Jack comments on Truth: It's Not That Great - Less Wrong

35 Post author: ChrisHallquist 04 May 2014 10:07PM

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Comment author: Jack 06 May 2014 07:00:14AM *  2 points [-]

What is meant by heretical?

Comment author: ChristianKl 06 May 2014 07:25:56PM 2 points [-]

I personally simply copied the wording in the article above and wanted to test whether the claim is true. It seems indeed to be the case that there are a bunch of people who consider the statement about "truth" more heretical than "information".

Comment author: RichardKennaway 06 May 2014 07:41:11AM 2 points [-]

I don't know how ChristianKl meant it, but in general it appears to mean either (1) "this idea is so utterly false that it must be strenuously opposed every time it rears its head", or (2) "the crowd say that this idea is so utterly false that it must be opposed every time it rears its head, therefore I shall defiantly proclaim it to demonstrate my superior intellect".

The very concept of "heresy" presupposes that arguments are soldiers and disagreement is strife. "Heresy" is a call to war, not a call to truth.

Comment author: Fronken 07 May 2014 09:18:01AM -1 points [-]

So if we have a heresy, then exposing it as actually true would be good, because we want to know the truth - hang on.