ctuck comments on Where to Draw the Boundary? - Less Wrong
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I think that Public_Heretic and Eielizer are actually having a disagreement about the definition of the word "Category".
If Eliezer says that a Category is "a label applied to a set of words that describe things which are similar", Then he is correct to say that a Category is "Wrong" or "not a proper category" if the words contained in the set do not describe things which are similar.
If Public_Heretic defines a Category as "a label applied to a set of words that describe things", then he is correct in saying that there can be no wrong or false categories, so long as the label is applied to a set of words.
I'm sure they would both agree to the point that a label applied to a set of words that describe things which are similar is more useful than a label applied to a set of words that describes things which are not similar.