Third attempt at a relatively user-friendly introduction to what "erisology" means. Read more (10 min, 2600 words).
Tag: discussion
Wordy Weapons of Is-Ought Alloy
Our words' relationship to reality is far more complicated than we realize. Thus, when we say things we think we state facts but we also endorse certain uses of words. That has consequences, which causes public discourse to become a war zone where we fight for control over our common pool of mental and social equipment. Read more (13 min, 3300 words).
The Big List of Existing Things
We feel there should be a clear answer to the question of whether some thing exists or not. I argue that often there isn't, because follwing our self-contradictory intuitions leads us to weird places. Instead we should interpret talk about what exists as talk about how we best represent the world. Read more (12 min, 3100 words)
Conversations Going Critical
Sometimes arguments and statements invites responses longer than themselves, often by making more things part of the conversation. So if we want to be thorough when arguing we risk starting a chain reaction that blows up in our faces. Read more (2000 words)