The Evolution of Your Views Should Be a Random Walk

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

If you are truth seekers, the evolution of your views should be a random walk. But i observe empirically as people move bit by bit toward a new position. And in essence, their position a week later from to day, is somewhat predictable. So it could be, but maybe this is something special about philosophy. There's nothing very weird about philosophy in the west anyway. It's a discipline that's well over to millennia olds. Some of the smartest people who have ever lived have worked in this discipline and there aren't any results. so maybe it's a feature.

What can studying the lives of philosophers tell us about how to organize and interpret our own lives? Elijah Millgram is a professor of philosophy at the University of Utah whose research focuses on the theory of rationality. His latest book, John Stuart Mill and The Meaning of Life, analyzes the relationship between the ideas of the famous theorist and their impacts on Mill’s life. His forthcoming book examines the life and work of Frederich Nietzsche through a similar lens, combining philosophical analysis and biography.

Elijah joined Tyler to discuss Newcomb’s paradox, the reason he doesn’t have an opinion about everything, the philosophy of Dave Barry, style and simulation theory, why philosophers aren’t often consulted about current events, his best stories from TA-ing for Robert Nozick, the sociological correlates of knowing formal logic, the question of whether people are more interested in truth or being interesting, philosophical cycles, what makes Nietzsche important today, the role that meaning can play in a person’s personality and life, Mill on Bentham, the idea of true philosophy as dialogue, the extent to which modern philosophers are truly philosophical, why he views aesthetics as critical to philosophy, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded May 11th, 2021 Other ways to connect

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.