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Trial & Error & The Idea of Progress
219 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
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About the author
Madsen Pirie
64 books25 followersBorn in Hull, Pirie is the son of Douglas Pirie and Eva Madsen. As a child, he attended the Humberstone Foundation School in Old Clee, Lincolnshire.
He graduated with an MA (undergraduate) in History from the University of Edinburgh (1970), with a PhD in Philosophy from the University of St Andrews (1974), and with an MPhil in Land Economy from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1997)
Before co-founding the Adam Smith Institute, Pirie worked for the United States House of Representatives. He was a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Logic and Philosophy at the private Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan, USA. Pirie was one of three Britons living in the United States who founded the Adam Smith Institute.
The Adam Smith Institute is a UK-based think tank that champions the ideas of free market policy. In January 2010 Foreign Policy and the University of Pennsylvania named the Adam Smith Institute among the top 10 think tanks in the world outside of the US. The Institute is "a pioneer of privatisation" in the UK and elsewhere. It has undertaken policy initiatives aimed at replacing state controls and monopolies with opportunities for competition choice in a broad area. The ASI proposed reforms in taxation, public services, transport and local government. It published Douglas Mason's original paper advocating a poll tax or community charge as it was later called.
His work in helping to develop the Citizen's Charter led to his appointment to the British Prime Minister John Major's Advisory Panel from 1991 to 1995.
Apart from his work with the Adam Smith Institute, Pirie is an author in several fields, including philosophy, economics, and science fiction.
He graduated with an MA (undergraduate) in History from the University of Edinburgh (1970), with a PhD in Philosophy from the University of St Andrews (1974), and with an MPhil in Land Economy from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1997)
Before co-founding the Adam Smith Institute, Pirie worked for the United States House of Representatives. He was a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Logic and Philosophy at the private Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan, USA. Pirie was one of three Britons living in the United States who founded the Adam Smith Institute.
The Adam Smith Institute is a UK-based think tank that champions the ideas of free market policy. In January 2010 Foreign Policy and the University of Pennsylvania named the Adam Smith Institute among the top 10 think tanks in the world outside of the US. The Institute is "a pioneer of privatisation" in the UK and elsewhere. It has undertaken policy initiatives aimed at replacing state controls and monopolies with opportunities for competition choice in a broad area. The ASI proposed reforms in taxation, public services, transport and local government. It published Douglas Mason's original paper advocating a poll tax or community charge as it was later called.
His work in helping to develop the Citizen's Charter led to his appointment to the British Prime Minister John Major's Advisory Panel from 1991 to 1995.
Apart from his work with the Adam Smith Institute, Pirie is an author in several fields, including philosophy, economics, and science fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 21, 2015
Whilst I am usually sceptical of books which attempt a 'cure all' explanation of ideas, events or trends, Dr Pirie provides a deeply considered and highly analytical approach in his excellent writings on how progress is made.
The book explores progress in different fields and experiences, from science to politics, from history to economics, providing useful analogies to contextualise the complex points.
I feel this book could have done with a short conclusion at the end of each chapter; sometimes whilst reading it feels as though you're playing catch up and chasing the argument rather than comprehending and considering. It is very heavy going and consistently at a high level, and thus won't be as appealing to a general audience as some of his other works.
Overall, however, it remains an excellent piece of work and comes highly recommended.
The book explores progress in different fields and experiences, from science to politics, from history to economics, providing useful analogies to contextualise the complex points.
I feel this book could have done with a short conclusion at the end of each chapter; sometimes whilst reading it feels as though you're playing catch up and chasing the argument rather than comprehending and considering. It is very heavy going and consistently at a high level, and thus won't be as appealing to a general audience as some of his other works.
Overall, however, it remains an excellent piece of work and comes highly recommended.
November 25, 2016
More prescient than ever with the use of 'progressive' gaining ever more traction in politics. Those who label themselves as such have likely never thought about the idea of progress, and have certainly not considered it in this depth and breadth. And important topic handled meticulously and comprehensively.
Merged review:
A lapidary and thorough treatment of a subject that is too often bandied about with so little attention as to render it nebulous.
