Representations are handy and tempting, and they come so naturally to us that we quite often end up committing the category error of over-marrying the representation with what is represented, so much so that the distinction between the former and the latter is lost. This is a form of intellectual harakiri that prevents us from understanding the subject.1
We care about conscious beings and thereby about our ideas and actions in this world. We care about avoiding intellectual harakiri. But in the process of shaping our understanding we will commit many. This blog serves as an online locus to shape, expose and exchange our views, so that they may become more accurate.
By separating our ideas from our identities, we are able to look at ideas through the lens of a brutal meritocracy, where we can discriminate between a good or bad idea without disrespecting the person who delivered it.2
We believe in the meritocracy of ideas, and that it is the result of the iterative process of sharing diverse views. Therefore, we invite friends and anyone interested to be guest authors on this blog. The standard format is short; to lower the barrier to this collective endeavor.
Wuppuluri, S., & Doria, F. A. (2018, xii). The map and the territory: Exploring the foundations of science, thought and reality. Springer.
Ellerton, P. (2018). Why you have the right to be heard but not to be taken seriously [Video]. TED Conferences. https://tedxbrisbane.com.au/our-talks/peter-ellerton/
