Suppose someone was striving to be precise, specific and clear, but didn’t have any good ideas for moving in that direction. Would you suggest “try to formalize it” as an idea-generator?
No. The set of precise, specific, and clear ways to express an idea is much, much larger than the set of formal ways (which are arguably a subset of the larger group). Generally, it’s easier to hit a very large target than a narrow one. And if you don’t know how to hit the set, hitting a subset will probably be even harder.
Precision and clarity precede the formal versions of themselves, in the same way that people used the principles of logic long before they were explicitly recognized and formalized. If Aristotle didn’t already understand those principles, he could never have generated formal logic, which is the rational examination of them. If you don’t understand the ideas clearly, you won’t be able to formalize them.
I have had good experiences sharpening my ideas by striving to formalize them, into propositional or predicate logic, into running code, or (more recently) into bayesian networks.
Of course, formalization as a technique for improving arguments may not be useful for everybody.
Suppose someone was striving to be precise, specific and clear, but didn’t have any good ideas for moving in that direction. Would you suggest “try to formalize it” as an idea-generator?
No. The set of precise, specific, and clear ways to express an idea is much, much larger than the set of formal ways (which are arguably a subset of the larger group). Generally, it’s easier to hit a very large target than a narrow one. And if you don’t know how to hit the set, hitting a subset will probably be even harder.
Precision and clarity precede the formal versions of themselves, in the same way that people used the principles of logic long before they were explicitly recognized and formalized. If Aristotle didn’t already understand those principles, he could never have generated formal logic, which is the rational examination of them. If you don’t understand the ideas clearly, you won’t be able to formalize them.
I have had good experiences sharpening my ideas by striving to formalize them, into propositional or predicate logic, into running code, or (more recently) into bayesian networks.
Of course, formalization as a technique for improving arguments may not be useful for everybody.