It is based on Dr Pirie's PhD thesis and therefore is written in a careful, academic style and written from first principles. This is not a bad thing, but it does mean that one should approach the work with consideration and not expect it to be as accessible as other work of the Adam Smith Institute.
Speaking of the ASI, I was fortunate enough to be given a copy of this book for free at a launch event on the proviso that I write a review of it. It has taken me over a year to get around to this, but it was well worth the wait and is a rewarding intellectual experience.
It covers progress in the hard sciences but more interestingly in other disciplines, such as history, where the idea of 'progress' is not normally given this kind of supportive treatment.
I would recommend this book to anyone who shares my belief that 'universalism' and 'progress' are little more than hollow slogans unless they are underpinned with careful though as to what that progress comprises, where it is progressing to, and from where it progressed.
Finally, and I am not sure whether Dr Pirie would appreciate this reference, but the whole endeavour sounds to my uncultured mind like a ringing endorsement for the words of Edmund Burke, in his views on progress. The following passage from Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution is worth quoting at large:
"We are afraid to put men to live and trade each on his own private stock of reason; because we suspect that this stock in each man is small, and that the individuals would do better to avail themselves of the general bank and capital of nations and of ages. Many of our men of speculation, instead of exploding general prejudices, employ their sagacity to discover the latent wisdom which prevails in them. If they find what they seek, and they seldom fail, they think it more wise to continue the prejudice, with the reason involved, than to cast away the coat of prejudice, and to leave nothing but the naked reason; because prejudice, with its reason, has a motive to give action to that reason, and an affection which will give it permanence. Prejudice is of ready application in the emergency; it previously engages the mind in a steady course of wisdom and virtue, and does not leave the man hesitating in the moment of decision, sceptical, puzzled, and unresolved. Prejudice renders a man’s virtue his habit; and not a series of unconnected acts. Through just prejudice, his duty becomes a part of his nature."
Neoliberals and libertarians are often wary of quoting or being connected to conservatives, but Adam Smith himself said that Burke was: "the only man I ever knew who thinks on economic subjects exactly as I do, without any previous communications having passed between us".
Merged review:
A lapidary and thorough treatment of a subject that is too often bandied about with so little attention as to render it nebulous.
It is based on Dr Pirie's PhD thesis and therefore is written in a careful, academic style and written from first principles. This is not a bad thing, but it does mean that one should approach the work with consideration and not expect it to be as accessible as other work of the Adam Smith Institute.
Speaking of the ASI, I was fortunate enough to be given a copy of this book for free at a launch event on the proviso that I write a review of it. It has taken me over a year to get around to this, but it was well worth the wait and is a rewarding intellectual experience.
It covers progress in the hard sciences but more interestingly in other disciplines, such as history, where the idea of 'progress' is not normally given this kind of supportive treatment.
I would recommend this book to anyone who shares my belief that 'universalism' and 'progress' are little more than hollow slogans unless they are underpinned with careful though as to what that progress comprises, where it is progressing to, and from where it progressed.
Finally, and I am not sure whether Dr Pirie would appreciate this reference, but the whole endeavour sounds to my uncultured mind like a ringing endorsement for the words of Edmund Burke, in his views on progress. The following passage from Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution is worth quoting at large:
"We are afraid to put men to live and trade each on his own private stock of reason; because we suspect that this stock in each man is small, and that the individuals would do better to avail themselves of the general bank and capital of nations and of ages. Many of our men of speculation, instead of exploding general prejudices, employ their sagacity to discover the latent wisdom which prevails in them. If they find what they seek, and they seldom fail, they think it more wise to continue the prejudice, with the reason involved, than to cast away the coat of prejudice, and to leave nothing but the naked reason; because prejudice, with its reason, has a motive to give action to that reason, and an affection which will give it permanence. Prejudice is of ready application in the emergency; it previously engages the mind in a steady course of wisdom and virtue, and does not leave the man hesitating in the moment of decision, sceptical, puzzled, and unresolved. Prejudice renders a man’s virtue his habit; and not a series of unconnected acts. Through just prejudice, his duty becomes a part of his nature."
Neoliberals and libertarians are often wary of quoting or being connected to conservatives, but Adam Smith himself said that Burke was: "the only man I ever knew who thinks on economic subjects exactly as I do, without any previous communications having passed between us".
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews