Why can’t conceptual analysis be regarded as “Coherent Extrapolated Cognition”? Just because people are vague in their thinking doesn’t mean that clarity is a vice.
ETA: I’m going to try to stay away from LW for at least a month, in the hope that this sequence will be finished by the time I revisit. I know I’m going to fundamentally disagree with a lot of it, but better to wait until it’s done rather than quarrel with it piecemeal.
I’d much rather see you quarrel with things piecemeal. “This long chain of logic is wrong” is much less satisfying to me than “This step here from lemma 4 to theorem 5 is wrong”. The former may make for a better-sounding essay, but it’s also harder to distinguish from rationalization and harder for readers to verify.
Also, why think of it as a “quarrel” at all? If lukeprog is making mistakes that are incidental to his main theses, then convincing him of that as soon as possible will give him more time to revise and improve his work. If he’s making mistakes that are integral to his main theses, then convincing him of that as soon as possible will avoid wasted time finishing a red-herring sequence. And even if he’s not really making mistakes at all, then letting him know what apparent-mistakes are being perceived will help him improve the clarity of his work. You don’t seem to have difficulty expressing criticism in a non-antagonistic way, and polite intelligent criticism is a positive thing, even for the (epistemically rational) person whose ideas are being criticized.
Why can’t conceptual analysis be regarded as “Coherent Extrapolated Cognition”? Just because people are vague in their thinking doesn’t mean that clarity is a vice.
Because if you take a bunch of human brains and average their conception of “justice,” you will get something that never in a million years would have been produced by conceptual analysis. It will have parameters and weighting and nonlinearity and no sign of “necessary and sufficient.”
Why can’t conceptual analysis be regarded as “Coherent Extrapolated Cognition”? Just because people are vague in their thinking doesn’t mean that clarity is a vice.
This comparison makes me more pessimistic about CEV.
A sequence done in one month? Clearly, you’ve haven’t been paying attention to my other sequences. :)
Why can’t conceptual analysis be regarded as “Coherent Extrapolated Cognition”?
Coherent extrapolated cognition? Sounds like the process of reflective equilibrium, another standard tool of philosophy. I’ll address that in future posts.
Just because people are vague in their thinking doesn’t mean that clarity is a vice.
You’re going to skip the whole sequence? As long as your quarrels relate to the substance, why not share? If there are problems with the material presented, I’m sure the rest of us would rather hear them than assume the material is problem-free.
Or do you mean you’ll give us a rebuttal when the sequence is done?
Why can’t conceptual analysis be regarded as “Coherent Extrapolated Cognition”? Just because people are vague in their thinking doesn’t mean that clarity is a vice.
ETA: I’m going to try to stay away from LW for at least a month, in the hope that this sequence will be finished by the time I revisit. I know I’m going to fundamentally disagree with a lot of it, but better to wait until it’s done rather than quarrel with it piecemeal.
I’d much rather see you quarrel with things piecemeal. “This long chain of logic is wrong” is much less satisfying to me than “This step here from lemma 4 to theorem 5 is wrong”. The former may make for a better-sounding essay, but it’s also harder to distinguish from rationalization and harder for readers to verify.
Also, why think of it as a “quarrel” at all? If lukeprog is making mistakes that are incidental to his main theses, then convincing him of that as soon as possible will give him more time to revise and improve his work. If he’s making mistakes that are integral to his main theses, then convincing him of that as soon as possible will avoid wasted time finishing a red-herring sequence. And even if he’s not really making mistakes at all, then letting him know what apparent-mistakes are being perceived will help him improve the clarity of his work. You don’t seem to have difficulty expressing criticism in a non-antagonistic way, and polite intelligent criticism is a positive thing, even for the (epistemically rational) person whose ideas are being criticized.
Because if you take a bunch of human brains and average their conception of “justice,” you will get something that never in a million years would have been produced by conceptual analysis. It will have parameters and weighting and nonlinearity and no sign of “necessary and sufficient.”
This comparison makes me more pessimistic about CEV.
Why?
Because if CEV is the metaethical analog of conceptual analysis, then it seems more likely to me to be mistaken. That may not be the intended analogy.
A sequence done in one month? Clearly, you’ve haven’t been paying attention to my other sequences. :)
Coherent extrapolated cognition? Sounds like the process of reflective equilibrium, another standard tool of philosophy. I’ll address that in future posts.
Certainly not!
You’re going to skip the whole sequence? As long as your quarrels relate to the substance, why not share? If there are problems with the material presented, I’m sure the rest of us would rather hear them than assume the material is problem-free.
Or do you mean you’ll give us a rebuttal when the sequence is done?