This is one of my favorite posts yet, but I’m not sure I understand your full chain of reasoning. I understand you to be arguing that we should only be affected by the denotational content of a statement, and ignore connotations as best we can. I entirely agree we shouldn’t confuse the two, but I don’t see how to go from that to your full conclusion. Is the danger of confusion so great it is worth giving up the extra expressiveness of connotation? I’d appreciate some clarification.
I really like the idea of an acronym, but I’d like one that can be used naturally as a verb. My best shot is “agree denotationally but oject connotatively”, e.g I adboc that the rich party while the poor starve.
I don’t think we should eliminate connotations from the language, if that’s what you’re asking.
But in cases where we’re trying to use X-Treme Rationality on things that have otherwise resisted debate, we have to use special techniques make the problem more tractable. And one such technique is positivist thinking and putting a big wall up between connotations and denotations.
approve strongly of “adboc” as a new phrase...among less technical crowds, i think speaking the entire phrase “agree denotationally but object connotatively” sounds precise and communicates effectively what is intended...i will be incorporating it.
This is one of my favorite posts yet, but I’m not sure I understand your full chain of reasoning. I understand you to be arguing that we should only be affected by the denotational content of a statement, and ignore connotations as best we can. I entirely agree we shouldn’t confuse the two, but I don’t see how to go from that to your full conclusion. Is the danger of confusion so great it is worth giving up the extra expressiveness of connotation? I’d appreciate some clarification.
I really like the idea of an acronym, but I’d like one that can be used naturally as a verb. My best shot is “agree denotationally but oject connotatively”, e.g I adboc that the rich party while the poor starve.
I don’t think we should eliminate connotations from the language, if that’s what you’re asking.
But in cases where we’re trying to use X-Treme Rationality on things that have otherwise resisted debate, we have to use special techniques make the problem more tractable. And one such technique is positivist thinking and putting a big wall up between connotations and denotations.
I like your acronym.
Thanks for the correction. This makes much more sense as a technique than a general principle.
Added your acronym to main post. Please do not doci. Adboc instead.
I don’t suppose it’s possible to view the version history of the post, so can you state for posterity what “DOCI” used to stand for?
It appears to have been something like “denotation OK, connotations iffy”. (Someone objects to “iffy” in one of the comments.)
approve strongly of “adboc” as a new phrase...among less technical crowds, i think speaking the entire phrase “agree denotationally but object connotatively” sounds precise and communicates effectively what is intended...i will be incorporating it.