What about it? Your perception of English says it’s poorly-constructed, and I should rely less on my language intuition for such improvisation? Or is it unclear what I meant/why I believe so?
What is the purpose of saying “It doesn’t have a soul.”, as opposed to “It doesn’t have moral value.”? The desired conclusion is the latter, but the deeply flawed former is spoken instead. I guess it’s meant as an argument, appealing to existing intuitions, connotations that the word “soul” evokes. But because of its flaws, it’s not actually a rational argument, so it only pretends to be one, a rhetorical device.
It just wasn’t an argument at all or a rhetorical device of any kind. It was a redundant aside setting up a counterfactual problem. At worst it was a waste of a sentence and at best it made the counterfactual accessible to even those people without a suitably sophisticated reductionist philosophy.
(And, obviously, there was an implication that the initial ‘huh?’ verged on disingenuous.)
At worst it was a waste of a sentence and at best it made the counterfactual accessible to even those people without a suitably sophisticated reductionist philosophy.
Rhetorical device in exactly this sense: it communicates where just stating the intended meaning won’t work (“people without a suitably sophisticated reductionist philosophy”). The problem is insignificant (but still present), and as a rhetorical device it could do some good.
“Huh?”
What about it? Your perception of English says it’s poorly-constructed, and I should rely less on my language intuition for such improvisation? Or is it unclear what I meant/why I believe so?
What is the purpose of saying “It doesn’t have a soul.”, as opposed to “It doesn’t have moral value.”? The desired conclusion is the latter, but the deeply flawed former is spoken instead. I guess it’s meant as an argument, appealing to existing intuitions, connotations that the word “soul” evokes. But because of its flaws, it’s not actually a rational argument, so it only pretends to be one, a rhetorical device.
It just wasn’t an argument at all or a rhetorical device of any kind. It was a redundant aside setting up a counterfactual problem. At worst it was a waste of a sentence and at best it made the counterfactual accessible to even those people without a suitably sophisticated reductionist philosophy.
(And, obviously, there was an implication that the initial ‘huh?’ verged on disingenuous.)
Rhetorical device in exactly this sense: it communicates where just stating the intended meaning won’t work (“people without a suitably sophisticated reductionist philosophy”). The problem is insignificant (but still present), and as a rhetorical device it could do some good.