RobinZ comments on Conversation Halters - Less Wrong

38 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 20 February 2010 03:00PM

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Comment author: byrnema 20 February 2010 10:19:45PM *  0 points [-]

Is something the conversation-halter refuses to do, in an argument. Does that clear it up, or not?

No, according to the post, the conversation halter wants to revisit and question assumptions. The criticism is that the person wants to pick a different assumption like it's a free choice they can make.

Well, it is. The assumption is either self-evident to them, or it isn't. Sometimes a discussion about a priori assumptions will reveal that an assumption is self-evident to them in a way that they hadn't thought about, but sometimes, people really do have different ideas about what is self-evident.

Comment author: RobinZ 20 February 2010 10:56:55PM 3 points [-]

I get the sense that we're talking about different situations entirely. I've seen people claim that they have the right to assume whatever they want, and therefore they are exempt from evidential argument. That sounds to me like exactly what Eliezer Yudkowsky was describing. People who are sincerely taking the argument meta are completely outside the scope of this post.