Learning about FAE tells me that the other person kicked the vending machine not because he’s an “angry person” but because he had a bad day.
This seems to me to be a misinterpretation of the concept of the FAE.
The idea is that you think that you have some reason for doing things, whereas other people do things because that’s just the kind of person they are. But in fact, everyone has (or thinks they have) reasons for doing things. Whether those causes are proximal (“I’m having a bad day”, “this darn machine ate my last quarter”, etc.) or complex (“5 years ago I read a book …”) is of peripheral importance to the key insight that other people have lives and mental goings-on of their own.
Now, this is all quite well-understood and not new (although, of course, it may be new to each of us, as we each get older and (hopefully) wiser and discover for ourselves all the things that people before us have discovered and even helpfully written down in books which we, sadly, don’t have time to read). However, my more salient question is this:
In what way can the process of discovering or realizing these truths about how people work, be reasonably described as “tak[ing] the glasses off and replace them with another pair, without confusing what you see through the lenses with what exists on a fundamental level”? This seems to me to be a misleading characterization. Wouldn’t a more accurate description be something like “getting closer to the truth” or “improving your model of the world” or something along those lines?
…can the process of discovering or realizing these truths about how people work, be reasonably described as...
I mean—yes, I think so, otherwise I would not have written this post.
I’m not sure where this conversation is going. We’re not talking about whether X is true, but whether Y is the optimal metaphor that can conceived of to describe X. While I always want to learn how to make my writing more clear and lucid, I don’t find this sort of discussion particularly productive.
In what way can the process of discovering or realizing these truths about how people work, be reasonably described...
In the way that I just did.
You asked me if this is just FAE, I answer “Kinda, but I like my description better. FAE doesn’t capture all of it”.
You ask if it this is just getting closer to the truth, I answer “Kinda, but I like my description better. Getting closer to the truth doesn’t tell you what mental movement is actually taking place.”
If you think you know what I mean but I’m explaining it poorly, you probably won’t be able to squeeze a better explanation out of me. This isn’t a factual claim, it’s a metaphor for a complex mental process. If 4,000 words weren’t enough to make this make sense in your head, then go read someone else—the point of non-expert explanation is that everyone can find the one explanation that makes sense for them.
This seems to me to be a misinterpretation of the concept of the FAE.
The idea is that you think that you have some reason for doing things, whereas other people do things because that’s just the kind of person they are. But in fact, everyone has (or thinks they have) reasons for doing things. Whether those causes are proximal (“I’m having a bad day”, “this darn machine ate my last quarter”, etc.) or complex (“5 years ago I read a book …”) is of peripheral importance to the key insight that other people have lives and mental goings-on of their own.
Now, this is all quite well-understood and not new (although, of course, it may be new to each of us, as we each get older and (hopefully) wiser and discover for ourselves all the things that people before us have discovered and even helpfully written down in books which we, sadly, don’t have time to read). However, my more salient question is this:
In what way can the process of discovering or realizing these truths about how people work, be reasonably described as “tak[ing] the glasses off and replace them with another pair, without confusing what you see through the lenses with what exists on a fundamental level”? This seems to me to be a misleading characterization. Wouldn’t a more accurate description be something like “getting closer to the truth” or “improving your model of the world” or something along those lines?
I mean—yes, I think so, otherwise I would not have written this post.
I’m not sure where this conversation is going. We’re not talking about whether X is true, but whether Y is the optimal metaphor that can conceived of to describe X. While I always want to learn how to make my writing more clear and lucid, I don’t find this sort of discussion particularly productive.
Wait… what? That… wasn’t a yes-or-no question.
Oops, just realized that. Let me try again:
In the way that I just did.
You asked me if this is just FAE, I answer “Kinda, but I like my description better. FAE doesn’t capture all of it”.
You ask if it this is just getting closer to the truth, I answer “Kinda, but I like my description better. Getting closer to the truth doesn’t tell you what mental movement is actually taking place.”
If you think you know what I mean but I’m explaining it poorly, you probably won’t be able to squeeze a better explanation out of me. This isn’t a factual claim, it’s a metaphor for a complex mental process. If 4,000 words weren’t enough to make this make sense in your head, then go read someone else—the point of non-expert explanation is that everyone can find the one explanation that makes sense for them.