btrmt. lectures

In Praise of the Sage

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The modern Western story is that real knowledge comes from science or

careful reasoning, and anything else—the elder, the guru, the village
wise woman—is suspect. But science and reflection themselves rest on a
third, intuitive, embodied mode of knowing that we use constantly and
pretend we don’t. The doctor and the guru are running on the same
authority structure; the only difference is who’s allowed to wear the
coat. Which means we’re picking our sages by taste instead of
principle—and that’s how charlatans win.

Not sure what I’ve got against linen trousers in this episode. Quite

like them if I’m honest.

Further reading
  • In praise of the
    • sage
  • The
    • scientific ritual (lecture)
  • Mundane
    • cults (lecture)
  • It’s not ‘just’ a
    • placebo
  • Useful
    • pharmacology
  • How some psychics use
    • psychology to screw you (Forer)
  • AI
    • hallucination is just man-guessing
  • Moral
    • blindspots
  • Successful
    • prophets
  • Everything
    • is ideology
  • The
    • charismatic leader (Weber)
    References
    • Aristotle, Metaphysics
    • John Dewey, Experience
      • and Nature
    • Richard Dawkins, TED:
      • Militant atheism
    • Bertram Forer, The
      • fallacy of personal validation
    • Phenotypic
      • drug discovery
    • Yann Martel, Life of
      • Pi
      ...more
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      btrmt. lecturesBy Dorian Minors