Theories
For many years, Ahlgren delved deep into the connections between disparate philosophies and methods of thought. He lists as some of his biggest influences people like Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Hobbes, John Stuart Mill, Sir Karl Popper, David Deutsch, Thomas Kuhn, F.A. Hayek, Warren Buffett, Philip Fisher, and Ludwig von Mises. Ahlgren's experiences, interests, and research into fields as seemingly far apart as cryptography, computer science, programming, economics, finance, value investing, humanistic epistemology, quantum physics, and eastern mysticism – most notably Taoism and Buddhism – provided the foundations for his book Discipline, which is a confluence of his many passions. Certainly the book displays (if only subtly) his deep enthusiasm for knowledge – especially science and mathematics, as they relate to philosophy and religion.
Ahlgren is a self-professed libertarian, and closely aligns himself with the philosophies of such contemporaries as Ron Paul, Rand Paul, Peter Schiff, and Jimmy Rogers. Ahlgren is also a student of the philosophy of Ayn Rand – known as Objectivism. While he still admits to be an admirer of Rand's, he has largely dismissed the foundations of her philosophy as flawed at the most basic level.
Read more about this topic: Paco Ahlgren
Famous quotes containing the word theories:
“The wise man regulates his conduct by the theories both of religion and science. But he regards these theories not as statements of ultimate fact but as art-forms.”
—J.B.S. (John Burdon Sanderson)
“Whatever practical people may say, this world is, after all, absolutely governed by ideas, and very often by the wildest and most hypothetical ideas. It is a matter of the very greatest importance that our theories of things that seem a long way apart from our daily lives, should be as far as possible true, and as far as possible removed from error.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“Generalisation is necessary to the advancement of knowledge; but particularly is indispensable to the creations of the imagination. In proportion as men know more and think more they look less at individuals and more at classes. They therefore make better theories and worse poems.”
—Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)