The “Closure Machine”: How humans really see the world

When a tree becomes a swing. Another perspective of "Fitness Beats Truth."

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• In this week’s Mini Philosophy interview, I spoke with philosopher Hilary Lawson about his theory of “closures” — conceptual frameworks that allow us to act in the world.

  
  

• Closures are deeply embedded structures that shape how we see reality; while we can challenge them, we can never live entirely outside them.

  
  

• Here, we examine three examples and explore how exhilarating openness can be.