Desrtopa comments on The noncentral fallacy - the worst argument in the world? - Less Wrong

157 Post author: Yvain 27 August 2012 03:36AM

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Comment author: Desrtopa 16 September 2012 05:30:55AM 0 points [-]

That response may be technically true (you don't acknowledge the relevance of the argument,) but I don't think it's usually appropriate, since the idea that something falling into a negative category could be irrelevant probably falls across a gap of inferential distance for your interlocutor. If they already got it, they probably wouldn't have made the argument in the first place.

Comment author: Hawisher 16 September 2012 05:12:49PM 1 point [-]

That's fair, but I'd certainly still prefer it to "x is the GOOD kind of y," which I feel has an infantile feel to it. Not that I think Yvain was actually saying he would use that construction.