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XiXiDu comments on Can we stop using the word "rationalism"? - Less Wrong Discussion

9 [deleted] 19 March 2011 02:45AM

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Comment author: XiXiDu 19 March 2011 11:55:38AM 0 points [-]

The belief that we should come to know the world through knowledge of (and correction for) cognitive biases, and knowledge of (and correct use of) probability theory.

That seems to be close to what LW is about. Yet the more I learn the more I am leaning towards experimentation and intuition. Probability is obviously correct when dealing with problems like the Monty Hall problem and endless other uses, yet it is almost unusable in daily life and breaks down given certain thought experiments. So whether you approach some lower and upper bounds you go with intuition to decide or actual experimentation to gather other kinds of evidence and use probability to verify the results.

Comment author: [deleted] 19 March 2011 05:21:13PM 1 point [-]

Yes, I was trying to summarize what LW is about. I had intuition in mind as one of the two types of thinking, but I failed to make that clear.