Prediction in science is easy, if it's a physical science.  But not too much should be expected from findings in the social sciences—so says a Professor of Philosophy. How right he is.  He was asking if social science is useful for guiding public policy.  But is that the correct question?

The question here is not whether social science is useful or not for prediction.  (Most of it is pointless or even harmful in my view.)  The issue is whether prediction is possible in relation to social life generally and public policy specifically.  Having clarified that, we can consider what assistance from academia might be required. More...

Wherever I turn in the self-help and «transform your life» blogosphere these days, I run into the advice to "find your passion" and then do it.  What are they talking about?

The blogger never explains.  Well, she (it can be a he but it's more often a she) makes it clear that writing a blog to tell you to find your passion is her passion.  It has transformed her life: so she's made it.  And if we know what's going on in her head or life, then we will surely understand.  But that demands loads of empathy and imagination.  Just too heavy: any über-successful blogger-advisor knows the golden rule: Don't Make Me Think!

So perhaps she is just demanding that the reader use common sense: "Everybody will know what I mean.  So why bother explaining?"  Perhaps it's like obscenity. More...

I appreciate politics is tough. Even so, it is hard to find kind things to say about politicians in recent times. What do you make of a recent candidate for the US presidency now in court facing 30 years in jail and $1.5 Million in fines? Jack Ashley was cut from different cloth.

Lord Ashley, as he became, stood out from the pack. I realized that all would-be politicians could learn something from him when I read his obituary today.  What an extraordinary person he was—probably far too good for his own good. More...

Purify the mind.  Is that a strange idea for you?

Most of what I write about in THEE is common-sense knowledge. All I am doing is putting it into order and explaining how different aspects of social life need to be more finely discriminated. 

I like explaining how bits of living relate to each other, especially when those relationships are misunderstood or taken for granted. However, now and then I come across something which is being ignored. Usually on a rather temporary basis but sometimes over many decades.  Rarely longer.

That sort of thing happened today: with the notion that you ought to purify your mind.

I was doing some internet research on the various ways that people deal with the hurts that attend living.  Any pain or suffering leads More...