Michel Serres, A Poetic Philosopher
Michel Serres was a life-affirming philosopher whose emphatic style humanized science, encouraged empathy, and accepted our chaotic origins.
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Epistemology
Play Is the Metaphysics of Becoming
Play is a matter of life and death, and it differs from games in a fundamental way—but it is also a metaphysical activity.
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What Earthquakes Teach Us About Embracing Uncertainty
For natural disasters large enough to reshape society, Dr. Lucy Jones explains, “The best fit to the data is that it’s random. And we hate it. Random makes people really upset.” But such uncertainty doesn’t have to leave us feeling helpless—we should embrace the inherent chaos of the universe.
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Psychological Studies Overlook 85 Percent of People on Earth
We can’t make claims about human nature when studies only represent a narrow slice of humanity: mostly college students, middle-class respondents living near universities, and highly educated residents of wealthy, industrialized and democratic nations.
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Truth Is Not Absolute, but That Which Works
A common view of truth aims for that which corresponds with reality. Left with nothing but our own interpretations of the world, Pragmatists, like William James and Charles Peirce, argue that the best we can do is to hold to that which works.
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Economists with Physics Envy Are Harmful
Observing the acclaim physics was having, economists embraced a physical view of human behavior hoping to replicate similar success. However, unlike physics, the social nature of human beings makes any laws of behavior tentative and contextual.
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In Physics, Beauty Doesn’t Equal Truth
Most of physics’ beautiful ideas are hard or impossible to test. When we try to rectify a perceived lack of beauty, we waste time on problems that aren’t really problems. Physicists must rethink their methods, now.
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