It isn’t just that there is no “perfect” solution, to many problems there is no solution at all; just a continuing difficulty that must be continually worked through. Claims of some optimal (or even good enough) solution to these sorts of social problems is usually a means to advance the claimants’ agendas, especially when they propose using gov’t coercion to force everybody to follow their prescriptions.
That claims of this type are sometimes made to advance agendas does not mean we shouldn’t make these claims, or that all such claims are false. It means such claims need to be scrutinised more carefully.
I agree that more often than not there is not a simple solution, and people often accept a false simple solution too readily. But the absence of a simple solution does not mean there is no theoretical optimal strategy for continually working through the difficulty.
It isn’t just that there is no “perfect” solution, to many problems there is no solution at all; just a continuing difficulty that must be continually worked through. Claims of some optimal (or even good enough) solution to these sorts of social problems is usually a means to advance the claimants’ agendas, especially when they propose using gov’t coercion to force everybody to follow their prescriptions.
That claims of this type are sometimes made to advance agendas does not mean we shouldn’t make these claims, or that all such claims are false. It means such claims need to be scrutinised more carefully.
I agree that more often than not there is not a simple solution, and people often accept a false simple solution too readily. But the absence of a simple solution does not mean there is no theoretical optimal strategy for continually working through the difficulty.