Because 1) thomblake is usually pretty sharp, 2) I know he’s very interested in philosophy generally, and 3) Searle is well-known and has been taken down more often than I care to remember.
That addresses (i).
As for (ii), people almost always ignore that point, and frequently try to gloss over or deny it in arguments. It’s warm and fuzzy to “look for the good” in positions and it’s a common strategy to wear down resistance in opponents by ‘acknowledging their claims to be partly valid’ even when they aren’t.
His studies have taught thomblake well, but he is not a rationalist yet.
And yet, thomblake’s reply makes it clear that you would have been more correct to assume that thomblake would know (ii) but not (i). Interesting. ETA: Or not.
Because 1) thomblake is usually pretty sharp, 2) I know he’s very interested in philosophy generally, and 3) Searle is well-known and has been taken down more often than I care to remember.
That addresses (i).
As for (ii), people almost always ignore that point, and frequently try to gloss over or deny it in arguments. It’s warm and fuzzy to “look for the good” in positions and it’s a common strategy to wear down resistance in opponents by ‘acknowledging their claims to be partly valid’ even when they aren’t.
His studies have taught thomblake well, but he is not a rationalist yet.
And yet, thomblake’s reply makes it clear that you would have been more correct to assume that thomblake would know (ii) but not (i). Interesting. ETA: Or not.
It’s like theism. It’s obviously wrong, but most people either support it or don’t realize it’s obviously wrong.
Possibly my reaction was not perfectly calibrated for thomblake, but it works pretty well generally.