Seems very close to the colleague of mine that bristled at a candidate saying that theory is only useful when put into action. "We know that theory is important in and of itself" they said. And... I genuinely don't understand how that could be.

i don't know that! i've never known that!

I’m increasingly convinced that social/economic theories do more harm than good. Just like we don’t need a god to tell us right from wrong, we don’t need a theorist to tell us what hurts people or what helps people.