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Viliam_Bur comments on Rational philosophies - Less Wrong Discussion

2 Post author: katydee 12 February 2012 06:19AM

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Comment author: Viliam_Bur 13 February 2012 09:45:27AM 4 points [-]

Maybe it would be more fair to write a list of good (empirically tested) suggestions, and then some overview how they map into concepts in various philosophies. It would help you to be more fair towards different philosophies when thinking about the concept. Then, the final text could be written in a different order, for example philosophies first (with useful concepts emphasised) and then the useful concepts explained individually. It would be probably fair to write the philosophies chronologically.

If X is a good idea, then "X is a good idea" is an important fact, while "X is part of philosophy P" is just a historical coincidence. The coincidence may be interesting, especially for people already interested in P; it may give them better emotional connection. Nonetheless, the usefulness of X is that "X is good", not that "X belongs to P". The fact that "X is a part of P" gives some bonus points to P, not to X; the quality of X depends only on the quality of X.