Rationalist Taboo

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Rationalist tabooTaboo is a technique for fighting muddles in discussions. By prohibiting the use of a certain word and all the words synonymous to it, people are forced to elucidate the specific contextual meaning they want to express, thus removing ambiguity otherwise present in a single word.

Mainstream philosophy has a parallel procedure called "unpacking". Unpacking has the requirement that the contentious or doubtful term be expanded out, and out--not just replaced with a synonym, but no requirement that participants insynonym--and only used as a discussion refrain from using it once uttered has been unpacked,collection of subcomponent concepts.

Mainstream philosophy has a parallel procedure called "unpacking". Unpacking has the requirement that the contentious or doubtful teamterm be expanded out, and not just replaced with a synonym, but no requirement that participants in a discussion refrain from using it once uttered has been unpacked,

Mainstream philosophy has a parallel procedure called "unpacking". Unpacking has the requirement that the contentious or doubtful team be expanded out, and not just replaced with a synonym, but no requirement that participants in a discussion refrain from using it once uttered has been unpacked,

See also

• Least convenient possible world
• Epistemic hygiene

BlogMain posts

• Taboo Your Words and
• Replace the Symbol with the Substance — Description of the technique.

Other posts

• Disputing Definitions —- An example of how the technique helps.
• Words as Hidden Inferences —- The mere presence of words can influence thinking, sometimes misleading it.
• Detached Lever Fallacy —- There is a lot of machinery hidden beneath the words, and rationalist's taboo is one way to make a step towards exposing it.

See also

• Least convenient possible world
• Epistemic hygiene

Posts by Eliezer Yudkowsky:

• Taboo Your Words and Replace the Symbol with the Substance -— Description of the technique.
• Disputing Definitions -— An example of how the technique helps.
• Words as Hidden Inferences -— The mere presence of words can influence thinking, sometimes misleading it.
• Detached Lever Fallacy -— There is a lot of machinery hidden beneath the words, and rationalist's taboo is one way to make a step towards exposing it.

Posts by Eliezer Yudkowsky:

• Taboo Your Words and Replace the Symbol with the Substance by Eliezer Yudkowsky- Description of the technique.
• Disputing Definitions by - An example of how the technique helps.
• Eliezer YudkowskyWords as Hidden Inferences - The mere presence of words can influence thinking, sometimes misleading it.
• Detached Lever Fallacy - There is a lot of machinery hidden beneath the words, and rationalist's taboo is one way to make a step towards exposing it.

• Taboo Your Words and Replace the Symbol with the Substanceby Eliezer Yudkowsky
• Disputing Definitions by Eliezer Yudkowsky