Yesterday, I was having lunch with a Savio alum who keeps me updated on what's going on in her life. In the course of our discussion, it was brought up how strange it is that people who are rational human beings can have such completely opposite ideas when it comes to politics. It's great when students still want to see you. While a portion of the explanation can certainly come down to training in formal logic (which we don't do anymore in school), I think a bigger part is found in first principles. First principles are those founding ideas that we build our arguments and decisions upon. (There are other definitions, but this is what I'm sticking with today.) In order to enter into any rational discourse, a person should know where they stand on the fundamentals. I would suggest that the irrationality present in many of our political discussions today is due to the fact that we don't examine these deeply held beliefs. The argument is started higher up the chai...
Blog started at my students' urging. Many different things will be talked about here.