It’s been a busy year here, and we’ve covered a lot of ground. We’ve talked about ethics, epistemology, critical thinking, logic, and how to use all of them in everyday life. We’ve also had some poetry, and a song or two, just for fun. Today I just want to go over some of the highlights from the last year, and talk about what you can look forward to in 2013.
1. Lessons in Logic
January 2012 saw the start of Lessons in Logic, a series I look forward to continuing, though at a more infrequent rate. We had gone all the way through the basic rules of formal logic and how to apply them, and were just getting started on fallacies when I had to suspend it to, well, look for a job after finishing grad school. Now that I have one of those, you might see the return of this series in mid-February. the post on Modus Tollens has consistently been my most popular post since it went up, which tells me that it’s something a lot of people find challenging, so we’ll do some more with that and other formal rules.
2. Advice
There is a preponderance of the worst kind of advice on the internet, and that’s the kind that disguises itself as good advice. Back in August I explained the four principles that make up good advice, and used them to tackle the most common ethical advice, the Golden Rule. Seeing how it shook out under those principles, I outlined three other piece of ethical advice that are more useful than the Golden Rule. We’re going to come back to those and work with them in a bit once we get further on into stakeholders, as well. I’m really looking forward to it.
3. Prisoner’s Dilemma
I also briefly tackled the Prisoner’s Dilemma, not with a mind to solving it, but toward explaining it. What do we do when two of us know that the rational course of action is to turn on the other person? It highlights the importance of trust, something that we’re also going to talk about the new year.
4. Things to Look Forward to in 2013
In 2012 we laid the foundations, but in 2013 we’re going to build the house. The logic, epistemology, and ethics we’ve covered so far is actually going to get a workout as we apply them to actual ideas, whether it’s for startups, events, non-profits, or anything else. I’m going to examine what questions to ask, and how to evaluate the answers to those questions so you get meaningful results. Expect less theory and more practicality, and by all means send in your own ideas, even if it’s just a brief sketch of one. Especially then.
All in all, thank you for making this an awesome year. I can’t wait to see what we can do with the next one.
