All of Magnus's Comments + Replies

How would they have to act for this to happen? 

If someone suggested the idea of reducing your recline by 50% politely, would you really, in actual lived life, reply making a protest of your "rights"?

I implore you to really think of what this would be like in real life. Someone nicely asking for this. It's a long flight.

Also, to consider the views of other people here and the positive effects of your signaling is speculative at best.  You don't know how people will perceive you. Sure, you think you are standing up for what is obviously you right. ... (read more)

What are some reasonable alternatives in the circumstance that someone is reclining unto your or requesting you un-recline?

That's not a bad point. 

I think that other people consider this example as a means to discuss some far more abstract ideas of what is morally right in the situation. This was mentioned in my post as:

Is it appropriate for any person to recline their seat? 

To which I said that there is a definite right answer to this question, based on the optimization of some dimension. This is always what is behind morality, in any case - It is just a rule for optimizing something, whether it be autonomy, privacy, etc. 

What I should have also said here is th... (read more)

That man was removed from the plane because he Tweeted about the gate agent he was arguing with, publicly mentioning her name and the gate she was working at. Duff Watson, the man in that article you linked, mentioned the staff person's name and location. 

That's not really a fitting comparison to what I am proposing. That cannot be used to say "But there is a single example of this occurring" ( i.e an instantiation ).

I am proposing a common sense, applicable solution in the case that someone finds themselves unable to perform certain tasks on a flight... (read more)

My experience is the contrary. People find it quite tough to ignore someone speaking to them directly. 

Furthermore, I never suggested doing anything that intrudes upon them. My advice is to restate your case a few times and aim for compromise. This is only as intrusive as the recline itself.

It's also worth noting that while you're not trying to be annoying, the recliner is likely to perceive you as such. You are not being intentionally annoying, though. This is something that ought to have been mentioned, admittedly. 

Regarding the flight attendant comment, you have nothing to loose here but a short moment's embarrassment, if that.

There are three separate issues here.

One is - Is it appropriate for any person to recline their seat? 

The other is - If you are a non-recliner and a seat is reclined unto you, what is the appropriate reaction?

The last is - If you recline unto a non-recliner and they ask for you to put your seat in the upright position, what is the ethical response? 

For the first question, one way I can think to test this would be to examine the differences in total leg-room volume when everyone is not reclined against when everyone is reclined. 

If I had more... (read more)

Also, I am not trying to bash Friedman here. That's not the point of this post. The specifics of the example really are not as important as the general idea of the person referring to a thinker and then pivoting subjects quickly.

Hmm some of these people would, no doubt, turn out to be belief-in-believers if they were questioned.

Some of these cases are also no doubt cached thoughts, but I think a significant number are not.

I have a reply below to noggin-scratcher's comment that goes into this in more detail.

Hey, also - thanks for the comment.

I replied to this and a bit more below, in noggin-scratcher's comment.

p.s thanks for commenting

First, thanks a lot for replying. I love talking to people on this site and these are great questions. 

I'm not 100% on what it means for an opinion to be an image of an image.

Now thinking, I firstly should have limited myself to "An image of a belief" instead of "An image of an image". 

An image of a a belief would be something like this.  Say you're at some kind of family friend event, and get to talking about economics.

The person you're talking to eventually says "I actually believe in trickle down economics, man. I just think that's the be... (read more)

What do you think of the below quote from Epicteus' Enchiridion?

49. When a man shows himself overly confident in ability to understand and interpret the works of Chrysippus, say to yourself, " Unless Chrysippus had written obscurely, this man would have nothing to be proud of. 

But what do I desire? To understand the world and follow her. 

I ask then - Who interprets the world? Finding Chrysippus does, I come to him. I don't understand his writings. 

I seek, therefore, one to interpret them. So far there is nothing to be proud of. And whe... (read more)

I really appreciated this post and thought it was quite a novel way of viewing situations where one must make a choice where while one option is the clear winner, there is still a lingering feeling of having lost something. 

Your final conclusion here appears to be - Do not expect your new pleasures to replace the old. 

You will still want these old joys - restaurants, bustle, packed gatherings. Plan for this, as it will not be replaced by the extra space or quietude of the suburbs. 

This was very enjoyable read. Thanks for posting.

3: (Implicit) Encouragement does not do other important things → False

I am not certain if including this as an implication or negation of 1 and 2 was correct. 

As far as I can imagine, one of these ( implication or negation ) would have to be the reason why you claim the statement to be implicit. I could break down Graham's statements into symbolic form and work this out like a true logician, but I'm a bit too lazy right now.  There's just no statement that be negated to equal point 3, nor is the implication really clear.  

Just to be cl... (read more)

Thanks for the list!