past thirty years, arguing that they are a result of a tainted vision held by elites, which he terms 'the anointed'. Sowell contrasts this vision with the 'tragic vision', which recognizes the world as one of limited options and trade-offs. He argues that the anointed replace facts and rational thinking with rhetorical assertions, leading to crises in education, crime, and family dynamics. The book also examines how the anointed maintain their influence through institutions like universities, media, and the judiciary, and how their vision offers a special state of moral superiority to its adherents.

In this groundbreaking book, David Deutsch argues that explanations have a fundamental place in the universe and that improving them is the basic regulating principle of all successful human endeavor. The book takes readers on a journey through various fields of science, history of civilization, art, moral values, and the theory of political institutions. Deutsch explains how we form new explanations and drop bad ones, and discusses the conditions under which progress, which he argues is potentially boundless, can and cannot happen. He emphasizes the importance of good explanations, which he defines as those that are 'hard to vary' and have 'reach', and argues that these explanations are central to the Enlightenment way of thinking and to all scientific and philosophical progress.