Patterson In Pursuit: Philosophy | Politics | Religion

Religious people have a certain quality that I've noticed over the years. It isn't about their beliefs. It isn't about their methods for reasoning. It's about something else: their commitment to the truth as they perceive it. If that's true, then religiosity isn't a bad thing itself. In fact, if it's coupled with philosophy and critical reasoning, it's something to admire. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

"The truth is that there is no truth". That roughly summarizes postmodern philosophy.  To my mind, this is an elementary error. It is a self-evident contradiction. However, I admit that I'm biased towards logic and rationality.  To help me understand postmodernism better, I am joined by Dr. Stephen Hicks, who explains the history and ideas of postmodern philosophy. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Progressives are masters of indignation. But before talking about how things "should be", it seems wise to first understand how things actually are. Worldviews not guided by economics are inaccurate at best, and dangerous at worst. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

For nearly a century, the concept of "infinite sets" has rested at the foundations of modern mathematics. I have a tough time grasping this concept, so I asked Dr. Daniel Isaacson of Oxford University to help me out. We cover two definitions for infinity, discuss the metaphysics of mathematics, and cover some basic "intuitionist" concepts. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

I've always been fascinated by so-called "crazy" people. Why do they believe what they believe? Could they be right? What if I'm the crazy person, while they are the sane ones? Perhaps they only appear crazy to me because my mind is broken? After worrying about these ideas for years, I've settled on an answer. There is only one objective standard for sanity: logic. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

The mind-body problem has been discussed for thousands of years. Does consciousness require the supernatural?  Dr. John Searle emphatically says no. He's known for his own resolution to the mind-body problem, called "biological naturalism", and that's what we discuss today. It fits somewhere between eliminative physicalism and dualism. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

We cannot overlook the boundaries of our concepts. If our concepts are fuzzy, then our thinking will be fuzzy. Continuums present a serious logical challenge to many ideas. As far as I can tell, the best way to overcome the problems of continuums is to eliminate them altogether. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Breaking down my interview with Dr. Bruce Cain of Stanford University. He and I both agree that more democracy isn't always a good thing - but we disagree about everything else. We go from talking about the foundations for democracy to examining the foundations of all government - and inevitably end up talking about anarchism. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Is logic just a Western convention? Do other cultures have other logics?  No and no. Logic is the inescapable rules of existence, and those rules do not depend on our conception or understanding of them. They are presupposed by every thought and every proposition. I didn't invent the laws of logic, but I've discovered them, along with many other philosophers throughout history. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

An increasing amount of "experts" do not seem to understand the basics of their field. Economics is no exception. To understand the world, I am convinced one must understand economics - and you have to start with the basic concepts. If the basics are wrong, your analysis will be foundationally flawed. I'm joined by Dr. Donald Boudreaux, who writes a lot about the basics, and we cover some of the important ideas that have to be understood before analyzing anything more complex. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

When two people disagree, their ideas are not automatically equally plausible. Some ideas are superior than others.  Proposition X is not equally reasonable as proposition Y simply because they are both propositions. I call this an "abstraction error", and you see it everywhere in the world of ideas. Cultures, ideas, political theories, epistemologies - we cannot evaluate them in the abstract. We have to dive into the concrete. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Democracy is almost universally seen as a good thing, but it has serious drawbacks. Is there any alternative to democracy? Are there any constraints on democracy? Is there any recourse a minority has when a majority wants to oppress them? What makes democracy - and government in general - legitimate? To help me answer these questions in political theory, I'm joined by Dr. Bruce Cain of Stanford University. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

"You've just got to have faith!"  I heard that a million times growing up, and it never sat well with me. Once I understood the methodological error of faith, the world of rational analysis opened up for me. If you value the truth, there is no room for beliefs without reason. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Physicalism does not escape from absurd conclusions.  Indeed, many physicalists have found a new kind of spirituality by understanding the implications of hard-determinism. If humans are essentially part of the universe, and humans are becoming aware of the universe, then - in a very real sense - the universe is in the process of becoming aware of itself. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

What is logic? Can something be true and false at the same time? Can we ever have perfect certainty? Those are some of the epistemological questions I asked the philosopher Dr. Timothy Williamson of Oxford University. We also dove into the metaphysics of concepts and mathematics - and here we had the greatest disagreement. Do concepts have any existence outside of our conception of them? He says yes, I say no, and the consequences are very large. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

"Trivial, dogmatic, and useless" - that's the professional reputation of tautologies. I don't think tautologies deserve their reputation. In fact, I think they are profound and foundational to any critical worldview. Here are three reasons why the orthodox philosophic position regarding tautologies is mistaken.   Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Logic has been called many things - "the rules of language", "the rules of reasoning", "the rules of existence", and so on. I want to know what logic is, so I spoke with Dr. Timothy Williamson of Oxford University to help me find out. We cover a ton of great topics - the nature of logic, language, paradoxes, and the metaphysics of concepts and numbers. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Imagine a hungry donkey standing exactly between two identical bales of hay. Could it choose between them? The paradox of Buridan's ass is an old, famous paradox going back thousands of years. I think it contains a mistaken premise, but if we're careful, we can formulate it in a way to paralyze our donkey. The example helps us think clearly about what it means to be "identical" and "different." Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Anarchism is a scary word, but it's a sensible political philosophy. Over the last several years, I've been persuaded by libertarian anarchism, and I think it's important to cover the basic ways of thinking about political issues as an anarchist. In this episode, I want to give you the groundwork for an anarchist's intuition. Note: by "anarchism", I am referring to "market anarchism", not "socialist/communist anarchism." There's a big difference between the two. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

This sentence is false. Is that sentence true or false? If it's true, it's false. If it's false, it's true. This is the liar's paradox, and philosophers have been debating it for thousands of years.  From what I can tell, it's tricky, but it can be resolved with a little inspection. We don't need to throw out classical logic. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe