The central and original case of a good use of Chesterton’s Fence is a powerful political figure who chooses to hold off on imposing a radical change on society through military force, because he wants his economists to investigate the current practice for a few years/decades and understand its ramifications first. When we’re talking about a small group of individuals experimenting on a local level with a new way of doing things in their private lives, that’s a real stretch.
Since most of us don’t have the ear of our local dictator, it’s these non-central cases that we’re usually discussing. In such cases, I think the onus is on the reactionary to explain why a given experiment might need extra caution, as much as on the reformer to understand the norm’s purpose and explain why it’s nevertheless OK to try something new. Investigating norms takes time, and isn’t always a good use of it.
My understanding of CF is that to dismantle it, you first need to come up with a reason why the fence is there. Nearly any reason will do.
Example: Old rule: do not castrate animals.
People just discard this rule as obviously vapid. Yet the question remains, why does the rule exist in the first place? What changed?
If the counterparty can’t elucidate “any” reason, well I know the conversation is going to be futile.
I find the rule very helpful.
The central and original case of a good use of Chesterton’s Fence is a powerful political figure who chooses to hold off on imposing a radical change on society through military force, because he wants his economists to investigate the current practice for a few years/decades and understand its ramifications first. When we’re talking about a small group of individuals experimenting on a local level with a new way of doing things in their private lives, that’s a real stretch.
Since most of us don’t have the ear of our local dictator, it’s these non-central cases that we’re usually discussing. In such cases, I think the onus is on the reactionary to explain why a given experiment might need extra caution, as much as on the reformer to understand the norm’s purpose and explain why it’s nevertheless OK to try something new. Investigating norms takes time, and isn’t always a good use of it.