So I’ve made this sort of argument before in a somewhat more limited form. The analogy I like to give is that we don’t spend multiple semesters in chemistry discussing the classical elements and phlogiston (even though phlogiston did actually give testable predictions(contrary to some commonly made claims on LW). We mention them for a few days and go on. But in this context, while I’d favor less emphasis on the old philosophers, they are still worth reading to a limited extent, because they did phrase many of the basic questions (even if imprecisely) that are still relevant, and are necessary to understand the verbiage of contemporary discourse. Some of them even fit in with ideas that are connected to things that people at LW care about. For example, Kant’s categorical imperative is very close to a decision-theory or game theory approach if one thinks about it as asking “what would happen if everyone made the choice that I do?” Even Pearl is writing in a context that assumes a fair bit of knowlege about classical notions. What is therefore I think needed is not a complete rejection of older philosophers, but a reduction in emphasis.
For example, Kant’s categorical imperative is very close to a decision-theory or game theory approach if one thinks about it as asking “what would happen if everyone made the choice that I do?”
In my Intro to Moral Philosophy course, Kant’s work was preceded by an introduction to basic game-theory and such, which most people understood much better than his actual work, so I don’t really think his is a necessary foundation or a proper introduction in those fields
Reduction in the sense of cooking down to essentials? Hopefully someone has already gone over the classics with an eye toward identifying prerequisites and formulating adequate substitutes, and it would simply be a matter of adapting such work for our own use.
Reduction in the sense of cooking down to essentials?
I meant in the sense of simply reducing the total amount, but yes, that would help a fair bit. I do think that some degree of reduction in the sense you mention has been done(students almost always study small segments of total works in intro classes- No one for example reads all of Critique of Pure Reason in an intro class) , but I’m not completely convinced that it has been that successful or done it completely to the right things.
For example, Kant’s categorical imperative is very close to a decision-theory or game theory approach if one thinks about it as asking “what would happen if everyone made the choice that I do?”
This is like the opposite of game theory. Assuming that everyone takes the same action as you instead of assuming that everyone does what is in their own best interest.
So I’ve made this sort of argument before in a somewhat more limited form. The analogy I like to give is that we don’t spend multiple semesters in chemistry discussing the classical elements and phlogiston (even though phlogiston did actually give testable predictions(contrary to some commonly made claims on LW). We mention them for a few days and go on. But in this context, while I’d favor less emphasis on the old philosophers, they are still worth reading to a limited extent, because they did phrase many of the basic questions (even if imprecisely) that are still relevant, and are necessary to understand the verbiage of contemporary discourse. Some of them even fit in with ideas that are connected to things that people at LW care about. For example, Kant’s categorical imperative is very close to a decision-theory or game theory approach if one thinks about it as asking “what would happen if everyone made the choice that I do?” Even Pearl is writing in a context that assumes a fair bit of knowlege about classical notions. What is therefore I think needed is not a complete rejection of older philosophers, but a reduction in emphasis.
In my Intro to Moral Philosophy course, Kant’s work was preceded by an introduction to basic game-theory and such, which most people understood much better than his actual work, so I don’t really think his is a necessary foundation or a proper introduction in those fields
Reduction in the sense of cooking down to essentials? Hopefully someone has already gone over the classics with an eye toward identifying prerequisites and formulating adequate substitutes, and it would simply be a matter of adapting such work for our own use.
I meant in the sense of simply reducing the total amount, but yes, that would help a fair bit. I do think that some degree of reduction in the sense you mention has been done(students almost always study small segments of total works in intro classes- No one for example reads all of Critique of Pure Reason in an intro class) , but I’m not completely convinced that it has been that successful or done it completely to the right things.
This is like the opposite of game theory. Assuming that everyone takes the same action as you instead of assuming that everyone does what is in their own best interest.
Yes, at some level one can interpret Kant as saying something like “use decision theory, not game theory.”
Quick Question, a few weeks later: would you be willing to take a guess as to what problems might have caused my comment to be downvoted? I’m stumped.
No idea. I’m perplexed. Your comment seemed to me to be accurate and on point.