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PrestoPundit = Greg Ransom

Reporters, newspaper columnists, radio hosts, and other journalists have been regular visitors to this site from the beginning, and these folks have some right to know a little bit more about who I am. Others of you may simply wonder, who is this guy that's posting all of this stuff? Well, let me tell you.

My name, of course, is Greg Ransom. I have degrees in Political Science and Philosophy from the U. of Washington in Seattle and the U. of California in Riverside. I'm ABD "all but dissertation" in Philosophy at UCR, where I studied under Alex Rosenberg and Larry Wright, two of the best philosophers of science in the business.

I currently edit the Friedrich Hayek Scholars Page and I administer the Hayek-L email list for scholars and journalists. I'm recognized by academics in the field as one of the most knowledgeable Hayek scholars in the world. I have a dissertation in the works on Friedrich Hayek and the nature of scientific explanation in the social sciences. Read some of my academic papers here. I've taught the following subjects at UCR and MiraCosta College: philosophy of law, critical thinking, moral philosophy, logic and introduction to philosophy.

I have a wife and kids, and I spend a lot of time taking care of them. I work part time, and donations are accepted here. Orange County California is my current home. I was raised, however, in the state of Washington, where I still have family.

I've over the years I've worked outside the Ivory Tower as a press secretary in a political campaign, on a Navy fast frigate, in a meat packing plant, at a Washington, D.C. think tank, in the sports department of a newspaper, and as an energy analyst.

In the field of philosophy, beyond my research on Hayek and the philosophy of economics, I've also worked on topics in the philosophy biology, mind, law, ethics, and the general growth of scientific knowledge. I spent several years intensely reading the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein with Larry Wright, and I also consider myself something of an unpublished Wittgenstein scholar.

I should add that I know at least something about journalism. I've taken courses in journalism and its history at the U. of Washington's Dept. of Communications. Over the years I've published Op-Ed pieces in the Seattle Times and the Portland Oregonian. I've worked as a press secretary and I've written sports for a city newspaper. More than enough background to be on the staff of the LA Times, don't you think?

What else is there to say? I've read about every word in print by H.L. Mencken and I've visited the Mencken room in Baltimore. I did roll-your-own Drudge style blogging before anyone ever heard of InstaPundit or MovableType. I like to garden. I wave the flag. I don't like paying taxes. But enough. Back to blogging.