If the problem is ad hoc application, then it doesn’t matter if the archetype is “central” or not, no?
My objection to “MLK is a criminal” is that it has to make too many unannounced jumps to get to its conclusion. The principle I can glean from this type of denouncement is something along the lines of “[Criminals] should not be honored by statutes” but whether or not this is a good argument depends entirely on what definition of [criminal] we’re using. If we adopt a barebones definition of the word, we’d end up with something like “[anyone who has ever broken any law] should not be honored by statues” which immediately is exposed as unconvincing, which is why they have to hide behind the connotation. That’s why I argue the problem isn’t whether it’s “central” but rather using labels as reasoning shortcuts.
If the problem is ad hoc application, then it doesn’t matter if the archetype is “central” or not, no?
My objection to “MLK is a criminal” is that it has to make too many unannounced jumps to get to its conclusion. The principle I can glean from this type of denouncement is something along the lines of “[Criminals] should not be honored by statutes” but whether or not this is a good argument depends entirely on what definition of [criminal] we’re using. If we adopt a barebones definition of the word, we’d end up with something like “[anyone who has ever broken any law] should not be honored by statues” which immediately is exposed as unconvincing, which is why they have to hide behind the connotation. That’s why I argue the problem isn’t whether it’s “central” but rather using labels as reasoning shortcuts.