To single-handedly reform teaching like that you would have to be a renowned philosopher or educationalist
You pointed out that Luke has not started trying to do X, as evidence that he wouldn’t be up to the task of doing X. You don’t seem to understand how to do things.
When you want to accomplish a major goal, you need to do a lot of other things first. You need to get clear on what your goal is. You need to do research and accumulate the prerequisite knowledge. You need to accumulate any necessary resources. You probably need to put together a team. You may need to invent some new technologies.
I have absolutely no doubt that if he wanted to, Luke could do all the prerequisite steps and then reform Philosophy. If your hypothesis is correct, he’d in the process become a renowned philosopher of education like Dewey.
Though I would not bet against him being able to pull it off as a twenty-something blogger.
Most people could not single-handedly reform philosophy. There has to be some evidence that Luke is more capable of doing it than most people, or else we are quite sure he is not up to the task by default.
Okay, and that’s an argument; one which has… uh… interesting validity. I’m not sure how to condition on Alicorn’s dinner parties as evidence, though, so let’s set that aside for now. Would you say, at least, that the fact I am not a renowned philosopher is sufficient to conclude, pending further evidence, that I’m incapable of reforming philosophy?
Edit: in the interests of maintaining my anonymity, let’s assume for the sake of argument that I am not, in fact, a renowned philosopher; this should not be taken as indicative of my actual status in the philosophy world one way or the other.
Would you say, at least, that the fact I am not a renowned philosopher is sufficient to conclude, pending further evidence, that I’m incapable of reforming philosophy?
Not given background knowledge. You’re on Less Wrong, so there is high probability that you’re capable of becoming capable of arbitrary possible things. And capability is transitive, so that means there is high probability that you’re capable of that particular thing.
Most people aren’t already renowned philosophers, and most of those don’t reform philosophy, and for those that did, they usually became renowned in the process of reforming philosophy, so that’s not much evidence either way.
Luke has started to do it, in a sense.. writing an article saying “reform philosophy”, is starting, in a sense. it just isn’t starting in the right place—the place where you get the credentials and the competence beofore you throw your weight around.
Common sense. The way the world works. If you were a specialist in some subject, would you accept the subject being turned upside down by someone who didn’t know the subject?
That’s what I thought. Considering the downvotes you’ve been getting, either you’re being karmassassinated or people don’t think that’s enough; perhaps because we spend a lot of time here talking about how poor rationality affects many fields (e.g. psychiatry, philosophy, AI...)
You pointed out that Luke has not started trying to do X, as evidence that he wouldn’t be up to the task of doing X. You don’t seem to understand how to do things.
When you want to accomplish a major goal, you need to do a lot of other things first. You need to get clear on what your goal is. You need to do research and accumulate the prerequisite knowledge. You need to accumulate any necessary resources. You probably need to put together a team. You may need to invent some new technologies.
I have absolutely no doubt that if he wanted to, Luke could do all the prerequisite steps and then reform Philosophy. If your hypothesis is correct, he’d in the process become a renowned philosopher of education like Dewey.
Though I would not bet against him being able to pull it off as a twenty-something blogger.
Most people could not single-handedly reform philosophy. There has to be some evidence that Luke is more capable of doing it than most people, or else we are quite sure he is not up to the task by default.
This is Luke Muehlhauser we’re talking about.
Okay, and that’s an argument; one which has… uh… interesting validity. I’m not sure how to condition on Alicorn’s dinner parties as evidence, though, so let’s set that aside for now. Would you say, at least, that the fact I am not a renowned philosopher is sufficient to conclude, pending further evidence, that I’m incapable of reforming philosophy?
Edit: in the interests of maintaining my anonymity, let’s assume for the sake of argument that I am not, in fact, a renowned philosopher; this should not be taken as indicative of my actual status in the philosophy world one way or the other.
Not given background knowledge. You’re on Less Wrong, so there is high probability that you’re capable of becoming capable of arbitrary possible things. And capability is transitive, so that means there is high probability that you’re capable of that particular thing.
Most people aren’t already renowned philosophers, and most of those don’t reform philosophy, and for those that did, they usually became renowned in the process of reforming philosophy, so that’s not much evidence either way.
And that’s an argument; one which has… uh… interesting validity.
Can’t argue with that.
Not sure why you feel the need to remind us...
?????
Luke has started to do it, in a sense.. writing an article saying “reform philosophy”, is starting, in a sense. it just isn’t starting in the right place—the place where you get the credentials and the competence beofore you throw your weight around.
Source?
Common sense. The way the world works. If you were a specialist in some subject, would you accept the subject being turned upside down by someone who didn’t know the subject?
That’s what I thought. Considering the downvotes you’ve been getting, either you’re being karmassassinated or people don’t think that’s enough; perhaps because we spend a lot of time here talking about how poor rationality affects many fields (e.g. psychiatry, philosophy, AI...)