3 ms·
I guess the key is to simply recognize that he's using the terms "intelligent", "helpless", "bandit", and "stupid" in a formalized manner that does not strictly
by astine 17y ago
I guess the key is to simply recognize that he's using the terms "intelligent", "helpless", "bandit", and "stupid" in a formalized manner that does not strictly match the correct understandings of those words we have when discussing other subjects.
FTFY
I hate it when people give new meanings to words that already have perfectly good and useful meanings. If you have new concept that requires a name, make up a new word. Don't take an old word and give it an analogous meaning. Doing so confuses language and creates an opportunity for equivocation. That is, when people start using conclusions based on the new meanings and applying them to condition based on the old meanings.
Needlessly confusing language is stupid, in both senses of the term.
- apotheon 17y agoThe intuitive and colloquial uses of those terms tend to stray significantly from the "correct" denotative uses, too. That might be worth keeping in mind while you champion those uses of the term. My sympathies definitely lie with the prescriptive use of terms. I just think that, if strictly identified as existing within a limited framework for purposes of a particular discussion, jargon denotations are perfectly acceptable prescriptions for use.