People like to talk about decoupling vs. contextualizing norms. To summarize, decoupling norms encourage for arguments to be assessed in isolation of surrounding context, while contextualizing norms consider the context around an argument to be really important.
I think it’s worth distinguishing between two kinds of contextualizing:
(1) If someone says X, updating on the fact that they are the sort of person who would say X. (E.g. if most people who say X in fact believe Y, contextualizing norms are fine with assuming that your interlocutor believes Y unless they say otherwise.)
(2) In a discussion where someone says X, considering “is it good for the world to be saying X” to be an importantly relevant question.
I think these are pretty different and it would be nice to have separate terms for them.
One example of (2) is disapproving of publishing AI alignment research that may advance AI capabilities. That’s because you’re criticizing the research not on the basis of “this is wrong” but on the basis of “it was bad to say this, even if it’s right”.
People like to talk about decoupling vs. contextualizing norms. To summarize, decoupling norms encourage for arguments to be assessed in isolation of surrounding context, while contextualizing norms consider the context around an argument to be really important.
I think it’s worth distinguishing between two kinds of contextualizing:
(1) If someone says X, updating on the fact that they are the sort of person who would say X. (E.g. if most people who say X in fact believe Y, contextualizing norms are fine with assuming that your interlocutor believes Y unless they say otherwise.)
(2) In a discussion where someone says X, considering “is it good for the world to be saying X” to be an importantly relevant question.
I think these are pretty different and it would be nice to have separate terms for them.
One example of (2) is disapproving of publishing AI alignment research that may advance AI capabilities. That’s because you’re criticizing the research not on the basis of “this is wrong” but on the basis of “it was bad to say this, even if it’s right”.