The act of labeling something with a word, disguises a challengable inductive inference you are making. If the last 11 egg-shaped objects drawn have been blue, and the last 8 cubes drawn have been red, it is a matter of induction to say this rule will hold in the future. But if you call the blue eggs “bleggs” and the red cubes “rubes”, you may reach into the barrel, feel an egg shape, and think “Oh, a blegg.” (Words as Hidden Inferences.)
The alternative is worse. When I talk about a piano, I’m disguising the inference that an object with a certain outward appearance has a series of high tension cables running through it, each carefully set up with just the right tension so that the resonant frequency of each is 2^(1/12) times the last, with each positioned so that it can be struck with a hammer attached to each key, etc. But do you really expect me to say all that explicitly whenever I mention a piano?
That’s why the rule says challengable inductive inference. If in the context of the discussion this is not obvious then maybe yes, but in almost every other instance it’s fine to make these shortcuts, so long as you’reunderstood.
I certainly don’t know how a Piano works on the inside, but I don’t need others to give me a complete description of the inner workings of a Piano to understand that a Piano makes sounds when they play it.
The alternative is worse. When I talk about a piano, I’m disguising the inference that an object with a certain outward appearance has a series of high tension cables running through it, each carefully set up with just the right tension so that the resonant frequency of each is 2^(1/12) times the last, with each positioned so that it can be struck with a hammer attached to each key, etc. But do you really expect me to say all that explicitly whenever I mention a piano?
That’s why the rule says challengable inductive inference. If in the context of the discussion this is not obvious then maybe yes, but in almost every other instance it’s fine to make these shortcuts, so long as you’reunderstood.
Or if it is not relevant.
I certainly don’t know how a Piano works on the inside, but I don’t need others to give me a complete description of the inner workings of a Piano to understand that a Piano makes sounds when they play it.
No, but it would be good to bear in mind if you ever find yourself in an argument over whether instrument X is “really” a piano.