Well, personally, as much as I rant about the unsoundness of evolutionary
psychology, I think the is-ought dichotomy is false, one of the most egregious
ways philosophy is sterile ... or at least "hygienic".
So I absolutely don't hate passive-aggressive implications like those you list.
Worse yet, I think your claim that a value statement like "healthcare is a
right" is somehow a preference and the implication that of deception
("masqerade") is fundamentally flawed. It's a misunderstanding of
communication, prioritizing form to the detriment of function.
Value alignment is Big News in AI these days. And when someone uses language to
curiously prod at whether or not my values are aligned with theirs, I take that
as a compliment ... and an invitation to ask what they mean by "right" and
"healthcare". But it all depends on my attitude at the time, I guess. When a
coworker recently refused to admit that Antifa is categorically different from
the Proud Boys, at first I didn't get irritated. I tried to lay out as many
different forms of the argument as I could. But he shunted each one by
returning to his "both side-ism" ... like we were Fox News panelists or
somesuch.
And *that* irritated me. He wasn't trying to find alignment in values. He was
trying to assert his values, win the game, make sure we played on his field.
And that's not really all that fun.
On 9/22/21 3:23 PM, thompnicks...@gmail.com wrote:
> One of my colleagues used to say that "we" ought to spend more time with
> undergraduates. Since she herself was DEFINITELY not planning to spend more
> time with undergraduates, that really meant that she wanted ME to spend more
> time with undergraduates. You are technically correct, I suppose, that I am
> using the term "modally" incorrectly, since all language is modal in some
> sense. The Cat is In The Hat is a proposition in the indicative mood. Put
> the Damned hat in the Cat! Is in the imperative mood. The Cat Belongs in
> the Hat is in the "deontive?" mood ... the mood of obligation. What people
> do is try to hook other people by stating their wants in the denotive mood.
> "Isn't it time to mow the lawn, dear?" and "Gawsh, we haven't had strawberry
> short cake in ages" are both subtle denotive moves. "Health care is a right"
> is an example of a policy preference masquerading as denotive proposition.
> One of the things I THINK I know about you is that you hate that sort of
> thing even more than I do.
>
> Nick
>
> PS: If you forbade empty deontive propositions from facutly meetings they
> would be shortened by 80 percent.
>
> Nick Thompson
> thompnicks...@gmail.com
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com> On Behalf Of u?l? ?>$
> Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2021 6:00 PM
> To: friam@redfish.com
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] unplanned [sen|obsol]escence
>
> I don't have the slightest idea what you mean by "modal language", I guess. I
> thought you meant necessary versus possible.
>
> On 9/22/21 1:56 PM, thompnicks...@gmail.com wrote:
>> I am overjoyed to see that Hume's Guillotine is the origin of my "note the
>> use of modal language" thing.
>
>
--
"Better to be slapped with the truth than kissed with a lie."
☤>$ uǝlƃ
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