Another thought on ways it can be unhelpful to cry motte and Bailey.
I don’t know what’s the split between, “People who exhibit motte and bailey behavior and do so as a tactic”, vs “those who accidentally exhibit motte and bailey behavior”, but I find myself accidentally internally doing motte and baileys far more often than is comfortable. I’m getting better at noticing when there’s the switch, when my brain starts using a seperate model, but it’s a very faint feeling.
If I someone was actually and accidentally doing a motte and bailey, they might really not notice the switch, and shouting “Aha, motte and Bailey!” feels like an easy way to get them on the defensive and not actually think about if they switched models.
(Example, I’ve been reading Consciousness Explained, and I’m onboard with the idea that there’s no Cartesian theater, but I definitely haven’t completely “worked it out of my system” and you could totally catch me doing a motte and bailey on that topic)
Another thought on ways it can be unhelpful to cry motte and Bailey. I don’t know what’s the split between, “People who exhibit motte and bailey behavior and do so as a tactic”, vs “those who accidentally exhibit motte and bailey behavior”, but I find myself accidentally internally doing motte and baileys far more often than is comfortable. I’m getting better at noticing when there’s the switch, when my brain starts using a seperate model, but it’s a very faint feeling. If I someone was actually and accidentally doing a motte and bailey, they might really not notice the switch, and shouting “Aha, motte and Bailey!” feels like an easy way to get them on the defensive and not actually think about if they switched models.
(Example, I’ve been reading Consciousness Explained, and I’m onboard with the idea that there’s no Cartesian theater, but I definitely haven’t completely “worked it out of my system” and you could totally catch me doing a motte and bailey on that topic)