Tuesday, April 5, 2022

chochmas goyim: Stigler, Friedman, Sowell

"In a world of self-promoting academics, coining buzzwords and aligning themselves on the side of the angels of the moment, George Stigler epitomized a rare integrity as well as a rare intellect. He jumped on no bandwagons, beat no drums for causes, created no personal cult. He did the work of a scholar and a teacher—both superbly—and found that sufficient. If you wanted to learn, and above all if you wanted to learn how to think—how to avoid the vague words, fuzzy thoughts, or maudlin sentiments that cloud over reality—then Stigler was your man." Thomas Sowell

And here is Sowell describing another of his professors at Chicago, Milton Friedman: 

"[He] was one of the very few intellectuals with both genius and common sense. He could express himself at the highest analytical levels to his fellow economists in academic publications and still write popular books . . . that could be understood by people who knew nothing about economics."

(Friedman was of course Jewish, a secular Jew, but you know what I mean.)

What we learn here are some admirable traits to emulate. 

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