What You Can Imagine Depends On What

The Theoretical Fruits Of Deliberate Oversimplification Through Idealization Are Not To Be Denied... Reality In All Its Messy Particularity Is Too Complicated To Theorize About, Taken Straight. The Issue Is, Rather (since Every Idealization Is A Strategic Choice), Which Idealizations Might Really Shed Some Light... Which Will Just Land Us... Diverting Fairy Tales.

In Fact, If You Are Faced With The Prospect Of Running Across An Open Field In Which Lightning Bolts Are Going To Be A Problem, You Are Much Better Off If Their Timing And Location Are Determined By Something, Since Then They May Be Predictable By You, And Hence Avoidable. Determinism Is The Friend, Not The Foe, Of Those Who Dislike Inevitability.

The Chief Trick To Making Good Mistakes Is Not To Hide Them - Especially Not From Yourself. Instead Of Turning Away In Denial When You Make A Mistake, You Should Become A Connoisseur Of Your Own Mistakes, Turning Them Over In Your Mind As If They Were Works Of Art, Which In A Way They Are.

What You Can Imagine Depends On What You Know.

In The Beginning, There Were No Reasons; There Were Only Causes. Nothing Had A Purpose, Nothing Has So Much As A Function; There Was No Teleology In The World At All.