Was the irony intentional? If not that is just priceless!
Humans being what they are, when they define things it will inevitably tend to influence what predictions they make. Where a boundedly rational agent prescribed a terrible definition would be merely less efficient a human will also end up with biased predictions when reasoning from the prediction. Also, as you note, declaring a definition can sometimes imply that a prediction is likely to be made that the definition matches the mental concept while also carving reality effectively at it’s joints.
The above being the case definitions can and should be dismissed as wrong. This is definitely related to the predictions that accompany them. This is approximately a representation of the non-verbal reasoning that flashed through my mind prompting my own rejection of the ‘self as future folks you care about and can influence’ definition. It is also what flashes through my mind when I reject why I must reject any definition of ‘define’ and ‘predict’ which doesn’t keep the two words distinct. Just because ‘human’ is closely related to ‘featherless biped’ it doesn’t mean they are the same thing!
I suppose this must be my mental concept of what we’re doing when defining a term like “self”, which is what impels me to use “define” and “predict” in similar ways.
Just so long as you don’t mind if you mislabel a whole lot of plucked chickens.
Understanding the various relationships between definitions and predictions is critical for anyone trying to engage in useful philosophy. But it isn’t helpful just to mush the two concepts together. Instead we can let our understanding the predictions involved govern how we go about proposing and using definitions.
Was the irony intentional? If not that is just priceless!
Humans being what they are, when they define things it will inevitably tend to influence what predictions they make. Where a boundedly rational agent prescribed a terrible definition would be merely less efficient a human will also end up with biased predictions when reasoning from the prediction. Also, as you note, declaring a definition can sometimes imply that a prediction is likely to be made that the definition matches the mental concept while also carving reality effectively at it’s joints.
The above being the case definitions can and should be dismissed as wrong. This is definitely related to the predictions that accompany them. This is approximately a representation of the non-verbal reasoning that flashed through my mind prompting my own rejection of the ‘self as future folks you care about and can influence’ definition. It is also what flashes through my mind when I reject why I must reject any definition of ‘define’ and ‘predict’ which doesn’t keep the two words distinct. Just because ‘human’ is closely related to ‘featherless biped’ it doesn’t mean they are the same thing!
Just so long as you don’t mind if you mislabel a whole lot of plucked chickens.
Understanding the various relationships between definitions and predictions is critical for anyone trying to engage in useful philosophy. But it isn’t helpful just to mush the two concepts together. Instead we can let our understanding the predictions involved govern how we go about proposing and using definitions.