So, to be clear, you’re not saying that being able to define or taboo the words you’re using (or hearing) in a given sentence is a necessary condition on having a perfectly clear understanding of the propositional content of that sentence. Is that right?
I’m saying that my inability to ‘define’ (for a particular understanding of defining, closer to the LW usage of “taboo” than, say, what a dictionary does) a word in a sentence is strong evidence that I lack a perfectly clear understanding of the propositional content of that sentence.
I might nevertheless be confident in my propositional (or other) understanding of that sentence, if I had significant enough alternative sources of evidence of that understanding.
So, agreed, the ability to define/taboo the words isn’t a necessary condition, it’s a source of significant evidence.
I see. I think we disagree on the contexts in which it is significant evidence against understanding the propositional content of that sentence. For example, I think being unable to taboo ‘utility function’ probably means one doesn’t understand it and that one’s use of it in sentences is confused. This is probably true of all philosophical or scientific terms of art. I don’t think this is true of ‘should’, or what you might call more everyday language. And I’m inclined to say that the tabooing or defining of such everyday language almost always does more harm than good. But thats a matter of details.
So, to be clear, you’re not saying that being able to define or taboo the words you’re using (or hearing) in a given sentence is a necessary condition on having a perfectly clear understanding of the propositional content of that sentence. Is that right?
I’m saying that my inability to ‘define’ (for a particular understanding of defining, closer to the LW usage of “taboo” than, say, what a dictionary does) a word in a sentence is strong evidence that I lack a perfectly clear understanding of the propositional content of that sentence.
I might nevertheless be confident in my propositional (or other) understanding of that sentence, if I had significant enough alternative sources of evidence of that understanding.
So, agreed, the ability to define/taboo the words isn’t a necessary condition, it’s a source of significant evidence.
I see. I think we disagree on the contexts in which it is significant evidence against understanding the propositional content of that sentence. For example, I think being unable to taboo ‘utility function’ probably means one doesn’t understand it and that one’s use of it in sentences is confused. This is probably true of all philosophical or scientific terms of art. I don’t think this is true of ‘should’, or what you might call more everyday language. And I’m inclined to say that the tabooing or defining of such everyday language almost always does more harm than good. But thats a matter of details.
I share your understanding of our disagreement.