This is a quote of me from Academic Epistemology - #34 by Max criticizing one part of RP’s paper. The broad context is that it’s a bad epistemology paper.
I used the word “adducing” there half automatically. When I used it, I noticed that I had and I knew why I had (or why I wanted to keep it, at least).
I think RP’s paper was the first time that I’d read that word (I had to look it up at the time) and I criticized RP for using it somewhat incorrectly. I don’t think it’s a bad word – it seems to fill a niche – but it is fancy. Although the word fits the context, I questioned whether to keep it in.
I kept it in for two reasons:
- I thought it was a bit funny, and particularly because it was funny at RP’s expense (a little bit of ‘twisting the knife’ if he were ever to read it); and
- I noticed my motivation (point 1.) and I thought it was a bad motivation – but, keeping it in means I can quote myself and discuss it (I don’t want to suppress/avoid it and then make the mistake elsewhere, if it is a mistake).
I think making jokes while doing philosophy is usually harmful to the work. Most of they time jokes aren’t going to make communication clearer, and they’re distracting for the reader and author. Also, making jokes at someones expense is mean.
I actually did this once before in that thread, too:
(The joke being that one of “redundant and superfluous” is redundant/superfluous.)
There’s more that is wrong with both of these, too (besides being distracting and mean): I’m doing something social, like making an appeal to intellectual superiority / cleverness. It’s condescending and communicates something like: “Look at me, I’m better than X, and I’ll prove it by making puns while offering criticism. I’m so smart.”
I don’t like the idea of doing that, and I don’t want to do that.
I think, on the whole, I’m improving in this aspect, but I am not really doing much to make progress besides noticing and reflecting once in a while. (It’s not really a priority atm and I don’t think it’s a big factor in my life.) When I write particular things, I do consciously try not to engage w/ those memes, but I know that they’re still there.
(This post is related to Objectivism because it is practicing the idea of not faking reality. It’s more generally related to CF in a few ways: social dynamics, static memes, non-suppression and pro-discussion, and more. I thought it might be good to occasionally leave a little explainer about my motivations for posting and how I see the post relating to learning CF – so I’m testing the idea out, here.)