Research

Create a list as you research.

Example: Behavioural Economics

• Key Leaders: Richard Thaler &
  Daniel Kahneman

• Keywords: logical fallacies, biases, heuristics

• Key Concepts: Loss Aversion,

• Endowment Effect, Anchoring, Framing Effect

• Interesting Books to Read: Nudge by Richard Thaler, Misbehaving by Richard Thaler, Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

1. Find an angle, rather than searching a general term (it’s a black hole). Consider searching in a specialized data base to begin.

2. When you find a good article or essay, crawl its bibliography. Bibliographies are treasure maps. Follow the names. Follow the hyperlinks. Find the one-line citation that leads to a whole new rabbit hole.

3. Don’t Read

“My Substack is rooted in literature and philosophy—two disciplines that are, I believe, less about finding answers and more about asking better questions. And the questions I ask often take me down very narrow paths. Less main road, more rabbit hole.”

- How to Research Niche Ideas in Literature and Philosophy (Substack)

A related theory is to think of understanding as unification. When you are able to unify more facts under the same umbrella, you have a deeper understanding.

- Understanding Understanding (Substack)

Knowing the dependencies and relationships in a process is one of the key features philosophers often point to in theories of what it means to understand. One way of testing for understanding is to test if the person would know what would have happened if something was different.

- Understanding understanding (Substack)