The very narrow choice of values and their seemingly libertarian phrasing implies some hidden criteria for what constitutes “a good answer”—which enables whoever follows this advice to immediately dismiss a proposal based on some unspecified “good”-ness of the answer without further thought or discussion, and dramatically downgrade their opinion of the proposer in the bargain. This seems detrimental to the rational acquisition of ideas and options.
EDIT: Criticism has since been withdrawn in response to context provided below.
The quote doesn’t give that impression in context, including the comments—it’s actually a statement about the importance of the rule of law. From the comments, Nick notes:
Indeed, the moral principle of non-initiation of force, far from being a possible basis of society as Murray Rothbard and David Friedman would have it, is a sophisticated outcome of long legal evolution and a highly involved legal procedure that itself cannot stick to that principle: it coerces people to a certain extent so that they will not coerce each other to a much greater extent.
The very narrow choice of values and their seemingly libertarian phrasing implies some hidden criteria for what constitutes “a good answer”—which enables whoever follows this advice to immediately dismiss a proposal based on some unspecified “good”-ness of the answer without further thought or discussion, and dramatically downgrade their opinion of the proposer in the bargain. This seems detrimental to the rational acquisition of ideas and options.
EDIT: Criticism has since been withdrawn in response to context provided below.
The quote doesn’t give that impression in context, including the comments—it’s actually a statement about the importance of the rule of law. From the comments, Nick notes:
Acknowledged, and criticism withdrawn.