I am not saying: “change, usually, is bad”, or “it is a good default assumption that a change is bad”, or “change tends to be bad”, or “more often than not, change is bad”, or anything at all similar.
I am saying: change, inherently, is bad. Change is bad merely by virtue of being change. Whatever the actual change is, nevertheless the fact of something changing in any way is, itself, directly, bad.
Now, we have all heard this: “every improvement is, necessarily, a change”—quite so. And of course it is possible for a change to be good on net, which is what we usually call an “improvement”. Nevertheless the question of whether a change is good, on net, must be answered by taking the specific positive benefit of the specific change in question, and subtracting, not only anything that got worse, but also the inherent badness of changing something! You “start with a negative score”, so to speak. Thus it is possible to have a change that has a positive benefit, makes nothing worse, and yet the benefit is small, and does not suffice to overcome that “starting score”; in such a case we might say “yes, if we are choosing between A and B from a neutral starting point, B is a little better; but not so much that it’s worthwhile to change to B, if already at A”.
What is it then? You beg the question again by assuming it while trying to show how its not an assumption.
not only anything that got worse, but also the inherent badness of changing something! You “start with a negative score”,
This isn’t an argument, it’s just restating the premise. To see this, just change all instances of “change is bad” to “change is good” in your argument, and notice how they entire thing is still coherent. You start with a positive score for the change, because of the inherent goodness of change, and so on...
This isn’t an argument, it’s just restating the premise.
Indeed, it’s not an argument—any more than my original comment was an assumption!
To see this, just change all instances of “change is bad” to “change is good” in your argument, and notice how they entire thing is still coherent. You start with a positive score for the change, because of the inherent goodness of change, and so on...
Of course it’s still coherent. Why wouldn’t it be?
You keep calling what I wrote an argument, as if I am trying to prove a statement of fact. But isn’t it obvious that what I’m talking about is a matter of judgment, of value? And the negation of a statement of value is just as coherent as the original…
I don’t know how a personal value judgement fits in with your talk about a “burden of justification.” Why should someone feel the need to justify against your personal value judgement that change is bad? They simply have a different value judgement than you.
Why should someone feel the need to justify against your personal value judgement that change is bad?
Certainly they should not—unless, of course, that value judgment is not idiosyncratic, but common, or near-universal. It seems to me that this is so. You may disagree. In any case, justification is needed to the extent that said value judgment is shared by those affected by, or those evaluating, any change.
That makes sense. I think I was tripped up by your use of the words “is” and “bad”, both of which are ambiguous. Things that might have helped me get your meaning are swapping “is” for “feels”, swapping “bad” for “aversive” or “unpleasant”, and adding the qualifier “for me” or “for many people”.
Of course, if you were under the impression that this is a near universal aversion, it makes less sense to make any of those changes. I suspect that that assumption also underlies the miscommunication of why people didn’t address the “change is aversive” objection in the original post as well—they typical-mind fallacied that change was neutral or good, and you did the reverse.
Indeed not, as it is not an assumption at all!
I am not saying: “change, usually, is bad”, or “it is a good default assumption that a change is bad”, or “change tends to be bad”, or “more often than not, change is bad”, or anything at all similar.
I am saying: change, inherently, is bad. Change is bad merely by virtue of being change. Whatever the actual change is, nevertheless the fact of something changing in any way is, itself, directly, bad.
Now, we have all heard this: “every improvement is, necessarily, a change”—quite so. And of course it is possible for a change to be good on net, which is what we usually call an “improvement”. Nevertheless the question of whether a change is good, on net, must be answered by taking the specific positive benefit of the specific change in question, and subtracting, not only anything that got worse, but also the inherent badness of changing something! You “start with a negative score”, so to speak. Thus it is possible to have a change that has a positive benefit, makes nothing worse, and yet the benefit is small, and does not suffice to overcome that “starting score”; in such a case we might say “yes, if we are choosing between A and B from a neutral starting point, B is a little better; but not so much that it’s worthwhile to change to B, if already at A”.
What is it then? You beg the question again by assuming it while trying to show how its not an assumption.
This isn’t an argument, it’s just restating the premise. To see this, just change all instances of “change is bad” to “change is good” in your argument, and notice how they entire thing is still coherent. You start with a positive score for the change, because of the inherent goodness of change, and so on...
Indeed, it’s not an argument—any more than my original comment was an assumption!
Of course it’s still coherent. Why wouldn’t it be?
You keep calling what I wrote an argument, as if I am trying to prove a statement of fact. But isn’t it obvious that what I’m talking about is a matter of judgment, of value? And the negation of a statement of value is just as coherent as the original…
I don’t know how a personal value judgement fits in with your talk about a “burden of justification.” Why should someone feel the need to justify against your personal value judgement that change is bad? They simply have a different value judgement than you.
Certainly they should not—unless, of course, that value judgment is not idiosyncratic, but common, or near-universal. It seems to me that this is so. You may disagree. In any case, justification is needed to the extent that said value judgment is shared by those affected by, or those evaluating, any change.
That makes sense. I think I was tripped up by your use of the words “is” and “bad”, both of which are ambiguous. Things that might have helped me get your meaning are swapping “is” for “feels”, swapping “bad” for “aversive” or “unpleasant”, and adding the qualifier “for me” or “for many people”.
Of course, if you were under the impression that this is a near universal aversion, it makes less sense to make any of those changes. I suspect that that assumption also underlies the miscommunication of why people didn’t address the “change is aversive” objection in the original post as well—they typical-mind fallacied that change was neutral or good, and you did the reverse.