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Cuddlefish comments on What do professional philosophers believe, and why? - Less Wrong Discussion

31 Post author: RobbBB 01 May 2013 02:40PM

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Comment author: [deleted] 01 May 2013 03:05:39PM 9 points [-]

but it's genuinely troubling to see non-expertise emerge as a predictor of getting any important question in an academic field right.

Perhaps it is a self-selection effect. Here is a relevant link.

If the example mentioned in the link can be extrapolated, perhaps non-experts in [insert any relevant philosophical subfield] avoid that particular subfield precisely because they think it is a fraud.

Comment author: magfrump 01 May 2013 05:11:47PM 2 points [-]

perhaps non-experts in [philosophy as a whole] avoid that particular subfield precisely because they think it is a fraud.

This was my default expectation beforehand, and still is. People form their opinions first and then talk about justifying them. Making it more complicated than this doesn't help explain the data.