The Story Behind ‘Epistemic Closure’
Posted by Ryan Dawkins
I have been wanting to write about the ongoing debate raging in the blogosphere regarding the idea of epistemic closure and the intellectual health of not only the political right, but the left as well. To my surprise, The New York Times actually outlined the basic contours of the debate pretty well yesterday. Rather than reinventing the wheel, here is what the Times had to say:
The phrase is being used as shorthand by some prominent conservatives for a kind of closed-mindedness in the movement, a development they see as debasing modern conservatism’s proud intellectual history. First used in this context by Julian Sanchez of the libertarian Cato Institute, the phrase “epistemic closure” has been ricocheting among conservative publications and blogs as a high-toned abbreviation for ideological intolerance and misinformation.
A Defense of Positive Liberty
Posted by Ryan Dawkins
Two weeks ago, the Heritage Foundation released its 2010 Index of Economic Freedom. Noteworthy in the report is that the United States dropped out of the top 7 most free countries in the world and scored a full two points lower than last year. That two point drop, however, moved the United States out of the ‘free’ category to ‘mostly free’—a move that has elicited a great deal of debate.
Upon the report’s release, Bruce Bartlett questioned whether America had actually become less economically free, despite the massive increases in government spending and the dramatic interventions and bailouts over the last 18 months. In the pages of Forbes Magazine—then in his blog—he wrote, “I think it's important to remember that freedom encompasses much more than escaping government's oppression and intrusion, and growth in government spending and taxation don't automatically lead to totalitarianism.”
More on the GOP’s Double-Speak on Health Care Reform
Posted by Ryan Dawkins
I have been openly critical of the GOP in Congress over their continual and blatant demagoguery of health care reform over the last year, especially when many of the key ideas in the law originated from Republican themselves! In particular, I have pulled my hair out over their continued accusations that the new law amounts to a ‘government take over of the health care system’ and that President Obama and the Democrats in Congress are pushing the country toward socialism.
Indeed, right before the law passed in March, I wrote on how the Republican health care plan that was offered as an alternatives to President Clinton’s plan in 1993 bore shocking similarities to the plan that was recently passed by the Democrats. So much so, that I referred to it as a smorgasbord of partisan hypocrisy.
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