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Opinions about Opinions

My friend Paul sent me a few thoughts about my recent post on holding fewer opinions. He’s formulated an approach that involves holding fewer opinions about other people’s opinions. This seems valuable, and related to a post I wrote four years ago entitled “Why Do You Think What You Think?” My introspective conclusion then wasContinue reading “Opinions about Opinions”

Holding Fewer Opinions

A few months ago I read the transcript of a discussion between Brian Beck and Robin Hanson, in which Hanson advised the listener to hold fewer opinions: “Just have fewer opinions on topics. You don’t need as many opinions as you usually have.” You should pick the topics on which you’re going to be somewhatContinue reading “Holding Fewer Opinions”

Election Survival Guide

Every four years I dread the prospect of yet another election for president of the United States. What a depressing, anxiety-ridden spectacle! It’s almost enough to make me a monarchist (if only we could find the right sort of monarch, of course). As with everything else, 2020 is worse than usual. With every election seasonContinue reading “Election Survival Guide”

A Wider Palette

In my most recent post (“Beyond Binary“), I talked about the need to transcend dichotomies and false alternatives. One aspect of doing so is recognizing what I called a wider palette of viewpoints, which is easy to do in philosophy and psychology but not in politics (at least not in American politics with its two-partyContinue reading “A Wider Palette”

Beyond Binary

As political polarization proliferates, it’s beneficial to explore realms of thought that are not limited to left vs. right and us vs. them. Personally, I’m partial to philosophy: it’s impossible to reduce all of philosophical thinking to, say, Epicureans vs. Stoics without ignoring the deep and unique contributions of Platonists, Aristotelians, Taoists, Buddhists, Confucians, Hindus,Continue reading “Beyond Binary”

Compounding Wisdom

This weekend, in honor of Warren Buffett’s 90th birthday, I’d like to consider the phenomenon of compounding. It’s a little-known fact that Buffett earned almost 90% of his $82 billion fortune after the age of 65. Yet supposedly he has been fascinated by compounding since the age of 10, when he had an epiphany aboutContinue reading “Compounding Wisdom”

Speaking Freely

Emerson was really onto something when he spoke about the high freedom of great conversation. I’ve been thinking about two more aspects of such freedom. First, great conversation requires great spontaneity. Although when conversing we might have a deep goal of sharing and discovery, our conversation doesn’t have an agenda or a script and weContinue reading “Speaking Freely”

Fascinated with Conversation

Since posting about Emerson’s thoughts on friendship and conversation a few weeks ago, I’ve continued to reflect on the actual practices involved (spurred by an email exchange with my friend Adrian Lory). Beyond just good listening, what can we do to cultivate the high freedom of conversation? The authors of the book Co-Active Coaching emphasize the importanceContinue reading “Fascinated with Conversation”

Philosophy and Money

Some great thinkers – Plato, Aristotle, Gautama Siddhartha, Epicurus, Thoreau, Rand, and many more – have reflected deeply on the place of money and wealth in human life. The reasons are not hard to find: In many ways we are a grasping, materialistic, status-driven species. It’s all too easy to have an unhealthy relationship (asContinue reading “Philosophy and Money”

How Useful Is Philosophy, Really?

It’s a commonplace of research into human behavior that most of what you do is caused by your inborn personality traits, your underlying biology, the society and location and class and family into which you’re born and in which you’re raised, and so on – plus a smattering of luck and chance events. It canContinue reading “How Useful Is Philosophy, Really?”