(Prompted by but completely irrelevant to the recent bump.)

My hypothesis is that this is a "realist"/"idealist" divide.

Come now. This is lesswrong. It is an "idealist"/"idealist" divide with slightly different ideals. :P

One side's ideal just happens to be "verbal symbols should be used to further epistemic accuracy". It is very much an 'ethical or idealistic' position with all the potential for narrow mindedness that entails.