The issue I have is that his initial proposition, though it may possibly be true, has a wide range of possible truenesses, no indication which trueness the poster was aiming for, and may very possibly have been made without a particular value of potential truth in mind.
I don’t see how that’s the case. It seems very specific to me. In the statement “X will only cause Y” are you confused about the meaning of X, Y, “will only cause”, or something else I’m missing? (X=”trying to make … reality a safe and cozy haven”, Y=”harm”)
I take issue with Y. “Harm”, though it does have a definition, is a very, very broad term, encompassing every negative eventuality imaginable. Saying “X will cause stuff” only doubles the number of applicable outcomes. That does not meet my definition of “specific”.
Aha. Again, a definitional problem. I would indeed regard the claim “dropping this rock will cause something to happen” as specific, and trivially true; it is not vague—there is no question of its truth value or meaning.
I’m sorry, I want this conversation to be over too, and I don’t mean to be rude, but this has been bugging me all week: where did you get that definition from, and where do you live? Literally everyone I have interacted with or read stuff from before you, including published authors, used the same definitions of “specific” and “vague” that I do, and in ways obvious enough that your confusion confuses me.
I live in (and am from near) New Haven, CT, USA, and I have a background primarily in Philosophy.
A vague proposition is one which has an uncertain meaning - ‘meaning’ is of course tied up in relevance and context. So observing that a patient coughs is a ‘vague’ symptom in the sense that the relevant ‘meaning’ is an answer to the question “What disease does the patient have?” and the answer is unclear.
In the above, Caledonian is stating that “trying to make reality a safe and cozy haven will only cause harm”. I do not see this as in any way vague, since it has a clear referent. If anyone were to try to make reality a safe an cozy haven, and caused anything other than harm in doing so, then the proposition would turn out to have been false. You can unambiguously sort worlds where the proposition is true from worlds where the proposition is false.
I’m not sure from previous comments on this thread what definition of ‘vague’ you were employing or how it differs from this.
You can unambiguously sort worlds where the proposition is true from worlds where the proposition is false.
Doesn’t this depend on having an unambiguous test for whether reality in a given world is a safe and cozy haven? If one were skeptical of the possibility of such a test, one might consider the quoted statement vague.
Ah, I see. That makes sense now; your previous example had led me to believe that the difference was much greater than it is. I had been using “vague” to mean that it didn’t sharply limit the number of anticipated experiences; there are lots of things that are harmful that cover a range of experiences, and so saying that something will “cause harm” is vague. For the disease question, “vague” would be saying “he has a virus”; while that term is very clearly defined, it doesn’t tell you if the person has a month to live or just has this year’s flu, so the worlds in which the statement is true can vary greatly and you can’t plan a whole lot based on it. Ironically, my definition seems a lot vaguer than yours now that they’ve both been defined.
I don’t see how that’s the case. It seems very specific to me. In the statement “X will only cause Y” are you confused about the meaning of X, Y, “will only cause”, or something else I’m missing? (X=”trying to make … reality a safe and cozy haven”, Y=”harm”)
I take issue with Y. “Harm”, though it does have a definition, is a very, very broad term, encompassing every negative eventuality imaginable. Saying “X will cause stuff” only doubles the number of applicable outcomes. That does not meet my definition of “specific”.
Aha. Again, a definitional problem. I would indeed regard the claim “dropping this rock will cause something to happen” as specific, and trivially true; it is not vague—there is no question of its truth value or meaning.
I think this is resolved.
I’m sorry, I want this conversation to be over too, and I don’t mean to be rude, but this has been bugging me all week: where did you get that definition from, and where do you live? Literally everyone I have interacted with or read stuff from before you, including published authors, used the same definitions of “specific” and “vague” that I do, and in ways obvious enough that your confusion confuses me.
I live in (and am from near) New Haven, CT, USA, and I have a background primarily in Philosophy.
A vague proposition is one which has an uncertain meaning - ‘meaning’ is of course tied up in relevance and context. So observing that a patient coughs is a ‘vague’ symptom in the sense that the relevant ‘meaning’ is an answer to the question “What disease does the patient have?” and the answer is unclear.
In the above, Caledonian is stating that “trying to make reality a safe and cozy haven will only cause harm”. I do not see this as in any way vague, since it has a clear referent. If anyone were to try to make reality a safe an cozy haven, and caused anything other than harm in doing so, then the proposition would turn out to have been false. You can unambiguously sort worlds where the proposition is true from worlds where the proposition is false.
I’m not sure from previous comments on this thread what definition of ‘vague’ you were employing or how it differs from this.
Doesn’t this depend on having an unambiguous test for whether reality in a given world is a safe and cozy haven? If one were skeptical of the possibility of such a test, one might consider the quoted statement vague.
No, you need to have unambiguous tests for “consequences other than harm” and “trying to make reality a safe and cozy haven”.
The proposition leaves open the possibility that one might accidentally make reality a safe and cozy haven without trying and thus cause non-harm.
You are entirely correct! Teach me to be sloppy.
Ah, I see. That makes sense now; your previous example had led me to believe that the difference was much greater than it is. I had been using “vague” to mean that it didn’t sharply limit the number of anticipated experiences; there are lots of things that are harmful that cover a range of experiences, and so saying that something will “cause harm” is vague. For the disease question, “vague” would be saying “he has a virus”; while that term is very clearly defined, it doesn’t tell you if the person has a month to live or just has this year’s flu, so the worlds in which the statement is true can vary greatly and you can’t plan a whole lot based on it. Ironically, my definition seems a lot vaguer than yours now that they’ve both been defined.
And now I can happily say the matter’s resolved.