shminux comments on Schools Proliferating Without Evidence - Less Wrong

40 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 15 March 2009 06:43AM

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Comment author: shminux 25 March 2013 09:25:14PM 0 points [-]
Comment author: whowhowho 25 March 2013 09:33:55PM -1 points [-]

Please provide proof. Please don't point, yet again, to the highly debatable "solution" to FW.

Comment author: shminux 25 March 2013 11:58:21PM 0 points [-]

What kind of proof would you accept?

Comment deleted 26 March 2013 07:50:34PM *  [-]
Comment author: shminux 26 March 2013 09:22:44PM *  7 points [-]

In my limited experience, the "hard problems" in philosophy are the problems which are either poorly defined and so people keep arguing about definitions without admitting it, or poorly analyzed, so people keep mixing decision theory with cognitive science, for example. While the traditional philosophy is good at asking (meta-)questions and noticing broad similarities, it is nearly useless at solving them. When a philosopher tries to honestly analyze a deep question, it usually stops being philosophy and becomes logic, linguistics, decision theory, computer science, physics or something else that qualifies as science. Hence Pearl and Kahneman and Russell, some Wittgenstein, Popper...

Comment author: [deleted] 27 March 2013 11:10:33AM 0 points [-]

In my limited experience, the "hard problems" in philosophy are the problems which are either poorly defined and so people keep arguing about definitions without admitting it, or poorly analyzed, so people keep mixing decision theory with cognitive science, for example.

See also how many of the comments in this thread amounted to “if by sound you mean ‘acoustic wave’ it does, if you mean ‘auditory sensation’ it doesn't”.

Comment author: TheAncientGeek 18 April 2015 10:03:39AM -2 points [-]

There's little evidence of anything else being better at solving them, so that is largely nirvana fallacy,

Comment author: dxu 18 April 2015 07:13:16PM 3 points [-]

Wait, what? There's little evidence of anything better than philosophy at solving problems? How about physics, cognitive science, computer science, mathematics, etc.?

Comment author: Epictetus 19 April 2015 02:40:14AM 2 points [-]

When a branch of philosophy becomes useful at solving problems, people give it a new name and no longer consider it part of philosophy.

Comment author: dxu 19 April 2015 08:14:19PM *  2 points [-]

Then what is philosophy supposed to be? Just a field for asking questions (but not answering them)?

Comment author: Quill_McGee 19 April 2015 08:53:57PM 3 points [-]

The system for generating new fields of research? After all, if it generates other areas that are no longer philosophy reasonably regularly, then that actually creates value.

Comment author: TheAncientGeek 20 April 2015 10:16:04AM *  2 points [-]

Presumably its the place where questions that can't readily be answered, (or even formulated, .or may not even really be questions), live. A sin bin. The only realistic alternative is sweeping them under the carpet, since the idea of all questions automagically being answerable is a nirvana.

Philosophy is the best thing there is at being philosophy. Its worse at answering its in questions than other fields are at answering their own questions, but its questions are harder,. It isnt broken in the sense that there is any easy way of fixing it, or a comparable alternative doing the same job,

It is very important for rationality to notice the differences between

1 Inferior compared to a real , comparable thing

2 Inferior compared to unmplemented but realistic alternatives.

3 Inferior compared to nirvanas.

Comment author: TheAncientGeek 18 April 2015 07:20:50PM *  0 points [-]

Them="the hard problems in philosophy", not "problems"

How about physics, cognitive science, computer science, mathematics, etc.?

How about philosophy of physics, philosophy of mathematics? Why do they exist?

Comment author: dxu 19 April 2015 01:19:20AM *  2 points [-]

How about philosophy of physics, philosophy of mathematics?

Do these things solve problems in physics or in mathematics? If so, do they solve them better than the actual fields do? If not, what problems do they solve?

Comment author: TheAncientGeek 19 April 2015 09:02:18AM *  -2 points [-]

Do these things solve problems in physics or in mathematics?

Are those the topic of the discussion? No.

If not, what problems do they solve?

Philosophical problems arising from the non philosophical fields mentioned.

Note the doube whammy. Physics can't solve the average philosophical problem, and also can't solve the problems arising from physics,