George Soros--"Autobiography of a Failed Philosopher"

Chapter 2 of The Crash of 2008 and What it Means...  George Soros

Soros explains his long-time interest in classical philosophy.  His personal views felt the impact of the Nazi uprising in Germany.  He explains how his father became a prisoner of the Nazis and how he and others made a daring escape from their captors.  Not only did he negotiate the German war machine, but also the perils of the Russian Revolution and other pitfalls of the age.

Soros became acquainted with Karl Popper in London in the 1940s.  He became disillusioned with the concept of an ultimate truth, as conveyed by Popper, whom he at first strongly admired.  The doctrine of the Unity of Method particularly disturbed Soros.  Popper, a naturalist, accepted ultimate truth, but did not address the uncertainties of social realities.

Soros developed a new construct.  Reflexivity describes the function of reality in conjunction with the development of his world view and the anomalies he encountered.  In 1987 he wrote The Alchemy of Finance in a study of his developing economic theories. Even his publishers knew he would push back, but no one could dispute his success as a money manager.

One reality he expresses in his book described those who would turn almost fanatical in devotion to economic ideas that did not work in reality, making them more cultists than effective philosophers. Soros uses the Orwellian classic 1984 as a central example of government propaganda that colors the perceived realities of the great majority.  The absurdity of a government agency name "Ministry of Truth" underscores a division between reality and a scenario that the government has manufactured. This led Soros to change his notions about accepting a principle that "the purpose of reason is to produce knowledge."  Soros believes that any honest person must tack on the reality of manipulation.  This manipulation creates a new reality that is not a reality at all, just a trick to control.

This new insight has caused Soros to reject the common notions of economic theory in the light of outside manipulative factors.  The prefers to seek the reality underlying the forces that the prevalent theory tends to cover up.

In a day of political and economic propaganda, a call to study the ethics of the economic world hits a perspective of economics from an angle that the public should examine.  When economists become such devout adherents of a prevailing trend as to not examine possible con-artistry, they set themselves up as stooges to the manipulators.  Soros reveals a strong independence of thought, that has allowed him to make some very effective investments and to avoid some of the more troubling developments in globalism.  I begin to see a pragmatism in his approach that paradoxically could unravel his acceptance in his own reflexive construct, but it allows for a correction if he discovers a problem.  Not an economist at all, I think his ideas effective in other arenas, such as literary analysis and composition theory.  I see some advantages in his paradigm.

George Soros.  The Crash of 2008 and what it Means; the New Paradigm for Financial Markets.  2008-2009.

Introduction in the book:  Soros says that the US no longer functions on the traditional economic system, that the superboom of the past 25 has ended.  The financial markets do not reflect underlying realities.  What often emerges has distortions.  The distortions tend to impact the market prices.  Soros says he started his career with a strong background based on ideas of Karl Popper.  Soros forwarded a theory of reflexivity, that many dismissed.  His views led him to become a wealthy hedge fund manager.  Perception and reality strongly influence what takes place in the markets.  The prime example is seen with bubbles.  Soro calls the housing market a bubble, but he also speaks of a super bubble, far more complicated than the housing bubble. 

Soros interests me.  Almost every person I have spoken with has dismissed him, but the same people admit they have never read his ideas.  I'm the kind of person that must find out for myself.  In this introduction I see that Soros is rejecting the generally accepted notions of economics, claiming that too many variables are at play, and that a person must look at the economy on a deeper level to find clarity.