This contains the theory of reflexivity that George Soros formulated after several years of thinking and studying. People have to deal with fallibility because the ability to have all the knowledge does not exist. People must rely on imperfect human processes to understand the world, so they must rely on metaphors, similes, figurative language, and other imperfect tools to come to understandings. People must also understand that they participate in the system at the same time--there is no opportunity just to observe. Success must rely on our imperfect facility with words.
Soros says that the man must differentiate between subjective and objective perceptions about reality. We react to our observations. Dealing with markets, those who function, must also deal with a group buy-in of the rules. Reflexivity gives a person the ability to correlate the belief systems and reality. Reflexivity explains how participants who think will act in the face of events, the group interpretation, and the actual reality.
Soros explains how this philosophy works against Western thinking, going back to notables like Plato. More recently, the theory stands strongly against principles of the Enlightenment and thinkers like Descartes. As time passed, several philosophers saw the optimistic errors of the Enlightenment--such men as Popper and Russell. Wittgenstein pursued some of the paradoxes, and abandonned an attempt to find a pure language. He maintained we stay with the language as it is. Soros calls the problem "fertile fallacy". It describes the hopeful tendency to promote movement when knowledge is missing.
Karl Popper made a break from this. He proposed a streamlined scientific method. Prediction, explanation, and testing became his model. He maintained that we can't verify; we can only falsify. If a hypothesis cannot be falsified, then it is useful. Soros learned that going against strongly held public opinions tends to lead to the greatest successes.
Reflexivity helps a person to throw out the least useful. The purpose of politics is to stay in power, so he uses that in formulating his plans. Unlike politics, one must unearth the misconceptions in order to succeed, and if possible get them established in politics. This caused Soros to inspect the unintended negative results of the War on Terror after September 11 and the oddities of financial world based on false material before 2008. We must find the false beliefs and replace them with the truth. The false beliefs destroy.
Soros relates a Bush administration pronouncement that reality is the construct of the people because of how they think. He hints that the origin was Karl Rove. Truth is what they would make it, and the people would follow it. But reality caught up with it. Politics is interested in power, not truth. A good society must pursue truth and reality. It should not be manipulated to maintain a power base. The search for truth has been manipulated, so truth and reality must be brought in.
People must realize that the idea of absolute truth is too dangerous. People must seek the reality. Beware the false metaphor: The War on Terror.
This chapter has enlightened me as to why the GOP fears and loathes Soros. I don't know how the Democrats view him. It also calls us all to use our heads, to study what really is taking place and to discard commonly maintained beliefs unless they can be substantiated. I really don't know if I really believe he has engineered anything new. It sounds like old fashioned skepticism to me, but with a twist. His views are not pessimistic or nihilistic. I see possibilities. I think it practical enough to use outside the economic arena--for example in literature, or in writing.
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