Well that’s a butter-coated 10-degree incline if ever I’ve seen one. Alternatively, please elaborate on how we can’t have the former without the latter.
Summary: unreflective beliefs about others that don’t consider that the lens that saw them has its flaws, when the lens can see those flaws, is mere rationality as a ritual.
Those last three are importantly different than the first four because they don’t refer to the possible intent of a person.
As a tool to combat inferential distance, I can do better than taking my first-order best guess of what someone means, and can in addition give special consideration to the possibility that they are using words in an unusual way to say something true/valid/interesting. I can then modify my first best-guess such that it is more likely they mean the true/valid/interesting thing than I had previously thought.
It might be that different interpretations involve them saying something true and valid but uninteresting, or potentially interesting and valid but untrue, etc. That is why special attention should be paid to applying the principle of charity multiple times. One reading might have them only committing fallacy A, another fallacy B, and it would be mistaken to modify my first-order guess of what they intended based on my idiosyncratic distaste for a particular fallacy instead of doing my best to model their likely beliefs,preferences, etc.
There is no reason to believe my interpretation of what others mean is much clouded by a wrongful bias disproportionately disbelieving that the “Holy Scripture makes true statements”. Inferential distance and motivated desire to win the argument far more might see me wrongly misinterpreting someone, being wrong about the facts in the world that relate to them, than being wrong about random facts of the world. To the extent I am wrong about facts in the world, I expect to mislead myself only slightly, and this would only be noticeable for questions the truths of which are unclear.
The principle of charity is an interpretive framework, not a method for evaluating truth. I can read an argument charitably and still think it is wrong. In other words, the principle of charity can be paraphrased as “Assume your debater is not being Logically Rude.” DH7 arguments help ensure that your discussions are increasing the truth of your beliefs, and they require reading your opponent generously.
I did many hours of reading about this yesterday. I recommend holding off on arguing about it or spending time researching it until I have (or haven’t) posted on this topic in the near future.
There are some items missing from the list, such as:
Motivated cognition is your enemy. Don’t invite it to feast on your mind.
Well that’s a butter-coated 10-degree incline if ever I’ve seen one. Alternatively, please elaborate on how we can’t have the former without the latter.
Summary: unreflective beliefs about others that don’t consider that the lens that saw them has its flaws, when the lens can see those flaws, is mere rationality as a ritual.
Those last three are importantly different than the first four because they don’t refer to the possible intent of a person.
As a tool to combat inferential distance, I can do better than taking my first-order best guess of what someone means, and can in addition give special consideration to the possibility that they are using words in an unusual way to say something true/valid/interesting. I can then modify my first best-guess such that it is more likely they mean the true/valid/interesting thing than I had previously thought.
It might be that different interpretations involve them saying something true and valid but uninteresting, or potentially interesting and valid but untrue, etc. That is why special attention should be paid to applying the principle of charity multiple times. One reading might have them only committing fallacy A, another fallacy B, and it would be mistaken to modify my first-order guess of what they intended based on my idiosyncratic distaste for a particular fallacy instead of doing my best to model their likely beliefs,preferences, etc.
There is no reason to believe my interpretation of what others mean is much clouded by a wrongful bias disproportionately disbelieving that the “Holy Scripture makes true statements”. Inferential distance and motivated desire to win the argument far more might see me wrongly misinterpreting someone, being wrong about the facts in the world that relate to them, than being wrong about random facts of the world. To the extent I am wrong about facts in the world, I expect to mislead myself only slightly, and this would only be noticeable for questions the truths of which are unclear.
The principle of charity is an interpretive framework, not a method for evaluating truth. I can read an argument charitably and still think it is wrong. In other words, the principle of charity can be paraphrased as “Assume your debater is not being Logically Rude.” DH7 arguments help ensure that your discussions are increasing the truth of your beliefs, and they require reading your opponent generously.
I did many hours of reading about this yesterday. I recommend holding off on arguing about it or spending time researching it until I have (or haven’t) posted on this topic in the near future.
False, see this comment.