Our old friend Norman Geras of Normblog presents the 257th installment of his Normblog profile series: John Hinderaker. John and I have been friends for more than 20 years, but I learned a few things I didn’t know about him in this profile. Here are a few representative questions and answers:
What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to combat? > All you need is love.
Can you name a work of non-fiction which has had a major and lasting influence on how you think about the world? > Bill James’s Statistical Abstracts, published during the late 1970s and 1980s, demonstrated how logic and a maniacal devotion to fact can illuminate any field.
What is your favourite piece of political wisdom? > ‘If you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the support of Paul.’
If you could effect one major policy change in the governing of your country, what would it be? > Abolish the progressive income tax.
Despite his desire to combat the canard that “all you need is love,” John names Lennon and McCartney (along with Mozart) his favorite composers.
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