Good analogy, but I think it breaks down. The politician’s syllogism, and the resulting policies, are bad because they tend to make the world worse. I would say that Richard’s comment is an improvement, even if you think it might be a suboptimal one, and that pushing back against improvements tends to result in fewer improvements. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good is a saying for very good reason.
The syllogism here is more like:
Something beneficial ought to be done
This is beneficial.
Therefore I probably ought not to oppose this, though if I see a better option I’ll do that instead of doubling down on this.
It could be that Richard’s comment is actually good. I still think that the argument I quoted fails to establish that, for the same reason the politician’s syllogism doesn’t work.
Good analogy, but I think it breaks down. The politician’s syllogism, and the resulting policies, are bad because they tend to make the world worse. I would say that Richard’s comment is an improvement, even if you think it might be a suboptimal one, and that pushing back against improvements tends to result in fewer improvements. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good is a saying for very good reason.
The syllogism here is more like:
Something beneficial ought to be done
This is beneficial.
Therefore I probably ought not to oppose this, though if I see a better option I’ll do that instead of doubling down on this.
It could be that Richard’s comment is actually good. I still think that the argument I quoted fails to establish that, for the same reason the politician’s syllogism doesn’t work.