? Use your mistakes
Dennett's first advice recommends ruthless intellectual honesty with oneself, introspection and learning through trial and error. In his typical manner, the philosopher remarks: "When you make a mistake, you should take a deep breath, grit your teeth and examine your own memories of her as mercilessly and dispassionately as you can." This advice is close to the scientific method, in which every mistake is an opportunity to learn something new from her example, and not a reason for despondency and complaints.
? Respect your opponent
Also called "benevolence," this method comes from rhetoric as much as from logic: persuasion makes people listen to you. And they won't listen if you are overly pedantic, overly hasty, unfair, or just downright disagreeable. Dennett says, "Your target audience will take your criticism well because you have already shown them that you understood their positions as well as they did and demonstrated fair judgment."
? Beep "Of course"
A klaxon is a loud electric horn, similar to the one found in cars. Dennett warns us that the use of the words "of course" is a rhetorical whistle indicating that the essay author has used a truism without providing digestible causal links or evidence that he is right, in the hope that the reader will quickly agree with his position and move on. farther.
? Answer rhetorical questions
As in the case of “of course,” a rhetorical question can substitute for a product of thought. Although the essence of the rhetorical question is that “the answer is so obvious that it’s ashamed to answer it,” Dennett still recommends doing this. For example, to the question: "Who decides what is right and what is wrong?" answer: "Me."
? Apply the principle of Occam's razor
The 14th century English philosopher William of Ockham lent his name to a principle formerly called lex parsimonious - or the law of economy. Dennett puts it this way: "It's very simple: you don't have to invent a convoluted, extravagant theory when you have a simpler one (with fewer ingredients and fewer names) that fits the case."
? Don't waste time on nonsense
The harshness of this advice comes from Dennett's study of Sturgeon's Law, on the basis of which 90% of everything around is nonsense. “Although such a statement may be an exaggeration, the main idea here is that you should not waste your time on arguments that are simply bad and do not lead to anything, especially if they arise on ideological grounds,” the philosopher comments on this statement.
? Avoid pseudo depth
The philosopher borrowed the term deepity from the professor of computer science Joseph Weizenbaum. "Deepity is a statement that seems important and fair, as well as profound, but achieves this effect at the cost of being ambiguous and unclear." Dennett's commitment to clarity breaks readers into two camps at this point. Some consider his love of clarity to be a sign of a delightful analytical ethic. Others believe that he demonstrates an unfair bias against the language of metaphysicians, mystics, theologians, continental and postmodern philosophers, and perhaps even poets.
Dennett's first advice recommends ruthless intellectual honesty with oneself, introspection and learning through trial and error. In his typical manner, the philosopher remarks: "When you make a mistake, you should take a deep breath, grit your teeth and examine your own memories of her as mercilessly and dispassionately as you can." This advice is close to the scientific method, in which every mistake is an opportunity to learn something new from her example, and not a reason for despondency and complaints.
? Respect your opponent
Also called "benevolence," this method comes from rhetoric as much as from logic: persuasion makes people listen to you. And they won't listen if you are overly pedantic, overly hasty, unfair, or just downright disagreeable. Dennett says, "Your target audience will take your criticism well because you have already shown them that you understood their positions as well as they did and demonstrated fair judgment."
? Beep "Of course"
A klaxon is a loud electric horn, similar to the one found in cars. Dennett warns us that the use of the words "of course" is a rhetorical whistle indicating that the essay author has used a truism without providing digestible causal links or evidence that he is right, in the hope that the reader will quickly agree with his position and move on. farther.
? Answer rhetorical questions
As in the case of “of course,” a rhetorical question can substitute for a product of thought. Although the essence of the rhetorical question is that “the answer is so obvious that it’s ashamed to answer it,” Dennett still recommends doing this. For example, to the question: "Who decides what is right and what is wrong?" answer: "Me."
? Apply the principle of Occam's razor
The 14th century English philosopher William of Ockham lent his name to a principle formerly called lex parsimonious - or the law of economy. Dennett puts it this way: "It's very simple: you don't have to invent a convoluted, extravagant theory when you have a simpler one (with fewer ingredients and fewer names) that fits the case."
? Don't waste time on nonsense
The harshness of this advice comes from Dennett's study of Sturgeon's Law, on the basis of which 90% of everything around is nonsense. “Although such a statement may be an exaggeration, the main idea here is that you should not waste your time on arguments that are simply bad and do not lead to anything, especially if they arise on ideological grounds,” the philosopher comments on this statement.
? Avoid pseudo depth
The philosopher borrowed the term deepity from the professor of computer science Joseph Weizenbaum. "Deepity is a statement that seems important and fair, as well as profound, but achieves this effect at the cost of being ambiguous and unclear." Dennett's commitment to clarity breaks readers into two camps at this point. Some consider his love of clarity to be a sign of a delightful analytical ethic. Others believe that he demonstrates an unfair bias against the language of metaphysicians, mystics, theologians, continental and postmodern philosophers, and perhaps even poets.
