ec429 comments on Disguised Queries - Less Wrong
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Comments (104)
That doesn't answer the question "Is a fœtus a person", it just supplies a definition of "person", which may or may not be relevant to any given query.
Suppose my real query is "Can a fœtus talk?" Now, just because I choose to define "person" in such a way that most "person"s can talk, and in such a way that a fœtus classes as a "person", that doesn't make the probability that a fœtus can talk any different to if I'd defined "person" differently.
The whole point of these examples of disguised queries is that if you find yourself trying to answer them, you're doing it wrong.
Suppose we call the horse's tail a leg.