While working on a Barry Smith related project I was reminded of two fascinating papers by this incredibly productive, eclectic and just downright decent and responsive bloke whose work in ontology has had real and positive practical import for medical science. As you might be aware, many philosophers these days are in the business of self-aggrandizement, “activism posing as inquiry”, virtue-signaling (“tick box morality”). In effect, amounting to no more than a highfalutin style of hectoring us as to how bad the world is and how bad and stupid we are — their vain “one size fits all” solution, a deeply destructive groupthink authoritarianism. Barry, by contrast, is doing work that is actually relieving man’s estate and moreover, he profoundly understands the dynamism that underwrites our civil liberality. Anyway, below are the two papers that I mentioned. Please stay tuned for more big news on Barry in a month or so.
The Connectionist Mind: A Study of Hayekian Psychology (This was the chapter that cracked opened a rich vein of theorizing for me, having heretofore only being familiar with Hayek’s social theory).
manwithoutqualities 