Though I don’t know much about it, I take “meaning as use” as a vague proto-version of the more explicit theories of fuzziness, polysemy, and “family resemblance” he’d develop later in his life. In some sense, it merely restates descriptivism; in another less literal sense, it’s a tonal subversion of more classical understandings of meaning.
Conceptual engineering takes a very different stance from mere descriptivism; it specifically thinks philosophers ought to “grasp the language by its reins” and carve up words and concepts in more useful ways. “Useful,” of course, depends on the fields, but e.g. in metaphysics, the disambiguation would be focused on evading common language traps. In that way, it’s a bit like Yudkowsky’s “Taboo Your Words.”
Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention. This idea of Conceptual Engineering seems highly related to what I was discussing in Constructive Definitions. I’m sure this kind of idea has a name in epistemology as well, although unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to investigate.
Thanks for writing this post. Better connecting the discussion on Less Wrong with the discussions in philosophy is important work.
Also, how is the idea of conceptual engineering different from Wittgenstein’s idea of language as use?
Though I don’t know much about it, I take “meaning as use” as a vague proto-version of the more explicit theories of fuzziness, polysemy, and “family resemblance” he’d develop later in his life. In some sense, it merely restates descriptivism; in another less literal sense, it’s a tonal subversion of more classical understandings of meaning.
Conceptual engineering takes a very different stance from mere descriptivism; it specifically thinks philosophers ought to “grasp the language by its reins” and carve up words and concepts in more useful ways. “Useful,” of course, depends on the fields, but e.g. in metaphysics, the disambiguation would be focused on evading common language traps. In that way, it’s a bit like Yudkowsky’s “Taboo Your Words.”
Thanks for reading!
Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention. This idea of Conceptual Engineering seems highly related to what I was discussing in Constructive Definitions. I’m sure this kind of idea has a name in epistemology as well, although unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to investigate.