ChrisHallquist comments on Dangers of steelmanning / principle of charity - Less Wrong

88 Post author: gothgirl420666 16 January 2014 06:35AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Article Navigation

Comments (91)

Comments (91)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: ChrisHallquist 17 February 2014 04:49:00AM -2 points [-]

It’s tempting to judge what you read: "I agree with these statements, and I disagree with those." However, a great thinker who has spent decades on an unusual line of thought cannot induce their context into your head in a few pages. It’s almost certainly the case that you don’t fully understand their statements. Instead, you can say: "I have now learned that there exists a worldview in which all of these statements are consistent."

False. Seems pretty obvious that lots of people have inconsistent worldviews.

Comment author: Vaniver 17 February 2014 07:52:19PM *  0 points [-]

False.

I must say, I find this statement rather amusing in context.

Seems pretty obvious that lots of people have inconsistent worldviews.

Does the original quote describe all, or almost all people? It looks like it describes great thinkers- that is, people who should give you pause when they disagree with you. And if this is the first time you've met someone, you don't know whether or not they're a great thinker, and you may be overweighting a perceived inconsistency in your reading of their statement of their beliefs in your determination of whether or not they're a good enough thinker to puzzle through.

Comment author: ChrisHallquist 17 February 2014 08:39:44PM *  -2 points [-]

Er, good point. It didn't occur to me to think so-called "great thinkers" are that much less likely to be inconsistent than most people. But on reflection I stand by that. See e.g. Eric Schwitzgebel on Kant.

Powered by Reddit Powered by Reddit