I have been neglecting this blog, and decided to write something before the end of the year.

I thought I’d write a note praising the Jonathan Rauch book: The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth.

Rauch analogizes the written Constitution of the United States, to the unwritten constitution of knowledge, which includes the framework that best allows us to approach the truth. This constitution requires that enough people respect some basic rules (like fallibilism: no theory is immune to criticism or being replaced by a better one, and empiricism: nobody has special authority; claims can be checked by anybody). He elaborates on this in detail, and very well.

The bottom line is that political (classical) liberalism has adopted this framework, and this has been fantastic for human progress. Rauch sees many things that are currently threatening it today and has a lot to say about what’s wrong and what we might do to make it better.

To be honest, I’m only 60% of the way through it, but I can already recommend it highly.

And…Happy New Year!