+1 on the recommendation. I read it in high school <mumble> years before the word “rationalist” was used by anyone, and it’s shaped my worldview and approach since. It absolutely made me more able to understand and use the writing and discoveries on this site. Very hard to believe it’s over 40 years old.
And the reason it’s so formative points to a missing topic (or maybe two) on this list. That topic is something like “modeling and reductionism”. I’m unsure if it’s one or two distinct topics, but they’re related by how they fit into an epistemic framework. One could argue that it should be the first topic: how do you understand things based on knowledge?
+1 on the recommendation. I read it in high school <mumble> years before the word “rationalist” was used by anyone, and it’s shaped my worldview and approach since. It absolutely made me more able to understand and use the writing and discoveries on this site. Very hard to believe it’s over 40 years old.
And the reason it’s so formative points to a missing topic (or maybe two) on this list. That topic is something like “modeling and reductionism”. I’m unsure if it’s one or two distinct topics, but they’re related by how they fit into an epistemic framework. One could argue that it should be the first topic: how do you understand things based on knowledge?