Larks comments on Rationality Quotes December 2012 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Thomas 03 December 2012 02:33AM

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Comment author: Larks 02 December 2012 02:21:34PM 4 points [-]

Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but rather memory.

  • Leonardo da Vinci
Comment author: Bakkot 03 December 2012 10:23:57PM 7 points [-]

In discussions I'm a lot less interested in which of us is more intelligent than which of us is correct. I don't see what's wrong with using one's memory.

Comment author: Larks 03 December 2012 11:19:18PM 2 points [-]

There's nothing wrong with appeal to authority either.

Comment author: BerryPick6 04 December 2012 02:49:43AM 4 points [-]

Wikipedia tell me that this is true.

Comment author: Sengachi 04 December 2012 04:26:45AM -1 points [-]

There is nothing wrong with appeal to authority jointed with all the evidence that said authority uses in their argument, subject to disagreement and rebuttal the same as everything else. That's not how most people appeal to authority, though.

Comment author: Larks 04 December 2012 10:11:45AM 3 points [-]

No, you don't have to understand why someone believes something to believe justified that they are justified in believing it. All I need is to believe justifiably that they're generally a good judge of facts in this domain. To hold otherwise would be an extremely unreasonable standard that would prevent me from ever learning pretty much anything. Whereas in fact, I'm perfectly justified in believing in, say, the existence of Argentina, even though I've never observed it myself.

Comment author: Alejandro1 06 December 2012 05:02:45AM 3 points [-]

So put forward the arguments and demonstrations, Simplicio--either yours or Aristotle's--but not just texts and bare authorities, because our discourses must relate to the sensible world and not to one on paper.

  • Galileo Galilei, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems