" Paradigm " is a word that refers to the grand unifying ideas that underpin our understanding of a phenomenon - perhaps all phenomena. Paradigms shift slowly as the old "believers" die and a new generation is open to new ways of thinking. "Understanding" in this case is mostly about language: about how we talk to each other. If two people  subscribe to the same paradigm what they say to each other is intelligible - it "makes sense". Challenges to the paradigm always come in the form of impertinent questions. Why impertinent? Because the question comes out of left field. It makes no sense. A successful challenge to the paradigm expands and revises language itself, so that it becomes possible to speak in new ways that "make sense". In the new paradigm, the old language is no longer intelligible. For example, we don't expect to see references to " phlogiston " or the " luminous aether " in modern scientific journa...

Alisdair MacIntyre is a major reformer of modern philosophy, still kicking at the time of writing at the age of 87. He is particularly noted for his treatment of ethics in " After Virtue ". His ethical treatment of  economics are discussed here Fore the purpose of this blog, his main contribution is the concept of "intelligibility". How do you regard one system of ethics as superior or "more advanced" than another? His answer is that, in an advanced system, "lesser" systems are at least " intelligible ". For example, we can understand the idea of chopping off heads to make the sun rise every day even if we abhor it. On the other hand, "modern" ideas of tolerance, forgiveness and justice may not have made sense to the average Aztec. I like this idea as an alternative to slugging away and trying to prove ourselves "right", which has resulted only in the exponential growth of philosophical papers nobody reads. We need ...

" I think, therefore I am ". So began Descartes in his attempt to build a comprehensive picture of reality, starting with what he knew for sure. Like many philosophers, he pretended to mimic the newly-discovered certainty of Mathematics.  Descartes was barking up the wrong tree and his "axiom" instantly hit a dead end. Strangely enough, there are more than a few mystics, philosophers and neuroscientists who would doubt even Descarte's "axiom". The "self" may turn out to be an illusion. In the Universe we happen to inhabit, there is no sure path from "simple" to "complex". We need to start somewhere else. That's good news, since it turns out that we all know a Hell of a lot more than we thought we did. As Descartes realized, it's all uncertain to some degree, but that need not stop us from exploring an uncertain world. After all, we don't have an option. We learn very little about our minds by comparing them to ...