Why do you think implausible hypotheticals are unhelpful and probaby harmful? It seems to me that they’re a lot of work for no obvious reward, but I don’t have a more complex theory.
Anyone have an example of the examination of an implausible hypothetical paying off?
I think implausible hypotheticals are often intuition pumps. If they are used as part of an attempt to convince the audience of a certain point of view I automatically get suspicious. If the point of view is correct, why can’t it be illustrated with a plausible hypothetical or a real world example? They often seem to be constructed in a way that tries to move attention away from certain aspects of the situation described and thus allow for dubious assumptions to be hidden in plain sight.
Basically, I always feel like someone is trying to pull a philosophical sleight of hand when they pull out an implausible hypothetical to make their case and they often seem to be used in arguments that are wrong in subtle or hard to detect ways. I feel like I encounter them far more in arguments for positions that I ultimately conclude are incorrect than as support for positions I ultimately conclude to be correct.
That’s interesting, and might apply to the trolley problem which implies that people can have much more knowledge of the alternatives than they are ever likely to have.
Ethical principles and empathy (as a sort of unconscious ethical principle) are needed when you don’t have detailed knowledge, but I haven’t seen the trolley problem extended to the usual case of not knowing very many of the effects.
Taking a look at ethical intuitions with specifics: Sex, Drugs, and AIDS: the desire to only help when it will make a big difference and the desire to not help unworthy people add up to worse effects than having a less dramatic view of the world. Having AIDS drugs doesn’t mean it makes sense to slack off on prevention as much as has happened.
Yes, the trolley problems are another example of harmful implausible hypotheticals in my opinion. The different reaction many people have to the same underlying ethical question framed as a trolley problem vs. an organ donor problem is I think illustrative of the pernicious influence of implausible hypotheticals on clear thought.
Well, the fact that they’re implausible pretty much means the cash rewards are going to have to wait until they are plausible. But don’t we think clear thinking is its own reward?
I’ve found that such things are incredibly crucial for getting people to think clearly about personal identity. In fact I don’t know if I have any way of explaining or defending my views on personal identity to the philosophically untrained without implausible hypotheticals. Same goes for understanding skepticism, causality, maybe induction, problems with causal decision theory (obviously), anthropics, simulation...
I’m all about being aware that using implausible hypotheticals can generate error but I am bewildered by the sudden resistance to them on this thread: we use them all the time here!
Why do you think implausible hypotheticals are unhelpful and probaby harmful? It seems to me that they’re a lot of work for no obvious reward, but I don’t have a more complex theory.
Anyone have an example of the examination of an implausible hypothetical paying off?
I think implausible hypotheticals are often intuition pumps. If they are used as part of an attempt to convince the audience of a certain point of view I automatically get suspicious. If the point of view is correct, why can’t it be illustrated with a plausible hypothetical or a real world example? They often seem to be constructed in a way that tries to move attention away from certain aspects of the situation described and thus allow for dubious assumptions to be hidden in plain sight.
Basically, I always feel like someone is trying to pull a philosophical sleight of hand when they pull out an implausible hypothetical to make their case and they often seem to be used in arguments that are wrong in subtle or hard to detect ways. I feel like I encounter them far more in arguments for positions that I ultimately conclude are incorrect than as support for positions I ultimately conclude to be correct.
That’s interesting, and might apply to the trolley problem which implies that people can have much more knowledge of the alternatives than they are ever likely to have.
Ethical principles and empathy (as a sort of unconscious ethical principle) are needed when you don’t have detailed knowledge, but I haven’t seen the trolley problem extended to the usual case of not knowing very many of the effects.
It might be worth crossing the trolley problem with Protected from Myself.
Taking a look at ethical intuitions with specifics: Sex, Drugs, and AIDS: the desire to only help when it will make a big difference and the desire to not help unworthy people add up to worse effects than having a less dramatic view of the world. Having AIDS drugs doesn’t mean it makes sense to slack off on prevention as much as has happened.
Yes, the trolley problems are another example of harmful implausible hypotheticals in my opinion. The different reaction many people have to the same underlying ethical question framed as a trolley problem vs. an organ donor problem is I think illustrative of the pernicious influence of implausible hypotheticals on clear thought.
Well, the fact that they’re implausible pretty much means the cash rewards are going to have to wait until they are plausible. But don’t we think clear thinking is its own reward?
I’ve found that such things are incredibly crucial for getting people to think clearly about personal identity. In fact I don’t know if I have any way of explaining or defending my views on personal identity to the philosophically untrained without implausible hypotheticals. Same goes for understanding skepticism, causality, maybe induction, problems with causal decision theory (obviously), anthropics, simulation...
I’m all about being aware that using implausible hypotheticals can generate error but I am bewildered by the sudden resistance to them on this thread: we use them all the time here!