This misses the point a bit due to an equivocation on “assume”. In ordinary discourse, it usually means “assume for the purpose of action until you encounter contrary evidence”. That’s very different from the scientist’s hypothetical assumptions that are made in order to figure out what follows from a hypothesis.
In ordinary discourse, it usually means “assume for the purpose of action until you encounter contrary evidence”
It’s epistemically incorrect to adopt a belief “for the purpose of action”, and permitting “contrary evidence” to correct the error doesn’t make it a non-error.
I think what Creutzer is trying to mean is in ordinary discourse meaning everyday problems in which you are not always able to give the thought time it deserves, when you don’t even have 5 minutes by the clock hand to think about the problem rationally, it is better to rely on the heuristic assume people are smart and some unknown context is causing problems then to rely on the heuristic people who make mistakes are dumb. this said heuristics are only good most of the time and may lead you to errors such as
It’s epistemically incorrect to adopt a belief “for the purpose of action”
in this case it is still technically an error but you are merely attempting to be “less wrong” about a case where you don’t have time to be correct
then assuming the heuristic until you encounter contrary evidence (or you have the time to think of better answers) follows closely the point of this website
Using a heuristic doesn’t require believing that it’s flawless. You are in fact performing some action, but that is also possible in the absence of careful understanding of the its effect. There is no point in doing the additional damage of accepting a belief for reasons other than evidence of its correctness.
This misses the point a bit due to an equivocation on “assume”. In ordinary discourse, it usually means “assume for the purpose of action until you encounter contrary evidence”. That’s very different from the scientist’s hypothetical assumptions that are made in order to figure out what follows from a hypothesis.
It’s epistemically incorrect to adopt a belief “for the purpose of action”, and permitting “contrary evidence” to correct the error doesn’t make it a non-error.
I think what Creutzer is trying to mean is in ordinary discourse meaning everyday problems in which you are not always able to give the thought time it deserves, when you don’t even have 5 minutes by the clock hand to think about the problem rationally, it is better to rely on the heuristic assume people are smart and some unknown context is causing problems then to rely on the heuristic people who make mistakes are dumb. this said heuristics are only good most of the time and may lead you to errors such as
in this case it is still technically an error but you are merely attempting to be “less wrong” about a case where you don’t have time to be correct then assuming the heuristic until you encounter contrary evidence (or you have the time to think of better answers) follows closely the point of this website
Using a heuristic doesn’t require believing that it’s flawless. You are in fact performing some action, but that is also possible in the absence of careful understanding of the its effect. There is no point in doing the additional damage of accepting a belief for reasons other than evidence of its correctness.
Exactly, thanks for the clarification.