TheOtherDave comments on Less Wrong Rationality and Mainstream Philosophy - Less Wrong

106 Post author: lukeprog 20 March 2011 08:28PM

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Comment author: jimrandomh 21 March 2011 06:23:49PM 3 points [-]

This seems to be saying that Quinean philosophy reached (correct) conclusions similar to Less Wrong, and that since it came first it probably influenced LW, directly or indirectly, and therefore, we should study Quinean philosophy. But this does not follow; if LW and Quine say the same things, and either LW is better written or we've already read it, then this is a reason not to read Quine, because of the duplication. The implied argument seems to be: Quine said these things first => Quine deserves prestige => We should read Quine. But prestige alone is not a sufficient reason to read anything.

Comment author: TheOtherDave 21 March 2011 07:02:08PM 3 points [-]

I'm reminded of Caliph Omar's apocryphal comments about the Library of Alexandria.