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THE QUANTUM of EXPLANATION

~ Science, logic, and ethics, from a Whiteheadian Pragmatist perspective (go figure)

THE QUANTUM of EXPLANATION

Tag Archives: Economics

Year of The Plague #2: Argumentum ad Ignorantiam

15 Wednesday Apr 2020

Posted by Gary Herstein in COVID-19, Economics, Ignorance, Logic, Philosophy of Science

≈ 2 Comments

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Economics, Ignorance, pandemic

A recent article (23 March, 2020) by Eric Schliesser and Eric Winsberg (“S&W”) in The New Statesman: America, “Climate and coronavirus: the science is not the same,” attempts to make the case for separating climate science – specifically the facts about Anthropogenic Global Warming (“AGW”) – from the COVID-19 pandemic.i This pandemic is driven by the “novel coronavirus,” but I will stick to just “COVID-19.” Superficially, there is nothing wrong with wanting to do so since these are, after all, different topics. But just because the two subjects are non-identical does not mean that lively and effective analogies cannot be drawn between them. It is this last point that S&W wish to deny. Their attempt is specious on multiple levels, and I wish to address a few of those levels here.dollar sign

To address this speciousness, we must understand the nature of the argument that S&W are making.ii The abbreviated form of their argument goes something like this: (1) The facts about COVID-19 remain highly questionable, as the amount of data is severely truncated by lack of testing, and significantly variable methodologies of evaluations across international, and even local, lines. (2) This lack of data makes any comparison with, or analogy between, COVID-19 and AGW an error. (3) Further, the paucity of adequate data regarding COVID-19 requires us to view any and all such claims with great skepticism. (4) Such skepticism, in fact, that dramatic action which entails substantial economic impact ought to be rejected wholesale. Continue reading →

Pursuit of Happiness

04 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by Gary Herstein in Critical Thinking, Economics, Inequality, Politics

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Critical Thinking, Economics, Inequality, Politics

A rather poor opinion piece was published by “News OK” (as in “Oklahoma;” I’ve several friends who are Okies) which, while unremarkable by itself, did open up some interesting topics for discussion. The editorial, written by Professor David Deming at Oklahoma University, while not very well informed, serves to illustrate several points of interest. First off, the author holds a Ph.D. in geology & geophysics, and so he has no more expertise in his opinions on matters of social and political philosophy than a plumber has speaking on medicine. We see here an example of someone using his Very Important Degree as evidently legitimizing his opinion. But compare: by the same accounts, I am a “Doctor” as well. But if you come to me for advice on, say, your cancer treatment, my response will be something along the lines of, “Pay attention to your MEDICAL doctor, and don’t ask me questions for which I cannot possibly offer an intelligent answer.” Legitimate expertise actually matters.scales-coins

In his opinion piece, Deming bemoans the supposed “fact” that, “an avowed socialist is a viable candidate for president of the United States.” Deming means, of course, Bernie Sanders, and thus in his first sentence demonstrates an astonishing cluelessness about the topics he would presume to lecture others on. Sanders is an avowed Democratic Socialist, and if one hasn’t bothered to learn the difference, one has no business saying foolish things on the subject in public. Deming goes on to announce that socialism – a word he obviously has no idea as to its many meanings – is a universal and unequivocal failure, citing the examples of the USSR and, more recently, Venezuela. It is telling that Deming fails to mention Sweden, or that socialism in the two countries he does name was imposed on cultures rife with staggering and endemic poverty, and exercised with authoritarian rule. A thoughtful person might suppose that such distinctions are important. But the fact that Deming gives no weight to the role of poverty and income inequality is our segue into the point I do wish to discuss: Deming declares that, “The United States is a constitutional republic founded on political equality, not equality of income or circumstances. … The Founding Fathers considered property rights to be sacred and paramount.” The first part is childish in in its naiveté, while the second is frankly disgusting in its utter bone-headed misrepresentations. These are the topics I wish to examine here, and they all pivot on the concept of “the pursuit of happiness.” I’ll start with Deming’s second, and more easily disposed of, claim. Continue reading →

Economics

06 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by Gary Herstein in General Philosophy, Politics

≈ 4 Comments

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Economics

I am not an economist, nor do I play one on TV. (This might be a good thing – the not being an economist, I mean; the TV thing is just an habitual sop to the argumentum ad vericundiam.) Legitimate expertise is the kind of thing one ought take seriously while, at the same time, false authority needs to be viewed with the deepest skepticism only when it is not dismissed out of hand as fatuous twaddle. I actually do have a little bit of legitimate expertise when it comes to economic theory, but I would be very hard pressed to demonstrate this point to you beyond the act of simply demonstrating it, which I will do below. Rather than attempt to provide embedded links, I’ll offer sources for further reading at the end of my remarks.

Economists in the formal sense – that is, persons with advanced degrees in the subject – tend (in my extremely unscientific and aggressively biased opinion) to be, on the whole, extremely unscientific and aggressively biased. Nowhere in scholarship and academic studies is rampant ideology so un-shame-facedly remunerated as in economics. This is a problem, since it rewards all manner of blatant logical fallacies (confirmation bias, (which is technically a psychological failure of reasoning, rather than a logical one) hasty generalization, sharp-shooter fallacy, for example) and discourages taking actual data seriously. Logic, principles, evidence and facts do not pay as well as major corporations and political parties with agendas to be served. Since no one is paying me for my analyses, I’ll actually risk holding that up as a virtue here. And (for whatever it is worth) I have actually studied the subject a little, little bit. (Bits of this also tie in with my earlier remarks on socialism.)

Continue reading →

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