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Single Idea 12599

[filed under theme 2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 6. Coherence ]

Full Idea

Conservatism is important; you should continue to believe as you do in the absence of any special reason to doubt your view, and in reasoning you should try to minimize change in your initial opinions in attaining other goals of reasoning.

Gist of Idea

Reason conservatively: stick to your beliefs, and prefer reasoning that preserves most of them

Source

Gilbert Harman ((Nonsolipsistic) Conceptual Role Semantics [1987], 12.2.6)

Book Ref

Harman,Gilbert: 'Reasoning Meaning and Mind' [OUP 1999], p.217

A Reaction

One of those principles like Ockham's Razor, which feels right but hard to justify. It seems the wrong principle for someone who can reason well, but has been brainwashed into a large collection of daft beliefs. Japanese soldiers still fighting WWII.

The 16 ideas from '(Nonsolipsistic) Conceptual Role Semantics'

12588 Meaning from use of thoughts, constructed from concepts, which have a role relating to reality [Harman]
12589 Some regard conceptual role semantics as an entirely internal matter [Harman]
12590 Take meaning to be use in calculation with concepts, rather than in communication [Harman]
12591 Mastery of a language requires thinking, and not just communication [Harman]
12592 Concepts in thought have content, but not meaning, which requires communication [Harman]
12593 The use theory attaches meanings to words, not to sentences [Harman]
12594 If one proposition negates the other, which is the negative one? [Harman]
12596 Reasoning aims at increasing explanatory coherence [Harman]
12595 We have a theory of logic (implication and inconsistency), but not of inference or reasoning [Harman]
12597 I might accept P and Q as likely, but reject P-and-Q as unlikely [Harman]
12598 Reality is the overlap of true complete theories [Harman]
12599 Reason conservatively: stick to your beliefs, and prefer reasoning that preserves most of them [Harman]
12601 The way things look is a relational matter, not an intrinsic matter [Harman]
12600 The content of thought is relations, between mental states, things in the world, and contexts [Harman]
12602 There is no natural border between inner and outer [Harman]
12603 We can only describe mental attitudes in relation to the external world [Harman]