[marginalium]
Policy-oriented political philosophy
1 May 2025
Policy-oriented political philosophy. The article frames it best:
how does political philosophy relate to policy?
What I found interesting is this:
it is therefore often not the content of philosophical theories, but the ability to think things through, which philosophers can bring to the table. The work is very much about seeing the relations between different values and principles and connecting them to with what different parties could live with, i.e. what might make for feasible policy
and
philosophy is not about the lone thinker, but very much about dialogue: about being willing to listen to others and connecting one’s contribution to theirs.
Which is actually something that I’ve noticed constantly about consulting. People rarely pay me for my actual knowledge. I complain plenty around here about how obscenely low the literacy around brain and behaviour science is out there, and how no one seems to care. And they don’t really. What they pay for, I think, is help to find the right questions. So here’s a little more evidence for the value of that skillset. Unless AI does that better, I guess.
Anthologies: Betterment, Gratification, Thought Architecture, Wealth Architecture, On Being Fruitful, On Leadership, Moral Terrain